(music)
Now that's a jump!
It would make even
Michael Jordan proud.
Look at it again.
See how the abdomen
curls up
as the mantis leaps?
That curl
is the crutial move
for a juvenile mantis
-- which doesn't have
any wings yet --
when it launches itself
towards a target.
That's what Cambridge
University
researchers found
when they analyzed
the leap
using high speed video.
The curled abdomen
changes
the center
of the jumpers mass
and it also generates
just a little bit
of spin.
It turns out
that the mantis needs
to generate some spin
first
and then correct it
on the fly
in order to make
an accurate jump.
That finding could be
very useful for engineers
who are now
trying to figure out
how to make
jumping robots
not spin out of control.
Look what happens
to the mantis
when glue is used
to make the abdomen
too stiff to curl
properly.
The mantises
couldn't do it.
Sometimes they even
crashed head on.
Of course,
even without the glue
the mantises
weren't perfect.
But then, neither was
Michael Jordan.
(music)