ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2025
Tapered insect (Acheta domesticus) antennae have rapid damped return with minimal oscillation after perturbation.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
As tactile sensors, antennae must be flexible and responsive while maintaining shape and control of the structure. We evaluated the geometric and mechanical properties of cricket antennae, which we treat as bending cantilever beams. Flexural rigidity (EI) is the mechanical property that most significantly controls bending behavior. We determined that the flexural rigidity decreases steeply (proximal to distal) by evaluating the quasistatic bent shapes in response to obstacle contact at different points along the antennae. This steep decrease in flexural rigidity causes the antennae to bend readily only near the obstacle contact, in contrast to the curvature of a beam with uniform properties and cross-section (which bends closer to the base). This flexural rigidity gradient in the antennae is consistent with the morphology: a decreasing second moment of area calculated from the measured taper and the diminishing wall (cuticle) thickness. Cricket antennae recovered from a single localized perturbation quickly and with minimal to no oscillation, suggesting behavior close to critical damping (fastest return without oscillations). Bending primarily occurred in the portion of the flagellum near the obstacle contact, reducing the length of the flagellum that participated in the oscillating behavior (natural frequency ∼11 Hz). Forced sinusoidal vibrations generated a resonance frequency of ∼30 Hz with imperceptible movement in the proximal part of the flagellum while the distal part vibrated. The results suggest that tapering of an elongated mechanosensor may facilitate a rapid return to its original shape without oscillation, which is an advantageous attribute that may also inform biomimetic applications.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.