ZQ28

The Latest Buzz Tom McKeag

midnight withdrawals from your blood bank with a minimum of disturbance and detection. The end of the fascicle is a marvel of engineering and a supreme example of using structure, rather than material, for strength. The tip of the fascicle is extremely sharp, and, much like a human-made hypodermic needle, is a creased sheet structure that gradually folds over itself into a tube. The fascicle is an order of magnitude smaller than a typical hypodermic needle and its

Scanning electron microscopy image of mosquito proboscis. Photo: Judyta Dulnik, 2015 | Wikimedia Commons

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inner diameter is only about 20 microns. Its sheet-structure tip is about 50 microns long and tapers sharply in a 10 to 1 ratio along that length. For added stiffness the two sides of this v-shaped tip have small reinforcing ridges. Unlike a traditional hypodermic needle, the fascicle is flexible, and relies on the labium for lateral support and the behavior of the mosquito to test the best placement to avoid buckling. Once she has penetrated the outer layer of skin, the mosquito will bend her legs