skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Reconsidering tympanal-acoustic interactions leads to an improved model of auditory acuity in a parasitoid fly
Abstract Although most binaural organisms locate sound sources using neurological structures to amplify the sounds they hear, some animals use mechanically coupled hearing organs instead. One of these animals, the parasitoid flyOrmia ochracea(O. ochracea), has astoundingly accurate sound localization abilities. It can locate objects in the azimuthal plane with a precision of 2°, equal to that of humans, despite an intertympanal distance of only 0.5 mm, which is less than 1 / 100 th of the wavelength of the sound emitted by the crickets that it parasitizes.O. ochraceaaccomplishes this feat via mechanically coupled tympana that interact with incoming acoustic pressure waves to amplify differences in the signals received at the two ears. In 1995, Mileset aldeveloped a model of hearing mechanics inO. ochraceathat represents the tympana as flat, front-facing prosternal membranes, though they lie on a convex surface at an angle from the flies’ frontal and transverse planes. The model works well for incoming sound angles less than ± 30 but suffers from reduced accuracy (up to 60% error) at higher angles compared to response data acquired fromO. ochraceaspecimens. Despite this limitation, it has been the basis for bio-inspired microphone designs for decades. Here, we present critical improvements to this classic hearing model based on information from three-dimensional reconstructions ofO. ochracea’s tympanal organ. We identified the orientation of the tympana with respect to a frontal plane and the azimuthal angle segment between the tympana as morphological features essential to the flies’ auditory acuity, and hypothesized a differentiated mechanical response to incoming sound on the ipsi- and contralateral sides that depend on these features. We incorporated spatially-varying model coefficients representing this asymmetric response, making a new quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) model. The q2D model has high accuracy (average errors of under 10%) for all incoming sound angles. This improved biomechanical model may inform the design of new microscale directional microphones and other small-scale acoustic sensor systems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1812215 2014181
PAR ID:
10405394
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
IOP Publishing
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
Volume:
18
Issue:
3
ISSN:
1748-3182
Page Range / eLocation ID:
Article No. 035007
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. A theoretical analysis on crack formation and propagation was performed based on the coupling between the electrochemical process, classical elasticity, and fracture mechanics. The chemical potential of oxygen, thus oxygen partial pressure, at the oxygen electrode-electrolyte interface ( μ O 2 OE∣El ) was investigated as a function of transport properties, electrolyte thickness and operating conditions (e.g., steam concentration, constant current, and constant voltage). Our analysis shows that: a lower ionic area specific resistance (ASR), r i O E , and a higher electronic ASR ( r e O E ) of the oxygen electrode/electrolyte interface are in favor of suppressing crack formation. The μ O 2 O E E l , thus local pO2, are sensitive towards the operating parameters under galvanostatic or potentiostatic electrolysis. Constant current density electrolysis provides better robustness, especially at a high current density with a high steam content. While constant voltage electrolysis leads to greater variations of μ O 2 O E E l . Constant current electrolysis, however, is not suitable for an unstable oxygen electrode because μ O 2 O E E l can reach a very high value with a gradually increased r i O E . A crack may only occur under certain conditions when p O 2 T P B > p c r .  
    more » « less
  2. Abstract M dwarfs are common host stars to exoplanets but often lack atmospheric abundance measurements. Late-M dwarfs are also good analogs to the youngest substellar companions, which share similarTeff∼ 2300–2800 K. We present atmospheric analyses for the M7.5 companion HIP 55507 B and its K6V primary star with Keck/KPIC high-resolution (R∼ 35,000)K-band spectroscopy. First, by including KPIC relative radial velocities between the primary and secondary in the orbit fit, we improve the dynamical mass precision by 60% and find M B = 88.0 3.2 + 3.4 M Jup , putting HIP 55507 B above the stellar–substellar boundary. We also find that HIP 55507 B orbits its K6V primary star with a = 38 3 + 4 au ande= 0.40 ± 0.04. From atmospheric retrievals of HIP 55507 B, we measure [C/H] = 0.24 ± 0.13, [O/H] = 0.15 ± 0.13, and C/O = 0.67 ± 0.04. Moreover, we strongly detect13CO (7.8σsignificance) and tentatively detect H 2 18 O (3.7σsignificance) in the companion’s atmosphere and measure 12 CO / 13 CO = 98 22 + 28 and H 2 16 O / H 2 18 O = 240 80 + 145 after accounting for systematic errors. From a simplified retrieval analysis of HIP 55507 A, we measure 12 CO / 13 CO = 79 16 + 21 and C 16 O / C 18 O = 288 70 + 125 for the primary star. These results demonstrate that HIP 55507 A and B have consistent12C/13C and16O/18O to the <1σlevel, as expected for a chemically homogeneous binary system. Given the similar flux ratios and separations between HIP 55507 AB and systems with young substellar companions, our results open the door to systematically measuring13CO and H 2 18 O abundances in the atmospheres of substellar or even planetary-mass companions with similar spectral types. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract Polyatomic molecules have been identified as sensitive probes of charge-parity violating and parity violating physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). For example, many linear triatomic molecules are both laser-coolable and have parity doublets in the ground electronic X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state arising from the bending vibration, both features that can greatly aid BSM searches. Understanding the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state is a crucial prerequisite to precision measurements with linear polyatomic molecules. Here, we characterize the fundamental bending vibration of 174 YbOH using high-resolution optical spectroscopy on the nominally forbidden X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) A ˜ 2 Π 1 / 2 ( 000 ) transition at 588 nm. We assign 39 transitions originating from the lowest rotational levels of the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state, and accurately model the state’s structure with an effective Hamiltonian using best-fit parameters. Additionally, we perform Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy on the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state and fit the molecule-frame dipole moment to D m o l = 2.16 ( 1 ) Dand the effective electrong-factor to g S = 2.07 ( 2 ) . Further, we use an empirical model to explain observed anomalous line intensities in terms of interference from spin–orbit and vibronic perturbations in the excited A ˜ 2 Π 1 / 2 ( 000 ) state. Our work is an essential step toward searches for BSM physics in YbOH and other linear polyatomic molecules. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Objective.In vivoimaging assessments of skeletal muscle structure and function allow for longitudinal quantification of tissue health. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) non-invasively quantifies tissue mechanical properties, allowing for evaluation of skeletal muscle biomechanics in response to loading, creating a better understanding of muscle functional health.Approach. In this study, we analyze the anisotropic mechanical response of calf muscles using MRE with a transversely isotropic, nonlinear inversion algorithm (TI-NLI) to investigate the role of muscle fiber stiffening under load. We estimate anisotropic material parameters including fiber shear stiffness ( μ 1 ), substrate shear stiffness ( μ 2 ), shear anisotropy ( ϕ ), and tensile anisotropy ( ζ ) of the gastrocnemius muscle in response to both passive and active tension.Main results. In passive tension, we found a significant increase in μ 1 , ϕ , and ζ with increasing muscle length. While in active tension, we observed increasing μ 2 and decreasing ϕ and ζ during active dorsiflexion and plantarflexion—indicating less anisotropy—with greater effects when the muscles act as agonist.Significance. The study demonstrates the ability of this anisotropic MRE method to capture the multifaceted mechanical response of skeletal muscle to tissue loading from muscle lengthening and contraction. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract We present13CO(J= 1 → 0) observations for the EDGE-CALIFA survey, which is a mapping survey of 126 nearby galaxies at a typical spatial resolution of 1.5 kpc. Using detected12CO emission as a prior, we detect13CO in 41 galaxies via integrated line flux over the entire galaxy and in 30 galaxies via integrated line intensity in resolved synthesized beams. Incorporating our CO observations and optical IFU spectroscopy, we perform a systematic comparison between the line ratio 12 / 13 I [ 12 CO ( J = 1 0 ) ] / I [ 13 CO ( J = 1 0 ) ] and the properties of the stars and ionized gas. Higher 12 / 13 values are found in interacting galaxies compared to those in noninteracting galaxies. The global 12 / 13 slightly increases with infrared colorF60/F100but appears insensitive to other host-galaxy properties such as morphology, stellar mass, or galaxy size. We also present azimuthally averaged 12 / 13 profiles for our sample up to a galactocentric radius of 0.4r25(∼6 kpc), taking into account the13CO nondetections by spectral stacking. The radial profiles of 12 / 13 are quite flat across our sample. Within galactocentric distances of 0.2r25, the azimuthally averaged 12 / 13 increases with the star formation rate. However, Spearman rank correlation tests show the azimuthally averaged 12 / 13 does not strongly correlate with any other gas or stellar properties in general, especially beyond 0.2r25from the galaxy centers. Our findings suggest that in the complex environments in galaxy disks, 12 / 13 is not a sensitive tracer for ISM properties. Dynamical disturbances, like galaxy interactions or the presence of a bar, also have an overall impact on 12 / 13 , which further complicates the interpretations of 12 / 13 variations. 
    more » « less