High-speed videos reveal that, unlike other jumping insects, the juvenile praying mantis does not spin out of control when airborne. In fact, it both creates and controls angular momentum at extraordinary speeds to orient its body for precise landings.
Previously believed to be only man-made, a natural example of a functioning gear mechanism has been discovered in a common insect - showing that evolution developed interlocking cogs long before we did.
Footage shows how a little creature propels itself off water.
New research from the University of Cambridge sheds light on how fleas jump, reaching speeds as fast as 1.9 meters per second.
Scientists have uncovered the underlying biological reason why locusts form migrating swarms. Their findings, reported in today's edition of Science, could be used in the future to prevent the plagues which devastate crops (notably in developing countries), affecting the livelihood of one in ten people across the globe.
Froghoppers, the champion jumpers of the insect world, can leap 100 times their body length by using a structure similar to an archer's bow.
The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund has provided £3.8 million to endow in perpetuity a professorship in Conservation Biology at the University of Cambridge.
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