Nano-Suit Protects Bugs From Vacuums 75
sciencehabit writes "Put a fruit fly larva in a spacelike vacuum, and the results aren't pretty. Within a matter of minutes, the animal will collapse into a crinkled, lifeless husk. Now, researchers have found a way to protect the bugs: Bombard them with electrons, which form a 'nano-suit' around their bodies. The advance could help scientists take high-resolution photographs of tiny living organisms. It also suggests a new way that creatures could survive the harsh conditions of outer space and may even lead to new space travel technology for humans."
Work is also being done on electron "suits" that protect against radiation.
Re:shockingly (Score:5, Informative)
Apparently not:
They found that the energy from the electrons changed the thin film on the larvae's skin, causing its molecules to link together—a process called polymerization. The result was a layer—only 50- to 100-billionths of a meter thick—that was flexible enough to allow the larva to move, but solid enough to keep its gasses and liquids from escaping.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Insects breathe through their skin. Covering it in a polymer is like putting a plastic bag over your head: You might not be dead yet, but lifeless-huskiness is just a few moments away.
Re:shockingly (Score:5, Insightful)
..., they found that the young fly wiggled in place for an hour as if everything was fine. When they put another larva in the same vacuum and let it sit there for an hour before bombarding it with the microscope's electrons, it predictably dehydrated to death. Somehow, the electron stream was keeping the larva alive and so unscathed that it later grew to become a healthy fruit fly.
Re: (Score:2)
..., they found that the young fly wiggled in place for an hour as if everything was fine.
This is the part that gets me. I don't know if there is a electron microscopy equivalent of shutter speed, but if your subject is moving around while you're trying to image it, do you get a blurry picture? If it isn't a problem (or an easy to solve problem) perhaps in the near future we can look forward to electron micro-cinema....in 3D...HD...with Dolby surround.
Re: (Score:2)
I figure that the high vacuum would make breathing difficult as well.
Re: (Score:3)
Insects breathe through their skin. Covering it in a polymer is like putting a plastic bag over your head:
Which - in "a spacelike vacuum" - would also be an advantage compared suffocate immedeatly.
Re:shockingly (Score:5, Funny)
It replenishes the energy gauge, allowing the insects to engage Maximum Armor
Iron Bug (Score:2)
"Power Levels Now at 400%"
Awe, damn. That's too bad. (Score:5, Funny)
Read tittle, imagined tiny insect Gundam warriors battling the ferocious Gigga Vacuum cleaners. Can't bring myself to read the submission and destroy this newfound fun.
G.NZ1 Powering Up. Damage Control Mode Activated. (Score:5, Funny)
tittle (tit - tel) n. - portmanteau of 'titillating' and 'title'.
Typically used to describe news headlines that are more interesting than the article.
Unlike other portmanteau, the morphemes being combined are heterophonic -- having the same initially spellings, but different meanings;
Thus, a double t is introduced as a form of self referential onomatopoeia; The word is spelled the way it ought to sound.
"'Twasn't a typo; The tittle they typed told a more titillatious tale than the total text transmitted."
Re: (Score:1)
Spacelike vacuum? (Score:5, Insightful)
What exactly is a "spacelike vacuum"? Is it different from other vacuums? Are there vacuums that are unlike space?
Re: (Score:2)
It's a vacuum like you have in space. As opposed to a vacuum like you have when hoovering the carpet.
Re:Spacelike vacuum? (Score:5, Funny)
Inside Dyson spheres.
Re: (Score:1)
I have a Dyson Ball vacuum... Does that count as a sphere? Though, I must admit that if I had any fruit flies in my vacuum, I'd probably throw them out instead of take pictures of them.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
There are two types of vacuums. Spacelike vacuums and timelike vacuums. A closed timelike vacuum is one where cause and effect have meaning - ie, one in which time flies like an arrow. In a spacelike vacuum, fruit flies like a banana.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Scientists distinguish between different levels of vacuum, but I assume in this case they are just reminding the reader that space is a vacuum.
Re: (Score:2)
space is not a perfect vacuum. It's pretty close though.
Re: (Score:2)
That'd be one of the different levels of vacuum I'm talking about.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Spacelike vacuum? (Score:5, Informative)
What exactly is a "spacelike vacuum"? Is it different from other vacuums? Are there vacuums that are unlike space?
Well, there are levels of vacuum [wikipedia.org] graded by orders of magnitude drop from one atmosphere, according to Wikipedia. But "spacelike" isn't one of them since pressures in space can vary by about eleven orders of magnitude (ignoring here that the transition to "space" from a planetary or stellar atmosphere is arbitrary).
I imagine what they mean is that they were using pressures down to the range seen in low Earth orbit.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, there are levels of vacuum [wikipedia.org] graded by orders of magnitude drop from one atmosphere, according to Wikipedia. But "spacelike" isn't one of them
Actually, you didn't read the article all through. Please read the section about Vacuums in general relativity [wikipedia.org]...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I imagine what they mean is that they were using pressures down to the range seen in low Earth orbit.
I agree with that. In low Earth orbit the vacuum is about 10 * (-6) Torr.
This is also the pressure you can achieve here on earth by relatively simple means using a turbomolecular pump [wikipedia.org]
OTOH, it is also possible to produce "interstellar" vacuum in a labratory, but i'm pretty sure they would have mentioned this extra effort.
Re: (Score:2)
What exactly is a "spacelike vacuum"? Is it different from other vacuums? Are there vacuums that are unlike space?
Well, there are levels of vacuum [wikipedia.org] graded by orders of magnitude drop from one atmosphere, according to Wikipedia. But "spacelike" isn't one of them ...
Unless they mean (second to last table entry on the Wikipedia page you referenced):
Perhaps "Outer space" is sufficiently "spacelike" for their purposes. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
What exactly is a "spacelike vacuum"? Is it different from other vacuums? Are there vacuums that are unlike space?
I suppose the other vacuum is the dreaded timelike vacuum. That must be the vacuum in the vicinity of a singularity.
Re: (Score:2)
Sans gravity perhaps?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
This lamenes filter is anoying
If something is being trapped by the lameness filter, it is because it was lame.
MasterChef Mania (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So what you're saying is, fry them a little to seal in the juicy goodness?
(frying/searing doesn't actually do that)
Thank you Alton Brown.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty much. I've heard/read it elsewhere, too. And I agree, personally, with him, from personal experience. And yes, it DOES taste good when you sear it, it's called caramelization ... :D
Technically, it's the Maillard reaction [wikipedia.org]
I can see this leading to great things. (Score:3, Funny)
Let's fire off fruit-flies in every direction in space and watch every other planet's agriculture industry crumble!
I for one (Score:1)
I for one welcome our electron suited fruit fly larvae overlords
Vacuum This! (Score:2)
one step closer (Score:3)
to force field space suits like the Flickinger Field, from Jack McDevitts' Deep Six series.
What about... (Score:2)
I for one (Score:2)
welcome our electron-bombarded-protected overlords!
Bed Bugs (Score:4, Funny)
No wonder we keep getting bit by bedbugs, even after we vacuum the apartment... I'll bet the bedbug section of the NYC subway trains has little bedbug sized ads for nano-suits, matching the human sized ads for mattress covers.
Awesome! (Score:3)
now bugs can go on a spacewalk... tiny step for a bug, but huge step for bug-kind :p
In other news... (Score:1)
...scientists discover how to make fruit fly larvae develop Maximum Armor, Maximum Strength, and Invisibility Cloak powers, just not all at the same time.
new sci-fi/horror flick! :) (Score:2)
STOP THIS RESEARCH NOW! (Score:2)
When humans colonize other planets, there is no need to bring bugs with us. That will just be another planet for them to infest.
If bugs want to go into space, let them develop their own space suits, but got god's sake, DON'T DO IT FOR THEM!
My gaming rig couldn't handle the article. (Score:2)
Vacuums? Must be British (Score:2)
The British feel the need to pluralize everything.
I am pretty sure you can only have one kind of vacuum, so it is redundant to use vacuums.
Unless this story is about protecting bugs from Hoovers and Dysons.
Gross! (Score:4, Funny)