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First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

popularmechanics.com

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Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#11

Post by john_b »

alan_cx wrote: post #9

I wonder how its prevents wear? Could be something quite revolutionary there for the finding. Some sort of new organic lubricant, or something in the gears that self lubricates.

Maybe it doesn't. The last paragraph of the article implies that wear eventually would compromise the gears, but that the insect molting and replacing the old gears with new ones (frequently?) prevents it from being a problem.

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#13

Post by EvanKelly »

brianpgordon wrote: post #8
igravious wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5. All dichotomies are false dichotomies. 6. Creatures like this shake my faith in evolution.

Creatures with cool adaptations strengthen my faith in evolution. It's creatures like the panda or the koala or the sloth that shake my faith in evolution.

The sloth's evolutionary advantage is that they are so fucking cool.

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#15

Post by bitwize »

teddyh wrote: post #2

This gives us four possibilities: 1. This geared creature must be considered part mechanical. A cyborg, if you will. 2. A "gear" is no longer (and was never) a "mechanical" device, but instead an organic one. Using gears is no longer (and was maybe never) doing mechanics. 3. Whether something is mechanical or organic depends on the process which created it. This is the "colored bits" or "patent" view. (If I build som…

5) Organic creatures have mechanical systems as part of their physiology. "Mechanical" doesn't mean "made of metal", it means "uses movement and friction to achieve some effect". Some mechanical devices, such as levers and swivels, are seen frequently in the animal kingdom; others, such as gears, pulleys, and wheels, are almost never seen in nature. Discovering one of this latter category is a fascinating find.

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#16

Post by mikeash »

teddyh wrote: post #2

This gives us four possibilities: 1. This geared creature must be considered part mechanical. A cyborg, if you will. 2. A "gear" is no longer (and was never) a "mechanical" device, but instead an organic one. Using gears is no longer (and was maybe never) doing mechanics. 3. Whether something is mechanical or organic depends on the process which created it. This is the "colored bits" or "patent" view. (If I build som…

5. The concepts of "organic" and "mechanical" are purely human inventions used to conveniently categorize the world, and there is no reason the world has to obey our desire to fit neatly into categories we devise. Any discussion of the meaning of "mechanical" and "organic" is a discussion of language, not of anything outside humanity.

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#17

Post by andrew_gardener »

alan_cx wrote: post #9

I wonder how its prevents wear? Could be something quite revolutionary there for the finding. Some sort of new organic lubricant, or something in the gears that self lubricates.

While I can't be certain, I believe it might not handle wear very well based on the article.

Near the end they mention that it molts several times growing new, larger versions of the gears. When its an adult, it actually loses these gears entirely.

Their theory is that when the insect is fully grown is gets rid of the gears since it can no longer molt and thus replace them if they become damaged.

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#18

Post by wslh »

john_b wrote: post #10
teddyh wrote: post #2

This gives us four possibilities: 1. This geared creature must be considered part mechanical. A cyborg, if you will. 2. A "gear" is no longer (and was never) a "mechanical" device, but instead an organic one. Using gears is no longer (and was maybe never) doing mechanics. 3. Whether something is mechanical or organic depends on the process which created it. This is the "colored bits" or "patent" view. (If I build som…

Four. A gear is just a piece of geometry that happens to be useful for a number of practical purposes. Same with rods, rings, and so on. People apply labels to it according to how they perceive it.

And what's the limit for such innovation? can microprocessors be developed naturally?

Re: First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

#19

Post by jlarocco »

teddyh wrote: post #2

This gives us four possibilities: 1. This geared creature must be considered part mechanical. A cyborg, if you will. 2. A "gear" is no longer (and was never) a "mechanical" device, but instead an organic one. Using gears is no longer (and was maybe never) doing mechanics. 3. Whether something is mechanical or organic depends on the process which created it. This is the "colored bits" or "patent" view. (If I build som…

Your use of "mechanical" makes no sense. The definition of "mechanical", according to Webster's dictionary is: Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion.

Everything that moves can be considered mechanical.

There is no "mechanical" vs "organic" division. It doesn't even make sense.

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