Science1NewsScientists solve mystery behind honeybee's sting
Australian scientists have finally worked out how a honeybee's stinger keeps pumping venom after the bee flies away, and the design could inspire better medical devices like insulin pumps.
Major step to understanding how a honeybee's stinger continues to pump venom after the bee flies away.
Researchers at Macquarie University and UNSW have published the first study to film and explain how a detached honeybee stinger keeps pumping venom on its own.
Two tiny valves act like collapsible pistons, changing shape to push venom in a continuous flow, a mechanism the team spent five years uncovering and published in PNAS.
The team replicated the valve design in a 3D printed model and says it could inspire better medical devices, with an insulin pump among the possibilities suggested.
The researchers say the valve design could be used to improve medical devices such as insulin pumps, so this discovery may eventually have real health benefits worth watching.
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