How an insect using its butt to flick pee droplets could keep your smartwatch dry
Sharpshooter insect with pee droplet excreta on the anal stylus. | Image: Bhamla Lab, Georgia Tech
The glassy-winged sharpshooter is an insect so impressive when it pees it could inspire more efficient designs for water-resistant devices.
Saad Bhamla was in his vegetable garden in Atlanta, Georgia, when he first noticed the feat. The sharpshooter forms neat, round pee droplets that it flicks away with lightning speed. Bhamla, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of biomolecular engineering, whipped out his iPhone to take some slow-motion videos.
“The more I zoomed in, the more I realized that it was doing something interesting,” Bhamla tells The Verge.
It turns out the sharpshooter accomplishes something with its urine that hasn’t been documented in a…
