The small hopping insect Issus coleoptratus uses toothed gears (magnified above with an electron microscope) to precisely synchronize the kicks of its hind legs as it jumps forward. All images ...

Many mechanical devices have been inspired by examples in nature, but it’s not often that nature replicates something only known to be made by human beings. Meet Issus coeleoptratus, more commonly ...

The engineering team at MetMo Cube have created an aluminium herringbone-gear fidget toy called Helico, offering the world’s first helical gear fidget toy. Launched via Kickstarter this month, the ...

The juvenile Issus - a plant-hopping insect found in gardens across Europe - has hind-leg joints with curved cog-like strips of opposing 'teeth' that intermesh, rotating like mechanical gears to ...