Instructions:  Conduct research about a recent current event using credible sources. Then, compile what you’ve learned to write your own hard or soft news article. Minimum: 250 words. Feel free to do outside research to support your claims.  Remember to: be objective, include a lead that answers the...

Read more
Scientists Print 3-D Bugs
Alexander Li
You’re walking around your backyard, admiring the roses, tulips, and daisies. The air is clear and fragile, and you appreciate it. Suddenly, you see a wasp. Yikes! Will it sting you? Then, you quickly realize you are looking at a hoverfly, a harmless species of flies.
The hoverfly is a harmless species, but has evolved to mimic a wasp so it can avoid getting eaten. When a harmless species mimics a harmful species, it is called Batesian mimicry according to a BBC article. Scientists working at University of Nottingham are experimenting with 3-D models to see how the hoverfly does this.
By using those models, those scientists were able to manipulate the shape and colors of hoverflies and wasps. Using 3-D scans, they were able to create models of hoverflies. The models enabled them to ask questions like: How could this mimic be better? Could we use a more wasplike color? Can we change the shape of this model?
Next, they test how well their models fool predators. In this case, they used birds and spiders. The scientists tested if the birds could tell the difference between the mimics and their models. They found out that the color and size of a 3-D model were key components to being a successful mimic. They also found out that the model could get away being less accurate if they were attacked by spiders than birds.
Dr Reader says: “As an evolutionary biologist you are constantly trying to understand something that happened in the past, and without a time machine you can’t know how a hoverfly ended up like it did. These techniques enable us to visualise and recreate life-size full colour models of what ancestors or future descendants of today’s hoverflies might look like and to then ask real predators, such as birds and spiders – what do you think about these characteristics that might have been present in the past or future?” So the next time you see a wasp, check if it’s a hoverfly and think about how it’s a biological adapation and is harmless to us.
Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cdezrr4djr4o
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/the-imitation-game

Share