Big bugs idea has no legs
- August 10, 2007 4:46 PM |
- By Ian Johnson
by Dan Westell, CBCNews.ca
More bad news for sci-fi fans. U.S. researchers have come up with additional science that squishes the idea of giant bugs.
Amazon.com has a list of 100 big bug movies, and even if some of them are clearly a stretch, the classics - Them!, Men in Black, and Starship Troopers - have established giant insects as real stars.
Of course, such bugs couldn't exist; it's a physical impossibility, as any biologist knows, and as the University of Chicago's Michael C. LaBarbera has laid out clearly. Now the U.S. government's Argonne National Laboratory, Midwestern University and Arizona State have weighed in with their own evidence.
Using x-rays, the team set out to learn whether the insect respiratory system contrains bug sizes. Sure enough, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reports that the size of the tracheal tubes needed to carry oxygen to the legs of big bugs would be too big to fit through the bottlenecks between the body and the legs.
In the late Paleozoic, there were giant bugs, but there was more oxygen in the atmosphere; hence the tubes didn't have to be as big as they would today.
The x-rays were used to take pictures of the tubes in four different-sized beetle species, where the body mass varied by a factor of up to 1,000.
Science 1: Big bugs 0.
About the Authors
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
Categories
All News blogs
Most Commented
Most Recommended
Tech Bytes
Most Commented
Most Recommended
Recent Entries
- Universe hates Higgs boson, Chicago Cubs
- By John Bowman, CBCNews. A physicist working on the Large Hadron Collider doesn't think much of the theory that the universe is sabotaging the project to prevent the discovery of the Higgs boson. Might as well say that Nature hates... Continue reading this post
- Large Hadron Collider goes Back to the Future
- By Peter Evans, CBCNews.ca. Two respected physicists have put forward the theory that the Large Hadron Collider's stated aim of finding the Higgs boson might be so abhorrent to nature that mysterious forces are traveling back through time and sabotaging... Continue reading this post
- Multi-touch concept for desktops: 10/GUI
- By John Bowman, CBCNews.ca. I'm a fan of alternative ideas for human-computer interaction, so this video caught my attention. It shows an idea for a ten-finger touchpad interface and associated changes in the way a computer would handle multiple windows.... Continue reading this post
Comments (6)
Of course, sci-fi fans will not be deterred from continuing to enjoy their big bug movies to any greater degree by this reiteration of old news than they already have been. As we've long understood, bad science doesn't necessarily mean less fun at the theatre or on the couch watching the video.
Sometimes, it just means more laughter.
I don't think that it is entirely bad news.
The bugs in Starship Troopers were on other planets. Might there have been more oxygen?
Even so. Might huge bugs be a be able to breathe throught their legs. If a bug that big can fit in a DiNofro suit, surely he can breath though his legs?
Besides Science Fiction fans have often had to suspend disbelief. Shatner as a Starship captain? Come on!?!
Why exactly does the U.S. government's Argonne National Laboratory feel it needs to prove this? Is anyone really worried about giant insects?
All I have to say is 'thank goodness' we don't have giant bugs running around. I'll admit nothing puts a scare in me like a wasp can. It's a childhood trauma thing. I've seen a kind of tropical wasp...the thing was the size of my hand, no lie! THAT thing was plenty giant for me! Thankfully it was securely pinned (and dead!) in a display case. Imagine getting stung by that thing? O.O
I have read articles stating that atmospheric pressure and gravity have influenced evolution on Earth. Who's to say that there aren't some humungous insects (or other formw of life) on a low-gravity, low-pressure, oxygen-rich planet somewhere? For that matter, who's to say these hypothetical creatures even breath oxygen? As a supposedly scientifically advanced species (as if we had any other to compare!), we are remarkably short-sighted when thinking about what "might" be on other planets. It would be nice if scientists could just clarify that, obviously, their findings are Earth-centric and may have little, if anything, to do with extra-terrestrial reality.
Nadine, you hit the nail right on the head. My brother and I discuss this all the time with friends, and we share your point of view. Take Earth, for example. Earth had a very different atmosphere in its early history, with very little to no oxygen, and yet there was life to be found.
Although we've learned much about the universe, we've only just begun to see what could be going on in distant worlds. I suppose it's only natural that we begin by looking for something similar to what we already know and thats Earth-like, oxygen rich environments. It's a starting point anyways.