Bat-Radar
Bird-Plane
Frog-Electronic Frog Eyes
Shark-Submarine
Chameleon - plainclothes
Whale - increase the speed of the ship
Dragonfly - keep the wings of the plane from breaking
Giraffe - anti-G suit
< p>Seafish-Heavy Rain DetectorFirefly-Artificial Cold Light
Lobster-Smell Detector
1. Successfully imitated a nasty fly A very peculiar small gas analyzer. It has been installed in the cockpit of the spacecraft to detect the composition of the gas in the cabin.
2. From fireflies to artificial luminescence;
3. Electric fish and volt battery;
4. Jellyfish's downwind ears, imitating the structure and function of jellyfish ears, a jellyfish ear storm forecaster is designed, which can predict storms 15 hours in advance, which is beneficial to navigation and fishery It is of great significance to the safety of both.
5. Based on the visual principle of frog eyes, people have successfully developed an electronic frog eye. This electronic frog eye can accurately identify people like real frog eyes. Objects of a specific shape. After the electronic frog eyes are installed into the radar system, the radar's anti-interference ability is greatly improved. This radar system can quickly and accurately identify aircraft, ships, missiles, etc. of specific shapes. In particular, it can distinguish between real and real objects. Fake missiles to prevent fake missiles from being mistaken for real ones.
Electronic frog eyes are also widely used in airports and traffic arteries. At airports, they can monitor the takeoff and landing of aircraft. If it is found that the aircraft is about to collide, it can issue an alarm in time. In traffic arteries, it can direct the movement of vehicles and prevent vehicle collisions.
6. Based on the principle of the bat ultrasonic locator, people have also imitated the "pathfinder" for blind people. This This kind of pathfinder is equipped with an ultrasonic transmitter, which can be used by blind people to find electric poles, steps, people on bridges, etc. Nowadays, "ultrasonic glasses" with similar functions have also been made.
7 .Simulating the incomplete photosynthetic apparatus of cyanobacteria, a bionic photolysis water device will be designed to obtain a large amount of hydrogen.
8. Based on the research on the human skeletal muscle system and bioelectrical control, it has been The walking machine, a human enhancement device, is imitated.
9. The hooks of modern cranes originated from the paws of many animals.
10. The roof tiles imitate the scales of animals.
11. The paddle imitates the fins of the fish.
12. The saw is modeled after the mantis arm, or sawgrass.
13. The Xanthium plant is inspired Invented Velcro.
14. Lobsters with a sensitive sense of smell provide ideas for making odor detectors.
15. Gecko toes provide ideas for making sticky tapes that can be used repeatedly Encouraging prospects.
16. Its proteins can be used to create colloids so strong that such a colloid could be used in everything from surgical sutures to ship repairs.
There are many famous examples, such as the "dolphin skin swimsuit" which is constructed to imitate dolphin skin. When scientists studied the skin of whales, they found that it had a grooved structure, so a scientist created a swimsuit based on the structure of whale skin. Films covering the surface of airplanes can save 3% of energy according to experiments. If all airplanes across the country were covered with such surfaces, billions could be saved every year. Another example is when scientists studied spiders and found that spiders have no muscles in their legs but feet. Animals can walk, mainly by the contraction of muscles. Why can spiders walk now without muscles? According to research, spiders do not walk by the contraction of muscles, but by the "hydraulic" structure in them. Based on this, people invented Hydraulic walking machine... In short, we get inspiration from nature and imitate its structure to invent and create. This is bionics. This is one aspect of our learning from nature. On the other hand, we can also get inspiration from the laws of nature and use Design based on its principles (including design algorithms), this is the idea of ??intelligent computing
Birds’ contribution to bionics
From the emergence of Archaeopteryx to the present, in these hundreds of millions of years During the long process of evolution, birds have developed many effective navigation, recognition, calculation, energy conversion and other systems. Their sensitivity, efficiency, accuracy and drought resistance are all amazing. People have studied these structural and functional principles and Simulation is used to improve existing or create new machinery, instruments, and processes. This is
An important part of bionics research.
Birds have superb flying skills. Of course, modern aircraft far surpass birds in many aspects of performance, but in terms of energy saving and dexterity, they are inferior to birds. It pales in comparison. For example, a bird continuously flies over the ocean for more than 4,000 kilometers and loses 0.06 kilograms in weight. The small hummingbird can not only take off and land vertically, but also adopt an upright posture when sucking nectar. It can move forward and backward freely while hanging in the air, and is extremely flexible. For these special functions The research and utilization of this technology will further improve the performance of the aircraft.
For example, wild ducks can fly leisurely at a height of 9,500 meters, while people find it difficult to breathe when they climb to 4,500 meters. Research Why do birds still have smooth cerebral blood vessels under conditions of thin air? This is of great significance to humans living normally and extending their lives in an environment with insufficient oxygen supply.
Pigeons have made great contributions to bionics. .There is a small and sensitive special structure on its legs that can sense earthquakes. People have imitated a new seismograph based on its principles to make earthquake predictions more accurate. Its eyes have special recognition capabilities. This is because it There are 6 types of ganglion cells with specialized functions in the retina: leaf brightness detector, common edge detector, convex edge detector, direction detector, vertical edge detector, and horizontal detector. People imitate its cell structure on the retina. Although the structure of the made electronic model of the pigeon eye is not as complex and complete as it is, it has broad prospects for being installed on warning radars and used in electronic computers to process relevant data.
Occupancy of sea water on Earth 97% of the total water volume. The artificial desalination equipment of seawater is currently large in equipment, complex in structure, and consumes high energy. However, seabirds such as seagulls and albatrosses can discharge the salt in the seawater they drink through a salt gland near their eyes. Once completed, With the simulation of this function, the prospects for human use of the ocean will be broader.
In addition, people are developing the Hawkeye system missile based on the structure of the Hawkeye. This missile can automatically fly over the target. Find and identify targets to track and attack.
Butterflies and bionics
The colorful butterflies are brilliant, such as the red-moon swallowtail butterfly, the brown-veined monarch butterfly, etc., especially the fluorescent ones. The rear wings of the Papilion butterfly sometimes turn golden, sometimes emerald, and sometimes turn from purple to blue in the sunlight. Scientists have brought great benefits to military defense through the study of butterfly colors. During World War II, the German army surrounded Lenin Grad, in an attempt to use bombers to destroy its military targets and other defense facilities. Based on people's lack of understanding of camouflage at the time, Soviet entomologist Schwanovich proposed the principle of using the colors of butterflies to make them less visible among flowers. Covered with butterfly pattern camouflage. Therefore, despite the German army's efforts, the military base in Leningrad remained safe, laying a solid foundation for winning the final victory. Based on the same principle, people later produced Camouflage uniforms greatly reduce casualties in battles.
The continuous changes in the position of artificial satellites in space can cause sudden changes in temperature. Sometimes the temperature difference can be as high as two or three hundred degrees, seriously affecting the normal operation of many instruments. .Inspired by the fact that the scales on butterflies automatically change angles to adjust body temperature according to the direction of sunlight, scientists designed the satellite's temperature control system into a shutter style with greatly different radiation and heat dissipation capabilities from the front and back sides of the leaves. A temperature-sensitive metal wire is installed at the rotating position of the sash window. The opening and closing of the window can be adjusted as the temperature changes, thereby maintaining a constant temperature inside the satellite and solving a major problem in the aerospace industry.
-- Beetles and Bionics
When the beetle defends itself, it can spray "cannonballs" of high-temperature liquid with a foul odor to confuse, stimulate and frighten its enemies. After dissecting it, scientists found that inside the beetle There are three small chambers, which store dihydric phenol solution, hydrogen peroxide and biological enzymes respectively. Dihydric phenol and hydrogen peroxide flow into the third chamber and mix with biological enzymes to cause a chemical reaction, which instantly becomes 100°C venom and is quickly ejected. This kind of The principle has now been applied in military technology. During World War II, in order to meet the needs of the war, the German Nazis created a new type of engine with extremely powerful power and safe and reliable performance based on this mechanism. It was installed on an aircraft missile to increase its flight speed. It is faster, safer and more stable, and has an improved hit rate. London, England, suffered heavy losses when it was bombed. Inspired by the principle of beetle jetting, American military experts developed an advanced binary weapon. This weapon combines two or more poison-producing agents. The chemical substances are divided into two separate containers. After the projectile is fired, the diaphragm ruptures, and the two poison intermediates are stored in the projectile for 8 to 10 seconds while it is flying.
Mix and react within seconds, generating lethal poisons to kill the enemy the moment they reach the target. They are easy to produce, store, transport, safe and not prone to failure. Fireflies can directly convert chemical energy into light energy, and the conversion efficiency reaches 100% , while the luminous efficiency of ordinary electric lamps is only 6%. The cold light source made by imitating the luminous principle of fireflies can increase the luminous efficiency by more than ten times, greatly saving energy. In addition, the air-to-air pair has been successfully developed based on the optokinetic response mechanism of beetles. Ground speedometer has been successfully used in the aviation industry.
--Dragonfly and bionics
Dragonflies can produce local unstable airflow that is different from the surrounding atmosphere through wing vibration, which can be well utilized It uses the vortex generated by the airflow to make itself rise. The dragonfly can soar with very little thrust. It can not only fly forward, but also backward and left and right. Its forward flying speed can reach 72km/h. In addition, the dragonfly The flying behavior of the helicopter is simple, relying only on two pairs of wings to flap continuously. Scientists have successfully developed a helicopter based on this structural basis. When the aircraft flies at high speed, it often causes violent vibrations, and sometimes even breaks the wings, causing aircraft crashes. Dragonflies rely on their weighted wing moles to fly safely at high speeds, so people followed the example of dragonflies and added counterweights to the wings of the aircraft to solve the thorny problem of vibration caused by high-speed flight.
-- Flies and bionics
Entomologists have found that the hind wings of a fly degenerate into a pair of balance rods. When it flies, the balance rods vibrate mechanically at a certain frequency, which can adjust the direction of the wings. , is a navigator that maintains the balance of the fly's body. Based on this principle, scientists developed a new generation of navigator-vibration gyroscope, which greatly improved the flight performance of the aircraft LlJ, allowing the aircraft to automatically stop dangerous roll flights when the aircraft body tilts strongly. It can also automatically restore balance, even when the aircraft makes the most complex sharp turns. The fly's compound eye contains 4,000 single eyes that can independently image, and can see objects within a range of almost 360°. Inspired by the fly's eye, people A fly-eye camera composed of 1,329 small lenses that can take 1,329 high-resolution photos at a time was made. It is widely used in military, medicine, aviation, and aerospace. The fly's sense of smell is particularly sensitive and can detect dozens of species. The odor can be quickly analyzed and responded immediately. Based on the structure of the fly's olfactory organ, scientists convert various chemical reactions into electrical pulses to create a very sensitive small gas analyzer. It has been widely used in spacecrafts and submarines. and mines and other places to detect gas components, making the safety factor of scientific research and production more accurate and reliable.
-- Bees and bionics
The honeycomb consists of six neatly arranged It is composed of small prismatic cells. The bottom of each small cell is composed of 3 identical rhombuses. These structures are exactly the same as those accurately calculated by modern mathematicians - the obtuse angle of the rhombus is 109°28\' and the acute angle is 70°32\'. It is the most material-saving structure, has large capacity and is extremely strong, which has amazed many experts. People imitate its structure and use various materials to make honeycomb sandwich structural panels. It has high strength, light weight, and is not easy to conduct sound and heat. It is an ideal choice for construction and construction. An ideal material for manufacturing space shuttles, spaceships, artificial satellites, etc. Each single eye of a bee's compound eye is adjacently arranged with polarizing plates that are very sensitive to the direction of polarized light, and can use the sun to accurately position. Scientists have successfully developed polarization based on this principle. Optical navigators have long been widely used in navigation.
--Other insects and bionics
The jumping ability of fleas is very strong. Aviation experts have conducted a lot of research on this. A British The aircraft manufacturing company was inspired by its vertical take-off method and successfully manufactured a Harrier aircraft that can take off and land almost vertically. Modern television technology has created a large-screen color TV based on the structural characteristics of the insect's single compound eye, which can also The fluorescent screen of Taichung TV makes up a large picture, and several specific small pictures can be framed at any position on the same screen. It can play the same picture or different pictures. Scientists have successfully developed it based on the structural characteristics of insect compound eyes. The multi-aperture optical system device makes it easier to search for targets and has been used in some important foreign weapon systems. Based on the principle of mutual inhibition between the single eyes that make up the compound eyes of some aquatic insects, the side suppression electronic model is used for Photos taken by various photography systems can enhance image edge contrast and highlight contours, and can also be used to improve the display sensitivity of radar, and can also be used for preprocessing of text and image recognition systems. The United States uses insect compound eyes to process information and directional navigation principles , developed an insect-like compound with great practical value
Engineering model of the eye-catching terminal guidance seeker. Japan has used insect morphology and characteristics to develop new construction methods for engineering machines and buildings such as hexapods.
-- Future Outlook
In the course of hundreds of millions of years of evolution, insects have gradually evolved with changes in the environment, and have developed their own survival skills to varying degrees. With the development of society, people have mastered the various life activities of insects. More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of insects to humans. Coupled with the application of information technology, especially the new generation of computer bioelectronic technology in entomology, the types and concentrations of detection substances developed to simulate the sensing capabilities of insects Biosensors, computers that can imitate brain activity developed based on the neural structure of insects, and a series of biotechnology projects will turn scientists' imaginations into reality and enter various fields. Insects will make greater contributions to mankind. Contribution.
--How much do you know about insects
The most harmful insects to humans are mosquitoes, which kill 3 million people every year from malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and other diseases they transmit. .
The ant is the strongest insect, it can support 300 times its body weight.
The flea is a high jump champion, and its one jump is 200 times its body length. This It is equivalent to a person jumping 400 meters high.
Locusts are the insects with the strongest flying ability. They can fly continuously for 9 hours.
The hawkmoth larvae with the largest appetite, it Within one month of birth, a silkworm can eat something 80,000 times heavier than its body weight.
A single silkworm can spin a single fiber that is more than a kilometer long.
The fastest moving one The insect is a tropical cockroach, which can move 40 to 43 times its body length per second, which is equivalent to a person moving 130m per second.
The gnat is the insect with the fastest wing beat rate and can flap every second. 600 million times.
The insect with the greatest contrast is a swallowtail butterfly native to Africa. It is beautiful, but it is extremely smelly and highly poisonous.
Haw moths have a keen sense of smell. Among insects, the male moth can smell the odor emitted by the female moth from more than ten kilometers away. Although the pheromone released by the female moth is only 0.0001mg.
The insect with the most eyes is the clearfly, and one of its A compound eye is composed of 28,000 single eyes.
The most industrious insect is the bee. It works tirelessly throughout its life looking for pollen and nectar until it dies.
The honeycomb is made of 40g of wax. The resulting honey chamber can carry 2kg of honey.
Bees need to collect nectar from 2,000 flowers to produce one teaspoon of honey.
Fireflies are the insects with the best light energy conversion rate , they can convert 90% of the energy into light energy. The energy conversion rate of the light bulbs we usually use is only 5.5%.
The smallest insect is a small bug in North America, only 0.25mm long, which can directly Passing through the eye of a needle.
The largest insect is the giant stick insect from Indonesia, with a wing-to-wing width of 33cm. Another Indian giant silkworm moth also has a wingspan of 30cm.
The most primitive insect in appearance is the cockroach, which has remained almost unchanged for 250 million years.
Termites contain 60% of protein, while steak only contains 15%, so more and more people eat insects as food. There are many, and it can be expected that termites will be one of the important sources of protein for humans in the future.
The most beautiful insect is a beetle in the order Coleoptera. Its elytra are colored gold, sapphire blue, smoke black, lemon yellow, They come in colors such as pink and pea green, and have shiny purple antennae, and they are very coordinated. It is said that each one can be sold for 50,000 US dollars.
The most diverse insects are Coleoptera, and scientists predict that there may There are more than 3 million species, and nearly 500,000 species have been recorded so far, accounting for almost 30% of the total known animal species and half of the insect species.
From a bionics perspective, being The insect most studied by humans is the fly. Its eyes, feet, balance rod, sucking mouthparts, immunity, flying skills and many other aspects of bionic achievements have been applied to many aspects of human life.
The cannon insect (Carabidae, Carabidae) will eject a corrosive gas mixed with hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone at a temperature of about 100°C to drive away attackers. It shoots 20 times in a row like a gun, with a range of 5cm. 4 times its body length. This beetle will not be harmed by heat or corrosive gases.
The insect with the highest IQ is the bee. An American scientist pressed 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32… of
Regularly add sugar to the white squares on the ground. After adding 32 and preparing to move to the 64-bit square, there were already many bees waiting there. The scientist said frustratedly: "I don't know if I am experimenting with them or if they are." Experiment with me!". This discovery proves that some animals also have the ability to think abstractly.
The cruelest and largest war among insects occurs among ants. I have witnessed such a thing .In an area of ??nearly one square meter, there are all our common ants. They are fighting fiercely, causing countless casualties. It is said that the scale of ant wars in South America is much larger. This kind of war scene is not easy to see.
--Insects and Bionics
A robot known as a "bionic fly" may revolutionize battlefield surgery. It will be the first robot that can be led on the battlefield. Robots that go to injured service members and provide emergency treatment to them, where it would be too dangerous for a surgeon to operate them.
Previous surgeon robots were limited because they relied on injured service members to carry them.< /p>
Once the "Bionic Fly" finds a casualty, it deploys its motor-driven arms and performs a surgical procedure, guided by a doctor who may be hundreds of miles away. The new robot is the first to use two It uses only one arm to perform remote-controlled surgical operations.
The robot will be demonstrated later this week at the International Conference on Medical Simulation and Education in The Hague.
Remote surgeons use video cameras, 3D video images, stereo and remote tools and force feedback are used to control the robot. When the surgeon moves the tool, the bionic fly's arm imitates. When the robot touches soft tissue, the surgeon feels resistance through force feedback.
< p>It has been used by U.S. military doctors as a training aid and to perform some complex operations on animals.-- Bees
There are many species of bees. Some bees live in Among the colonies of about 12 bees, some live alone. The most social bees are bees, and there can be as many as 80,000 bees in a hive.
The most distinctive feature of a hive The place is in the cells, many of which are joined together to form a honeycomb. Each cell is hexagonal, a structurally strong shape. It saves wax and effort compared to building other shapes.
Part of the comb is used to store food, that is, the pollen and nectar that bees collect from flowers. The nectar is turned into honey in the comb. All eggs are laid by the queen bee, which is produced in each An egg is laid in the honeycomb. The eggs are then cared for by female worker bees.
Each honeycomb is made of wax secreted by the bee's body. The bee uses its mouth and front legs to Knead the wax until it is soft enough for processing.
When a worker bee flies from flower to flower, it stores the pollen it collects in the pollen blue on its hind legs.
A hive has many cells with the same wall thickness. The worker bees who build the hive will use their tentacles to poke into the wall to see how much they penetrate to judge the thickness of the wall.
- - Ant "vampires" were discovered to solve the mystery of ant evolution
A colony of predatory ants was discovered in Madagascar. According to scientists on Tuesday, ants are the most successfully evolved insect species in the world, and The predatory ant discovered this time will play a very important role in solving the mystery of ant evolution.
This kind of ant looks very scary. The person who discovered it named it "Dracula" ant. When hungry, they will suck the juice from their own larvae to supplement nutrition. This behavior is believed to be an evolutionary behavior between ants and wasps millions of years ago.
From the California Academy of Sciences, USA Brian Fisher of Madagascar discovered these predatory ants in a rotten tree stump 55 miles outside Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
As far as humans have known Among insect species, although ants are very weak, they are the most widely distributed on the earth and are more numerous than any other type of creature on the earth. Researchers want to know what factors have made ants evolve so successfully.
< p> Madagascar is an island country in the southeastern waters of Africa. Due to its relatively isolated ecological environment and lack of competition from new species, some older or "relic" species can survive here, so this island country has It is regarded as a treasure land rich in biological information."Dracu
The la' ant was first discovered in Madagascar in 1993, but Fisher's discovery this time is the first discovery of this ant's living community. This will allow scientists to learn more details about the evolution of ants. Fisher believes that "Dracula" There is some inevitable connection between ants and early wasps.
In this kind of ant colony, when the queen ants and worker ants are hungry, they will go to the larvae chamber in the hole and punch a hole in their larvae. hole, sucking their body fluids and obtaining nutrients.
Fisher explained that this is why he named this ant "Dracula", "Dracula" refers to a kind of vampire. He Said: "We think this is a very cruel cannibalistic behavior."
He believes that future research on "Dracula" ants can enable scientists to grasp more clues to the development of ant behavior. Ultimately, Allowing scientists to reconsider all their assumptions about the evolution of ants. "These initial findings tell us that current assumptions about the evolution of ants are inaccurate. The most important thing about this discovery is not that we have found a new species , but it is very important to help us solve the mystery of the evolution of life."
--From butterfly wings to anti-counterfeiting banknotes
In the eyes of ordinary people, butterfly wings and anti-counterfeiting banknotes are either Anti-counterfeiting credit cards are two completely different things and have no connection at all. However, as long as you have the patience to read this short article of less than a thousand words, you will understand that there is indeed some cause and effect. , and you will also see another wonderful use of the subject of bionics. Please continue reading!
The so-called bionics is the study of how to imitate the structure and function of living things to create equipment or objects. A subject that benefits mankind. A report recently published in the British magazine "Nature" on the formation of the color of the wings of a butterfly living in Indonesia not only shows us the mysteries of nature, but also helps us develop newer, Anti-counterfeiting banknotes that can no longer be counterfeited by bad guys opens up an idea of ??bionics.
Vuvisic, a physicist at the Thin Film Photonics Laboratory of the University of Exeter in the UK, and two others A colleague, due to an accidental opportunity, began to study the wings of a butterfly called the Papilion butterfly a few years ago. The wings of this butterfly are originally yellow or blue, but in human eyes they become sparkling green. They used a microscope to observe the wings of the giant swallowtail butterfly and found that the butterfly wings were actually covered with concave pits. These pits were too small, only about 4/10,000 centimeters in size. The bottom of the pits was yellow, while the slopes of the pits were blue. Colorful. Ubisik explained in the following way why the wings of the Papilio butterfly appear green to humans: when light hits the bottom of the pit, it is reflected and appears yellow, while the light hitting a slope of the pit is It is also reflected, but this reflected light is incident on another slope and is reflected again. At this time, because the pit is too small, the human eye cannot distinguish the yellow light reflected from the bottom of the pit from the blue light reflected twice around it. Therefore, what is felt is green. In addition, they also found that these two reflections also changed the polarization direction of the light. The human eye cannot distinguish this change, but bees and other insects can detect it. There is still a way to explain the polarization direction of the light. It really requires some expertise. A simple but not very precise explanation is the direction of photon vibration in the electromagnetic field.
For us ordinary people, discovering these mysteries would probably be nothing more than high-fiving and praising the magic of creation. There is nothing else to do. However, Uwisik and others are thinking of counterfeit money. They are currently studying how to imitate the structure of the wings of a large swallowtail butterfly and make small holes on banknotes or credit cards, so that no matter who makes counterfeit money, they will print the counterfeit money on Although the appearance is similar to the real currency, they have absolutely no technology to cover the counterfeit currency with the same distribution and size of small pits as the real currency. They only need to use special optical equipment to emit polarized light and see the polarization direction of the reflected light. , the authenticity will be immediately revealed, and the hard-earned money we have earned will no longer be cheated by scammers. Do you think there is any relationship between butterfly wings and anti-counterfeiting banknotes?
-- Silkworms: the ideal "insect factory" of the future
Silkworms are originated in China. The silk they produce is the best natural fiber. The silk they produce has made an indelible contribution to beautifying human life. Contribution. With the rapid development of biotechnology, it may become an "insect factory" that produces advanced pharmaceuticals and other useful substances in the 21st century, making new contributions to mankind.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Japan built the Tsukuba Science Center The Silk and Insect Agricultural Technology Research Institute in the city is currently working on
Research on using silkworms to establish "insect factories". Using silkworms as targets, scientists here have basically developed various "equipment" and processes necessary for "insect factories", such as transgenic silkworms that produce useful substances and automated silkworm raising systems. and freezing and thawing body fluid collection methods.
For example, the genetic engineering laboratory led by Toshiki Tamura of the institute implanted DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) into silkworms using the green fluorescent protein gene of jellyfish as a marker. In the chromosomes, luminous silkworms have been successfully bred. This result means that if the green fluorescent protein gene is replaced with genes for other useful substances, then the silkworms will be able to become a "manufacturing factory" of this substance.
< p>As an "insect factory" that produces high-end pharmaceuticals, the breeding environment of genetically modified silkworms must be kept highly clean. To this end, the institute has developed a fully automatic feed manufacturing and supply system. It consists of artificial feed manufacturing equipment, multiple It consists of a stage-cycle transgenic silkworm breeding device and a feed supply device. The entire process is also controlled by a computer. The computer can automatically adjust the indoor temperature, humidity and air. Due to the unmanned operation, external debris, Bacteria and viruses will not enter the room. This automated system can raise 20,000 silkworms, and the production scale of the "insect factory" is considerable.Compared with E. coli, ants, etc., the volume of silkworms is relatively small Huge. But it is an insect after all, and a silkworm can produce only a very small amount of useful substances. How to efficiently extract useful substances from the body of genetically modified silkworms has also become one of the topics in the development of "insect factory" technology. Scientist Mitsuhiro Miyazawa took advantage of the phenomenon of volume shrinkage of frozen larvae (mainly lepidopteran insects) after dissolution, and successfully developed the "freezing and dissolving body fluid collection method." This method is to place genetically modified silkworms in an anesthetized state at a concentration of 70% In ethanol, freeze it at minus 30 degrees Celsius. In this state, cut off the abdomen and legs of the silkworm, and then move it to a buffer containing an anti-melanization agent for thawing. Useful body fluids will be generated due to the thawing process. The silkworm shrinks and flows directly from the place where the abdomen and legs are removed. The advantage of this method is that it does not require special equipment or complicated procedures, and freezing can preserve the useful substances produced in the body of the silkworm for a long time. This scientist has used this method He extracted 370 ml of body fluid from 500 silkworms, which is quite efficient. His liquid collection method has applied for an international patent.
The head of the institute, Doctor of Agriculture Kitamura Mibin, told reporters, "Using "Insect function" is one of the main research areas of the institute. Various departments are conducting research on about 50 species of insects, such as dragonflies, ants, locusts, stink bugs, bees, sweet potato hawkmoths, unicorns, American cockroaches and Spodoptera litura. The purpose of research is to use their unique tissue structure, brain nervous system, reproductive function and motor function to create new materials (such as amino acid separation membranes, artificial skin, anti-blood coagulation materials, osseointegration materials, antibacterial proteins, anti-thrombotic drugs, Immunoactive substances, etc.) and the development of bionic technologies (such as the manufacture of biosensors, biochips, micromachines, and behavioral control technologies for pests, livestock, and fisheries, etc.). The use of silkworms to establish "insect factories" is one of the key points.< /p>
Kitamura believes that silkworms are very suitable for use as "insect factories". The reason is that silkworms are relatively large and have a large number of organs for producing proteins - silk glands. So far, scientists have studied physiology, biochemistry and Silkworms have been studied from various angles such as genetics, so technology development is relatively easy. In addition, silkworms cannot fly, are easy to isolate and manage, and are highly safe. So far, there has been no technological transformation of silkworms using genetic modification technology in the world. And using precedents, the research of Japanese scientists is groundbreaking.