By bomb insects with electron , Japanese researchers formed a microscopically thin layer that protect them from the depredation of a vacuum . The find suggests a way that microbe might survive the harsh conditions of outer space — and perhaps humans as well .
insect do n’t fare well in a vacuum . When exposed to severely reduced press , they shrivel - up and break down within minutes . But as Takahiko Hariyama and colleagues recently detect , if the bug are bathe in a shaft of electrons , they become amazingly tolerant to a gamey vacuum .
They come to this recognition after come out a alive fruit rainfly larva under an electron microscope — microscopes that only work on objects locate within a vacuum , otherwise air particle absorb the electrons required to take the trope . But after expecting the larva to quick dehydrate , it continued to survive and thrive . And in fact , it eventually develop into a healthy fruit rainfly .
Writing in ScienceNOW , Sean Treacyexplains what happened :
The scientists then used the microscope to peer closely at the edge of the insects ’ tegument . They found that the energy from the electrons changed the sparse film on the larvae ’s hide , causing its molecules to link together — a process call polymerisation . The result was a layer — only 50- to 100 - billionths of a meter heavyset — that was flexile enough to take into account the larva to move , but solid enough to keep its natural gas and liquid from escaping . “ Even if we touch the surface [ of the layer ] , ” Hariyama says , “ the surface did not break by our mechanically skillful contact . ” It was almost like a miniature spacesuit .
The squad dubbed the layers “ nano - lawsuit . ” Most insects do not have lifelike layer on their surfaces that become nano - suit when expose to an electron stream , however . So Hariyama and fellow worker decided to make artificial nano - causa . They dunked mosquito larvae in a syndicate of water desegregate with a chemical called Tween 20 , which is utilitarian because it ’s not toxic and is usually obtain in detergent , cosmetic , and hard confect . The researchers then showered each larva in plasma , so that the Tween 20 would polymerize and become a nano - courtship , and move the nano - accommodate larvae to the microscope ’s vacancy to watch what hap .
Treacy also spoke to an astrobiologist about the discovery :
The determination is “ exciting , ” says astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild of NASA ’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field , California , who was not involved in the work , because it suggest that nano - suited creatures might survive travel by a meteorite or comet through the uttermost environments of blank . She notes that it could also have coating for space travelling . “ Imagine a flexible distance shield , roughly the diam of a human hair that could protect against drying up and actinotherapy . ”
Read theentire articleat ScienceNOW ; and check out the cogitation at PNAS : “ A thin polymer tissue layer , nano - courtship , heighten natural selection across the continuum between air and gamey vacuum . ”
Image : Yasuharu Takaku et al./PNAS
BiologybiophysicsNanotechnologyPlasma physicsScience
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