The image above is a close-up of a detail on the legs of an adolescent issus, a kind of planthopper insect. The structure allows the bug, which is less than 1/10 of an inch long, to synchronize the movement of its rear legs to a precision of 1/300,000 of a second. It rockets forward (VIDEO HERE), accelerating at nearly 400 g's and breaking a speed of 8 mph. British zoologist Malcolm Burrows of the University of Cambridge explains, "Jumping is one of the most rapid and powerful things an animal can do and that leads to all sorts of crazy specializations." As described in Popular Mechanics, this particular one is the first functioning gear ever to be found in a living creature!
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