Nature opens a window on a thing that has always puzzled me, and probably anyone who’s been in mosquito country in the rainy season. How do they do it? How do those persistent little pests fly through the rain without getting splattered?:
According to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1 a mosquito’s key defence when struck by a plummeting drop is its tiny mass. Researchers say the findings could one day help to improve the durability of ‘micro-airborne vehicles’, insect-sized flying robots developed for applications such as surveillance or rescue operations.
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“It’s like getting into a boxing match with a balloon, it just goes with the punch. Mosquitoes just move along with raindrops,” says team leader David Hu, who studies biolocomotion at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “It’s their [low] mass that makes this possible.”
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In general, raindrops were more likely to hit a bug’s legs than its abdomen, causing it to roll sideways and quickly recover. But even getting hit dead centre was not a problem. “The mosquito combines with the drop and makes this drop-cum-mosquito package that falls down together for up to 20 body lengths,” says Hu. The mosquitoes then separate from the drop and go buzzing about their business — although precisely how they manage this separation remains unclear.
“We think that their long wings and legs might be important here,” says Hu.
Video at the link.