CAREER: Fast, Furious and Fantastic Beasts: Integrative principles, biomechanics and physical limits of impulsive motion in ultrafast organisms

在自然界中，某些小型生物可以在纳秒内达到数百万重力的超快加速度。这些极端生物利用不寻常的弹性弹簧和闩锁结构来产生巨大的能量，远远超过人类设计的机器人系统。然而，这些不同的系统，从微小的单细胞到毫米大小的蜘蛛，是如何产生高功率并在快速运动中产生的巨大力量中生存下来的，目前尚不清楚。为了解决这一关键的知识鸿沟，该项目将结合数学理论、生物实验和物理建模来更好地理解动物的超快运动。除了推进基础生物力学之外，这项工作还有助于开发更快、更小、更强的使用弹性功率放大器的机器人。该项目将支持多个层次的科学培训，包括K-12、本科、研究生和博士后阶段。研究和培训活动将扩大来自代表性不足的少数民族背景的学生对生命系统物理学的参与。研究人员将开发一门基于野外的无脊椎动物生物力学课程，让来自不同背景的学生进入雨林研究超快生命系统的生物物理学。这项工作的研究成果将通过亚特兰大动物园的现场演示、双语漫画书、YouTube和Twitter等社交媒体等多种渠道传播。对于极端生物弹簧锁存系统的力学理解仍然存在重要的空白，该系统可以快速放大功率输入，以在小长度尺度上重复提供高功率。本项目将发展弹弓蜘蛛作为研究超快运动的新模式生物。通过将弹性能量储存在一个非凡的三维网状结构中，弹弓蜘蛛可以在不到20毫秒的时间内以超过130克的加速度反复地将自己和它们的网扔向飞行的昆虫。由液压控制的腿驱动的弹性丝织成的网包括一个例外弹簧/闩锁系统，因此弹弓蜘蛛是关于弹性机制基本问题的优秀模型。它们的网和腿非常适合在实验室和现场环境中进行材料表征和建模。首席研究员将带着高速仪器进入秘鲁亚马逊，捕捉这些极端蛛形纲动物的超快动态。结合原位力测量和建模，本研究将探索蛛网（弹簧）的力学特性和蜘蛛腿（闩锁）的液压力学的微调和集成，并将分析如何在给定尺寸的蜘蛛中最大化功率放大。这项工作将应用阻尼谐振子的物理学来揭示弹弓网是如何耗散能量并以最小的损伤实现重复加载的。通过将低成本、便携的科学工具带到热带雨林（丛林无脊椎动物生物力学实验室），该项目将培养未来的无脊椎动物生物力学科学家，并扩大潜在模式生物的范围。通过开发双语漫画（《疯狂生物的好奇动物园》），这项工作将弥合西班牙裔人口在科学交流中的语言障碍。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。

In nature, certain small organisms can achieve ultrafast accelerations of millions of g-forces in nanoseconds. These extreme organisms exploit unusual elastic spring and latch structures to generate extraordinary amounts of power, far outperforming human-engineered robotic systems. However, how these diverse systems, from microscopic single cells to millimeter-sized spiders, generate high power and survive the tremendous forces generated during rapid motion remains unclear. To address this crucial knowledge gap, this project will combine mathematical theory, biological experiments, and physical modeling to better understand ultrafast motion in animals. Beyond advancing fundamental biomechanics, this work could contribute to development of faster, smaller, and stronger robots that use elastic power amplifiers. The project will support science training at many levels, including K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral stages. Research and training activities will broaden the participation of students from under-represented minority backgrounds in the physics of living systems. The researcher will develop a field-based invertebrate biomechanics course to bring students from many backgrounds into the rainforest to study the biophysics of ultrafast living systems. Research findings of this work will be disseminated through multiple outlets including live demonstrations at the Atlanta Zoo, bilingual comic books, and social media outlets such as YouTube and Twitter.Important gaps remain in the understanding of mechanics extreme biological spring-latch systems, which rapidly amplify power input to repeatably deliver high power at small length scales. This project will develop slingshot spiders as a new model organism for studying ultrafast motion. By storing elastic energy in an extraordinary 3-D web topology, slingshot spiders can repeatedly hurl themselves and their webs at flying insects in less than 20 milliseconds with accelerations exceeding 130g. Webs made of elastic silk actuated by hydraulically controlled legs comprise an exception springs/latch system, thus slingshot spiders are excellent models for fundamental questions concerning elastic mechanisms. Their webs and legs are ideally suited to material characterization and modelling in both lab and field environments. The principal investigator will bring high-speed instrumentation into the Peruvian Amazon to capture the ultrafast dynamics of these extreme arachnids. Combining in-situ force measurements and modeling, this research will probe fine-tuning and integration of mechanical properties of the web (spring) and hydraulic mechanics of the spider’s legs (latch) and will analyze how power amplification is maximized for a spider of a given size. This work will apply the physics of damped harmonic oscillators to reveal how slingshot webs dissipate energy and enable repetitive loading with minimum damage. By bringing low-cost, portable scientific tools to rainforests (Jungle invertebrates Biomechanics Laboratory), the project will train future scientists in invertebrate biomechanics and expand the range of potential model organisms. By developing bilingual comics (Curious Zoo of Crazy Organisms), this work will bridge language barriers in science communication to Hispanic populations.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.