Discovery that Insects Can Walk Underwater using Bubbles

A team headed by Dr. Naoe Hosoda, Group Leader of the Interconnection Design Group, Hybrid Materials Unit (Unit Director: Yutaka Kagawa), National Institute for Materials Science (President: Sukekatsu Ushioda), is engaged in research and development of “Future joining technology for reversible interconnection” as an environment-friendly technology which will be necessary in a resource circulation society.
In research on the feet of insects, which display excellent adhesive properties, the NIMS team and Prof. S. N. Gorb of Kiel University, Germany, discovered that leaf beetles (Gastrophysa viridula), which are terrestrial insects that normally live in the atmosphere, can also walk underwater by trapping bubbles with the adhesive setae on their feet.
Dr. Hosoda and her team clarified the mechanism which makes this possible and developed an artificial silicone polymer structure with underwater adhesion properties. This achievement is expected to be developed as an environment-friendly technology and is also considered applicable to clean underwater adhesion without using chemical substances that impact the environment.
This result will be published in the influential English scientific journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B” on Wednesday, August 8 at 8:01a.m. Japan time.