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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.

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