How insects activate muscles to adapt to limbs removed

Adaptability explains why insects spread so widely and why they are the most abundant animal group on earth. Insects exhibit resilient and flexible locomotion, even with drastic changes in their body structure such as losing ...

How the insect got its wings: Scientists (at last!) tell the tale

It sounds like a "Just So Story"—"How the Insect Got its Wings"—but it's really a mystery that has puzzled biologists for over a century. Intriguing and competing theories of insect wing evolution have emerged in recent ...

Stick insect's propulsion joint discovered

The stick insect is a popular model organism in biological research for gaining a better understanding of insect walking movements. The advantage of the stick insect is that the structure of its body parts and nervous system ...

Insect legs give clues to improving aircraft design

Insect legs could help engineers improve the safety of long tubular structures used in aircraft to reduce weight and in hospital equipment, such as catheters. Scientists from Trinity College Dublin are looking at how the ...

How long do insects last?

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have shown that although insects are made from one of the toughest natural materials, their legs and wings can wear out over time. The findings have been just published in the Journal ...

Grasshoppers change their tune to stay tuned over traffic noise

Grasshoppers are having to change their song – one of the iconic sounds of summer – to make themselves heard above the din of road traffic, ecologists have discovered. The study, published in the British Ecological Society's ...