It takes a surprisingly short time for the grasshopper to adapt to the change in gravity. Scientists placed a flock of insects in a device that simulated extra gravity and noticed that their exoskeletons and legs grew stronger in just a few weeks. But only up to a certain point: When too much additional pressure was applied, the locusts became weaker and died in greater numbers due to the greater simulated gravity.

In conclusion, the study shows how insect exoskeletons can adapt to different conditions and provides information that we can use in biomaterial design. We know that when we change gravity, the physical system can change in response. Mammals lose bone and muscle density in the microgravity conditions of the International Space Station.

Plants respond easily to changes in gravity, whether it is stronger or weaker.

But most animals on Earth (about 80 percent) have a cuticle exoskeleton. According to biologists Karen Stamm and Jan-Henning Dirks of the Bremen University of Applied Sciences, these are arthropods that live both in the sea and on land, and how their hard shells respond to the mechanical impact of high gravity is an area that is surprisingly affected. he researched.

So they decided to close this gap in our knowledge with a special device specifically designed to study insects in high gravity. This device is a specially designed centrifuge. As it spins, centrifugal force acts on everything inside, creating additional pressure similar to gravity.

The researchers were able to fine-tune their centrifuges to create specific gravitational conditions. The normal acceleration of gravity at sea level is denoted by 1g. Researchers were able to multiply this to 8 grams.

The next step was to see what effect this would have on the insects.

The researchers purchased nearly adult Locusta migratoria grasshoppers and put them in a centrifuge after their final molt, when they shed an exoskeleton and emerged with new, shiny, soft adult exoskeletons that developed and hardened over time.

Each group of grasshoppers was placed in a centrifuge for two weeks until their exoskeletons hardened. The researchers had three groups to compare the locusts living in hypergravity: 3g, 5g, and 8g, as well as a 1g control group. The centrifuge was continuous; For maintenance purposes it was only stopped every 3 days for a maximum of 15 minutes at a time.

The speed at which the grasshopper died was quite interesting. The survival rate in the 1 g control group was 76 percent. This rate increased slightly for the 3g group: 81 percent of the locusts made it through. But then the survival rate dropped rapidly: only 51 percent of the 5-gram grasshoppers survived for two weeks, and only 7 percent of the 8-gram grasshoppers survived.

Effects on insect exoskeleton thickness and leg strength also appeared consistent with this trend. At 3 g, the insects’ legs were significantly stronger than at 1 g, but at 5 g and 8 g, cuticle thickness decreased. Additionally, 8 grams of grasshopper body weight is lost. Doesn’t seem like a good time for them.

But the results show for the first time how insects can adapt to greater mechanical stress and change their bodies. This has implications for both the development of biomaterials and our understanding of the evolution of life in all its magnificent forms.

“Our results show that locusts exposed to hypergravity can accumulate a cuticle with different mechanical properties during their formation,” the researchers write.

“This suggests that the ability of biological material to adapt to mechanical stress, previously known only for internal skeletons and higher plants, is apparently also present in insects and perhaps even in all arthropods. This ability may therefore be the fundamental concept of almost all skeletal forms and – external and “Given the different evolutionary paths of internal skeletons and plants – there may be a common convergent evolutionary feature of all load-bearing skeletal biomaterials.”