cicada
dr. dolittle | March 6, 2013 Image from Flickr EOL; Taken by Arthur Chapman
The animation below from Nature shows a bacteria rupturing after landing on nanopillars present on the surface of a clanger cicada (Psaltoda claripennis) wing. Dr. Ivanova (Swinburne University, Australia) and colleagues showed that nanopillars rupture the bacteria by straining the cell wall.
Some scientists see this as an opportunity to create anti-bacterial surfaces in public places simply by coating the surface of objects with nanopillars.
Sources:
Nature
Pogodin S, Hasan J, Baulin VA, Webb K, Khanh Truong V, Nguyen THP, Boshovikj V,…