First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature

Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by bitwize on Thursday September 12, 2013 @03:49PM (#6376483)

5) Organic creatures have mechanical systems as part of their physiology. "Mechanical" doesn't mean "made of metal", it means "uses movement and friction to achieve some effect". Some mechanical devices, such as levers and swivels, are seen frequently in the animal kingdom; others, such as gears, pulleys, and wheels, are almost never seen in nature. Discovering one of this latter category is a fascinating find.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by sliverstorm on Thursday September 12, 2013 @03:59PM (#6376547)

Pulleys are not that rare. Block and tackle is, but you have pulleys in your hands.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by jlgreco on Thursday September 12, 2013 @05:33PM (#6377100)

Wikipedia defines pulleys as "A pulley is a wheel on an axle that is designed to support movement of a cable or belt along its circumference", though I think the wheel/axle requirement is probably shouldn't be considered a hard requirement.

On the other hand, I don't think I would call the loops that fishing line passes through along the length of a fishing pole "pulleys".

I guess I'd say that block and tackle is not common, and neither are "wheeled pulleys", but "friction pulleys" are.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by sliverstorm on Thursday September 12, 2013 @05:55PM (#6377238)

If your line is out, and you take up slack and the fishing pole starts to bow, the loops are indeed functioning as pulleys.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by jlgreco on Thursday September 12, 2013 @06:00PM (#6377275)

Absolutely, in the technical sense, though I would hesitate to actually describe it that way. It seems strange.

Alternatively, shoelace eyelets are pulleys ('block and tackle' in fact) , but describing them that way seems odd.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by sporkologist on Thursday September 12, 2013 @04:18PM (#6376655)

e.g. Our arms are levers. Bacteria flagella are rotary bearings. Etc.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by agumonkey on Thursday September 12, 2013 @06:47PM (#6377502)

Completely agree I was a bit stunned. I've yet to see an organic wheel, many of the things humans discovered already existed in nature (cutting tools, chemicals, fire, ceramics), but the wheel seems to be apart from these.

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by quasque on Thursday September 12, 2013 @07:30PM (#6377668)

Probably the closest to organic wheels are organisms that form a wheel-like shape in order to roll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLS2WXZQxU

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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by agumonkey on Friday September 13, 2013 @08:43AM (#6380048)

That's amazing. It lacks the load-bearing side of wheels + rod but anyway, thanks.

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