Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Insect Wings Shred Bacteria to Pieces

A clanger cicada is a insect much like a locust. The wing of a clanger cicada can destroy bacteria naturally. It is one of the first natural bacteria killing surfaces that human's know of. The reason that it can destroy bacteria is because of it's nanopillars. Nanopillars are spikes close to the same size as bacteria. According to the researchers, the cell membrane of the bacteria attaches to the nanopillars and is stretched out until it ruptures. However, the bacteria are not punctured by the nanopillars, which surprised many of the scientists.
A team of scientists decided to test the different rigidity of bacteria. They predicted that the more rigid bacteria would rupture less often than the less rigid bacteria. The scientists hypothesis proved true, showing that the clanger cicada's wing would only work on bacteria with softer membranes.
The scientists believe that this would be a great way to make germ-killers without harming the environment. But for that to be able to happen, there is much more research to be done

NOS THEMES:

  1. Science is Collaborative- Many researchers came together to make this experiment happen.
  2. Science is Based on Evidence-The scientists had to prove this to be true to be able to publish this.
  3. Science is Tentative-This research is subject to change, as it says in the article.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=insect-wings-shred-bacteria-to-pieces


Lexi Reed, Gabel Hour 1

2 comments:

  1. That could be really useful. I could see it being used in hospitals to make everything clean. Just add a coat of nanopillars on the walls and no germs get on them. Because nobody likes the smell of disinfectant ;P.

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  2. I agree with Tristin that it could be helpful in hospitals, but I doubt that the patrons would like to have cicadas flying around where they sleep. A similar type of thing that I have heard of is that sometimes unclean prisons are safer disease wise than hospitals because certain insects will kill bacteria by eating from inmates, while hospitals have a bunch of sick people getting their bacteria all over. Though it's not the most appetizing way to get rid of bacteria, it would be useful.

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