CAREER: Getting to the Point: Exploring How Energetics Influences the Evolution of Biological Puncture Systems Across Phyla

任何被蜜蜂蛰过或被玫瑰刺扎过手指的人都对生物穿刺很熟悉。这项研究的目的是了解是什么让生物穿刺工具（毒牙、刺、毒刺等）如此有效。为此，该项目将：1)研究不同生物工具刺穿组织需要多少能量，2)观察能量使用如何影响不同生物群体刺穿工具设计的进化史。为了实现这些目标，这项研究将把实验与数学分析结合起来，并展示毒牙、脊椎或毒刺的形状，以及它们是如何移动的，如何与被刺穿的材料的性质相互作用，从而产生特定种类和数量的损伤。这些数据将用于了解刺穿过程中的能量流动，并揭示蛇、黄蜂和仙人掌的刺穿能力是如何进化的。提高对自然界中穿刺有效性的认识将促进机器人技术和生物医学技术的进步，例如开发软机器人的抗穿刺能力，以及更好地了解生物组织在创伤冲击中是如何受损的。研究人员将培训本科生和研究生，并与当地教师合作开发一套教育模块，这些模块将在全国范围内传播。这些材料将综合自然科学和应用科学，并将包括针对各种教育水平的课程计划和资源。课程计划将不需要昂贵的材料，并将被翻译成几种语言。在生物领域中，刺穿是一种广泛存在的防御和攻击机制，在许多门中都有发现，在规模上跨越了数量级。本研究将探讨性能的物理原理如何影响生物穿刺系统的功能和进化。这些系统的多样性允许探索在规模，结构和运动学上不同的生物体如何进化以克服共同的机械挑战。检查跨系统的共性还可以深入了解构成这些挑战的物理定律。本研究将采用实验数据收集和对比分析相结合的方法，实现两个目标：1)对照实验分析将建立一套能量平衡方程，模拟形态、材料和运动学变量对生物相关穿刺力学的影响；2)利用模型进行对比分析，探索毒蛇、寄生蜂和仙人掌的穿刺力学演化。这些分析的结果将用于确定多种机械穿刺系统进化的共同原理，从而深入了解物理如何影响生命的进化规则。该计划将创建一个框架，可以被其他人用于广泛的主题，包括识别猎物捕获系统中特定自适应价值的运动学性能变量；研究高冲击时生物材料的速率依赖性对组织损伤的作用；为软机器人开发抗断裂材料。该框架还将用于开发针对各种教育水平的适应性教学模块。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Anyone who has had a bee sting or pricked their finger on a rose thorn is familiar with biological puncture. The objective of this research is to understand what makes biological puncturing tools (fangs, spines, stingers, etc.) so effective. To do this, the project will: 1) study how much energy different biological tools use to puncture tissue, and 2) see how energy use has influenced the evolutionary history of puncturing tool design in various living groups. To accomplish these goals, the research will combine experiments with mathematical analyses, and show how a fang, spine or stinger’s shape, along with how it is moved, interacts with the nature of the material that is punctured to produce specific kinds and amounts of damage. These data will be used to understand how energy flows during puncture and uncover how puncturing ability evolved in snakes, wasps, and cacti. Improved knowledge of the effectiveness of puncture in nature will facilitate advances in robotics and biomedical technology, such as developing puncture resistance in soft robots and better understanding of how biological tissue is damaged during traumatic impacts. The researchers will train undergraduate and graduate students, and develop a suite of educational modules in partnership with local teachers that will be disseminated across the country. These materials will integrate natural and applied sciences and will include lesson plans and resources aimed at a range of educational levels. Lesson plans will not require expensive materials, and will be translated into several languages.Puncture is a widespread mechanism of both defense and attack in the biological realm, with examples found in many phyla, spanning orders of magnitude in scale. This research will examine how the physical principles underlying performance influence the function and evolution of biological puncture systems. The diversity of these systems allows exploration of how organisms that differ in scale, structure and kinematics have evolved to overcome common mechanical challenges. Examining commonalities across systems also gives insight into the physical laws that underlie those challenges. This research will employ a combination of experimental data collection and comparative analyses to achieve two aims: 1) controlled experimental analyses will establish a set of energy balance equations that model how morphological, material and kinematic variables influence biologically-relevant puncture mechanics, and 2) comparative analyses using the models will explore the evolution of puncture mechanics in venomous snakes, parasitoid wasps and cacti. Results of these analyses will be used to identify common principles that underlie the evolution of multiple mechanical puncture systems, and thus give insight into how physics influences the evolutionary rules of life. This program will create a framework that can be used by others for a broad range of topics, including identifying kinematic performance variables of particular adaptive value in prey capture systems; examining the role of rate-dependency in biological materials on tissue damage during high impact; and developing fracture resistant materials for soft robotics. This framework will also be used to develop adaptable teaching modules aimed at a range of educational levels.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.