Home > Press > Biomimetic dew harvesters: Understanding how a desert beetle harvests water from dew could improve drinking water collection in dew condensers
 |
| A preserved specimen of the Tenebrionind beetle (Physasterna cribripes) was used for this study, displaying the insect’s mechanisms of dew harvesting. | © Guadarrama-Cetina et al. |
Abstract:
Insects are full of marvels - and this is certainly the case with a beetle from the Tenebrionind family, found in the extreme conditions of the Namib desert. Now, a team of scientists has demonstrated that such insects can collect dew on their backs - and not just fog as previously thought. This is made possible by the wax nanostructure on the surface of the beetle's elytra. These findings by José Guadarrama-Cetina, then working at ESPCI ParisTech, France - on leave from the University of Navarra, in Spain - and colleagues were recently published in EPJ E. They bring us a step closer to harvesting dew to make drinking water from the humidity in the air. This, the team hopes, can be done by improving the water yield of man-made dew condensers that mimick the nanostructure on the beetle's back.
Biomimetic dew harvesters: Understanding how a desert beetle harvests water from dew could improve drinking water collection in dew condensers
Heidelberg, Germany | Posted on December 8th, 2014It was not clear from previous studies whether water harvested by such beetles came from dew droplets, in addition to fog. Whereas fog is made of ready-made microdroplets floating in the air, dew appears following the cooling of a substrate below air temperature. This then turns the humidity of air into tiny droplets of water because more energy - as can be measured through infrared emissions - is sent to the atmosphere than received by it. The cooling capability is ideal, they demonstrated, because the insect's back demonstrates near-perfect infrared emissivity.
Guadarrama-Cetina and colleagues also performed an image analysis of dew drops forming on the insect's back on the surface of the elytra, which appears as a series of bumps and valleys. Dew primarily forms in the valleys endowed with a hexagonal microstructure, they found, unlike the smooth surface of the bumps. This explains how drops can slide to the insect's mouth when they reach a critical size.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Laura Zimmermann
49-622-148-78414
Copyright © Springer
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
| Related Links |
| Related News Press |
News and information
Beyond wires: Bubble technology powers next-generation electronics:New laser-based bubble printing technique creates ultra-flexible liquid metal circuits November 8th, 2024
Nanoparticle bursts over the Amazon rainforest: Rainfall induces bursts of natural nanoparticles that can form clouds and further precipitation over the Amazon rainforest November 8th, 2024
Nanotechnology: Flexible biosensors with modular design November 8th, 2024
Exosomes: A potential biomarker and therapeutic target in diabetic cardiomyopathy November 8th, 2024
Biomimetics
First measurement of electron energy distributions, could enable sustainable energy technologies June 5th, 2020
Nanoribbons in solutions mimic nature: Rice University scientists test graphene ribbons' abilities to integrate with biological systems August 15th, 2016
IEEE ROBIO 2015 Call for Papers: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics - December 6-9, 2015, Zhuhai, China July 19th, 2015
Peptoid Nanosheets at the Oil/Water Interface: Berkeley Lab Reports New Route to Novel Family of Biomimetic Materials September 3rd, 2014
Discoveries
Breaking carbon–hydrogen bonds to make complex molecules November 8th, 2024
Exosomes: A potential biomarker and therapeutic target in diabetic cardiomyopathy November 8th, 2024
Turning up the signal November 8th, 2024
Nanofibrous metal oxide semiconductor for sensory face November 8th, 2024
Announcements
Nanotechnology: Flexible biosensors with modular design November 8th, 2024
Exosomes: A potential biomarker and therapeutic target in diabetic cardiomyopathy November 8th, 2024
Turning up the signal November 8th, 2024
Nanofibrous metal oxide semiconductor for sensory face November 8th, 2024
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Beyond wires: Bubble technology powers next-generation electronics:New laser-based bubble printing technique creates ultra-flexible liquid metal circuits November 8th, 2024
Nanoparticle bursts over the Amazon rainforest: Rainfall induces bursts of natural nanoparticles that can form clouds and further precipitation over the Amazon rainforest November 8th, 2024
Nanotechnology: Flexible biosensors with modular design November 8th, 2024
Exosomes: A potential biomarker and therapeutic target in diabetic cardiomyopathy November 8th, 2024
Water
Taking salt out of the water equation October 7th, 2022
Nanobiotechnology
Exosomes: A potential biomarker and therapeutic target in diabetic cardiomyopathy November 8th, 2024
The mechanism of a novel circular RNA circZFR that promotes colorectal cancer progression July 5th, 2024
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||