Hymenoptera and biomimetic surfaces: insights and innovations

• Vinicius Marques Lopez,
• Carlo Polidori and
• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1333–1352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.107

• delivery system (Figure 7C,D). The venom delivery systems of Hymenoptera are precise and efficient, inspiring the design of microinjection systems and targeted drug delivery methods that minimize collateral damage to surrounding tissues [170]. Drawing inspiration from the precision and efficiency of

• ). (B) Tap-jaw ants (Odontomachus troglodytes) (© 2024 Jonghyun Park). (C) Long-horned bees (Eucera nigrescens) (© 2020 Corinna Herr). (D) Beewolves (Philanthus triangulum) (© 2020 Johan Pretorius). (E) Sand wasps (Bembix rostrata) (© 2022 Piotr Lukasik). (F) Norton's giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa

Nanoarchitectonics with cetrimonium bromide on metal nanoparticles for linker-free detection of toxic metal ions and catalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol

• Akash Kumar and
• Raja Gopal Rayavarapu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1312–1332, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.106

• microscopy (TEM) enables precise nanoparticle size and shape measurements. TEM images show that AuNR1 and AuNR2 have a rod-like shape with different sizes, whereas AuNS and AgNS are spherical (Figure 3a–d). The mean sizes of CTAB-AgNS and CTAB-AuNS are 27.4 ± 4.6 and 21.1 ± 3.6 nm, respectively (Figure 3e

Interaction of graphene oxide with tannic acid: computational modeling and toxicity mitigation in C. elegans

• Romana Petry,
• James M. de Almeida,
• Francine Côa,
• Felipe Crasto de Lima,
• Diego Stéfani T. Martinez and
• Adalberto Fazzio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1297–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.105

• less than 1.5 nm thickness and a flake size distribution from 18 to 308 nm. The calculated ratio between the intensity of the D (ID) and G (IG) bands of Raman is ID/IG = 0.85, indicating that the material has a high number of defects, an indirect indication of oxidation. The surface chemical

• analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of TA on the biodistribution of GO in nematode tissues. The unique signature of GO’s Raman spectra, with the two distinct D (≈1300 cm−1) and G (≈1600 cm−1) bands, enables the localization and identification of the material in biological tissues. Depth profile

• fingerprint region with 1734(1), 1625(2), 1390(3), 1230(4), and 1068(5) cm−1 bands, and TA-related bands at 1704(6), 1600(7), 1310(8), and 1180(9) cm−1; b) Raman spectra normalized by intensity of G band; High-resolution C 1s XPS analysis of c) GO and d) GO with TA (10 mg·L−1) showing the peaks of carbon sp2

New design of operational MEMS bridges for measurements of properties of FEBID-based nanostructures

• Bartosz Pruchnik,
• Krzysztof Kwoka,
• Ewelina Gacka,
• Dominik Badura,
• Piotr Kunicki,
• Andrzej Sierakowski,
• Paweł Janus,
• Tomasz Piasecki and
• Teodor Gotszalk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1273–1282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.103

• ° angle of incidence, with a rough value of the distance in the RoI indicated. Cantilevers in the RoI have their visible edges surrounded by a solid line and their invisible edges surrounded by a dashed line. Panels (c) and (d) show the magnitude of displacement (in μm) from FEM simulations for cases

Functional morphology of cleaning devices in the damselfly Ischnura elegans (Odonata, Coenagrionidae)

• Silvana Piersanti,
• Gianandrea Salerno,
• Wencke Krings,
• Stanislav Gorb and
• Manuela Rebora

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1260–1272, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.102

• devices In the distal portion of the fore tibia of both sexes of Ischnura elegans, modified setae in the form of flag-shaped structures were visible (Figure 1a,c,d). They are located on the medial side of the tibia, and their number ranged from 7.08 ± 0.27 in males to 6.27 ± 0.24 in females. They measure

• about 210 µm in length and 44 µm in width and emerge from a well-developed socket (Figure 1b), which gives rise to a long seta, from which a concave cuticular lamina develops towards the medial side of the leg (Figure 1c,d). The border of the cuticular lamina showed indentations and appeared lobate

• . Note the border of the cuticular lamina (L) with indentations (arrows). (d) Grooming devices observed from the dorsal side of the tibia (Ti). Note that each grooming device is constituted of a long hair (H) from which a concave cuticular lamina (L) develops towards the medial side of the leg; arrows

The role of a tantalum interlayer in enhancing the properties of Fe₃O₄ thin films

• Hai Dang Ngo,
• Vo Doan Thanh Truong,
• Van Qui Le,
• Hoai Phuong Pham and
• Thi Kim Hang Pham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1253–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.101

• interlayer has an effect on the crystallization of the Fe3O4 film. XRD patterns provide further information about the structural properties of a material, such as lattice constant (a), dislocation density (δ), and microstrain (ε). Bragg’s law was used to calculate the d-spacing of the Fe3O4(311) and Fe3O4

• following relation [27][28]: where a0 is the lattice parameter of bulk Fe3O4 (a0 = 8.397 Å [29]). Microstrain is a crucial factor that helps to analyze the existence of strain and deformation in thin films [30][31]. The d-spacing values of the Fe3O4(311) and Fe3O4(400) peaks of sample 3 are 2.514 and 2.085

• Å, respectively, which are smaller than those on SiO2 (2.527 Å) and MgO(100) (2.099 Å) substrates. These low d-spacing values can be caused by the microstrain in all Fe3O4 samples [27][28]. The Fe3O4 film grown on the multilayer structure is under a higher compressive strain of −0.70% and −0.67

Dual-functionalized architecture enables stable and tumor cell-specific SiO₂NPs in complex biological fluids

• Iris Renata Sousa Ribeiro,
• Raquel Frenedoso da Silva,
• Romênia Ramos Domingues,
• Adriana Franco Paes Leme and
• Mateus Borba Cardoso

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1238–1252, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.100

• (Figure 2b,c,d), both non-functionalized and functionalized SiO2NPs (0.5 mg·mL–1) remained stable in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS after a 24 h incubation period, showing only a subtle aggregation. Therefore, it is impossible to conclude that ZW promoted the colloidal stability of NPs since the non

• healthy cells after 24 h of incubation (Figure 4c,d). Moreover, SiO2NPs-ZW-FO were more internalized by tumor cells compared to non-functionalized NPs. A similar trend was observed for the experiments conducted within 3 h of incubation (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S10). It is important to

• ), respectively. Scale bar: 500 nm. d) DLS and zeta potential results for SiO2NPs, SiO2NPs-ZW, SiO2NPs-ZW-NH2, and SiO2NPs-ZW-FO samples. e) Results obtained by the elemental analysis technique. Values in mg of nitrogen present in 1 g of sample for each step of the synthesis. f) High-resolution XPS spectrum (C 1s

Enhanced catalytic reduction through in situ synthesized gold nanoparticles embedded in glucosamine/alginate nanocomposites

• Chi-Hien Dang,
• Le-Kim-Thuy Nguyen,
• Minh-Trong Tran,
• Van-Dung Le,
• Nguyen Minh Ty,
• T. Ngoc Han Pham,
• Hieu Vu-Quang,
• Tran Thi Kim Chi,
• Tran Thi Huong Giang,
• Nguyen Thi Thanh Tu and
• Thanh-Danh Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1227–1237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.99

• homogeneous nanoparticles, we opted for an Au3+-to-gel ratio of 7% for further investigations. Figure 2C,D illustrates the significant impact of the reaction temperature on the formation of nanocomposites. As the temperature increases, the UV–vis absorbance rises, reaching a peak at 70 °C, after which the

• that the AuNPs are uniform spherical particles with a size below 30 nm (Figure 4A,B). TEM images of AuNPs@GluN/Alg indicate an even geometry of the spherical particles (Figure 4C,D). A narrow size distribution of AuNPs was observed in the range of 3–27 nm with the highest frequency at 10 nm. The

• pattern revealed rings of atoms with a d-spacing of 2.38 ± 0.12 Å, 2.92 ± 0.09 Å, and 1.22 ± 0.02 Å, corresponding to, respectively, the (111), (200), and (311) planes of fcc Au. Both analyses confirmed the presence of crystalline AuNPs in the synthesized nanocomposite. Catalytic reduction of organic dyes

Realizing active targeting in cancer nanomedicine with ultrasmall nanoparticles

• André F. Lima,
• Giselle Z. Justo and
• Alioscka A. Sousa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1208–1226, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.98

• shown as example; drawn to scale). (B) Compilation of apparent koff and tr values for NP–protein interactions. See [59] for additional information. (C) Ultrasmall NPs with proper surface chemistries (e.g., zwitterionic) can virtually eliminate nonspecific protein interactions. (D) Ultrasmall NPs can be

• antibodies (third and fourth rows), with and without the conjugated drug. The usNPs demonstrated deeper tumor penetration and more uniform distribution compared to the antibody. (D) In vivo efficacy of targeted usNPs in SK-OV-3 human ovarian cancer bearing mice and in patient-derived xenografts (PDX). The

• ) Preparation of AuNCs through a one-pot synthesis with c(RGDyc) peptides. The targeted AuNCs were evaluated as radiotherapy sensitizers in tumor-bearing mice. (B) Biodistribution, including tumor accumulation, of targeted vs non-targeted AuNCs. (C) Photographs of dissected tumor tissues following treatment. (D

A low-kiloelectronvolt focused ion beam strategy for processing low-thermal-conductance materials with nanoampere currents

• Annalena Wolff,
• Nico Klingner,
• William Thompson,
• Yinghong Zhou,
• Jinying Lin and
• Yin Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1197–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.97

• blur; (B) 70 pA, 20% overlap, 50 nm blur; (C) 0.12 nA, 50% overlap; (D) 29 pA, 20% overlap, 200 nm blur; (E) 70 pA, 20% overlap, 200 nm blur; and (F) 0.12 nA, 20% overlap, 200 nm blur. The scale bars correspond to 10 µm. TEM micrographs showing cross sections of collagen prepared with 5 keV gallium

Synthesis, characterization and anticancer effect of doxorubicin-loaded dual stimuli-responsive smart nanopolymers

• Ömür Acet,
• Pavel Kirsanov,
• Burcu Önal Acet,
• Inessa Halets-Bui,
• Dzmitry Shcharbin,
• Şeyda Ceylan Cömert and
• Mehmet Odabaşı

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1189–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.96

• 0.230 g NaHSO3 (solution D) were added to the medium, and polymerization was initiated. After about 10 h of polymerization, the surfactants and unreacted monomers were washed out with the help of an ethanol–water mixture, and the mixture was centrifuged at 25,000 rpm (Beckman Coulter, Allegra 64R

Quantum-to-classical modeling of monolayer Ge₂Se₂ and its application in photovoltaic devices

• Anup Shrivastava,
• Shivani Saini,
• Dolly Kumari,
• Sanjai Singh and
• Jost Adam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1153–1169, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.94

• structure is a simple orthorhombic structure with space group symmetry of Pmn21 () in 2D space. (c) Brillouin zone, where the Γ-X-S-Y-Γ path is used to plot the phonon spectra, and (d) phonon dispersion, confirming the structure’s dynamical stability (Figure 2a,b were redrawn from [41], Figure 2d was re

• thickness, (b) ETL thickness, (c) absorber thickness, and (d) absorber defects. The device exhibits optimal performance at layer thicknesses of ETL, absorber, and HTL of 20 nm, 2 µm, and 1 nm, respectively. Variation of PSC performance parameters with interface defects between (a) ETL and active layer, and

Photocatalytic methane oxidation over a TiO₂/SiNWs p–n junction catalyst at room temperature

• Qui Thanh Hoai Ta,
• Luan Minh Nguyen,
• Ngoc Hoi Nguyen,
• Phan Khanh Thinh Nguyen and
• Dai Hai Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1132–1141, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.92

• well prepared with an average length of 4 µm. Moreover, the surface of the SiNWs was fully decorated by the TiO2 passivation layer and became blurry. The active pure 25 nm TiO2 layer exhibits flake-like morphology as displayed in Figure 2c,d. Optical properties Nanowire arrays offer a better optical

• and light conditions. Each measurement was scanned with 0.05 V intervals. The bias supply and current signals were provided and recorded by a Keithley system adapted with an amplifier. XRD patterns of p-Si, p-type SiNWs, and the TiO2/SiNWs sample. Cross-sectional view (a, b) and top view (c, d) SEM

Local work function on graphene nanoribbons

• Daniel Rothhardt,
• Amina Kimouche,
• Tillmann Klamroth and
• Regina Hoffmann-Vogel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1125–1131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.91

• electric field caused by the CPD is compensated. (c) Δf(V) measurements using a PtIr-coated tip along with their second-order polynomial fit measured on GNR and Au. The dashed vertical lines indicate the respective values of the CPD. (d) Scheme of the GNR on Au. (a) Topography of GNR’s and the Au(111

• ) herringbone reconstruction, PtIr-coated tip, f0 = 291.52 kHz, cL = 41 N/m, A = 3 nm, Q = 21 000, and Δf = −45 Hz. (b) Line cut through the topographic image at the position indicated by the white line. (c) LCPD image recorded simultaneously with the topographic image, fAC = 730 Hz and VAC = 900 mV. (d) LCPD

Direct electron beam writing of silver using a β-diketonate precursor: first insights

• Katja Höflich,
• Krzysztof Maćkosz,
• Chinmai S. Jureddy,
• Aleksei Tsarapkin and
• Ivo Utke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1117–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.90

• cut for the TEM sample preparation. (c) Transmission electron micrograph of the deposit cross-section with close-ups (d–f). Scanning electron micrographs of a spot deposit with 60 min continuous spot irradiation (a) with the corresponding close-ups of the halo regions. (b) High-resolution SEM image 6

Unveiling the potential of alginate-based nanomaterials in sensing technology and smart delivery applications

• Shakhzodjon Uzokboev,
• Khojimukhammad Akhmadbekov,
• Ra’no Nuritdinova,
• Salah M. Tawfik and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1077–1104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.88

Signal generation in dynamic interferometric displacement detection

• Knarik Khachatryan,
• Simon Anter,
• Michael Reichling and
• Alexander von Schmidsfeld

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1070–1076, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.87

• between the light beams reflected from the fiber end (reference beam) and the cantilever (cavity beam), creating a standing wave pattern in the fiber with a spatial periodicity given by the light wavelength λ and a phase ϕ determined by the distance d between the fiber end and the cantilever. Any

• variation in d results in a variation of the intensity IM recorded by a detector placed at a fixed distance to the fiber end [11]. In our setup, there is a strong imbalance of reflectivity coefficients between fiber (rf) and cantilever (rc), yielding an interferometer signal with a large average and a

• small intensity variation upon a change in d. As light exits the fiber with a certain divergence, and the fiber core has a small diameter (4 μm), there is a finite number of multiple reflections between the cantilever and fiber. At large distance d, this number is small, and the setup basically acts as

Effect of wavelength and liquid on formation of Ag, Au, Ag/Au nanoparticles via picosecond laser ablation and SERS-based detection of DMMP

• Sree Satya Bharati Moram,
• Chandu Byram and
• Venugopal Rao Soma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1054–1069, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.86

• wavelength for larger particles, which is evident from the absorption spectra depicted. Figure 2 depicts the pictures of Ag NPs synthesized using a laser wavelength of (d) 355 nm, (e) 532 nm, and (f) 1064 nm in an aqueous NaCl solution. The average particle size is 8.4 ± 0.4 nm at 355 nm, 13.3 ± 0.5 nm at

• 532 nm, and 16.5 ± 0.5 nm at 1064 nm, respectively. The size distributions are provided in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1(d–f). The size of the NPs increases with increasing laser wavelength. It is worth mentioning that a reduction in NP size was noticed more in NPs produced in aqueous NaCl

• different laser wavelengths: (d) 355, (e) 532, and (f) 1064 nm in aqueous NaCl solution. Furthermore, the presence of NaCl in the surrounding medium significantly influences NP size, leading to size reduction. The mean sizes of the NPs in the presence of NaCl are estimated as 7.0 ± 0.5 nm at 355 nm, 11.4

Bolometric IR photoresponse based on a 3D micro-nano integrated CNT architecture

• Yasameen Al-Mafrachi,
• Sandeep Yadav,
• Sascha Preu,
• Jörg J. Schneider and
• Oktay Yilmazoglu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1030–1040, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.84

• Raman spectrum was recorded in the range of 50 to 3500 cm−1 using an excitation wavelength of 488 nm (see Figure 3b). It shows the main modes (G, D, and 2D) typical of all carbon nanotubes and a less intense radial breathing mode (RBM). The G-band peak corresponds to the crystalline graphitic nature of

• the carbon nanotubes, while the D- and 2D-band peaks are the defect band peak and its first overtone, respectively. At lower wavenumbers, RBM peaks are seen. Their appearance symbolizes the presence of few-layer CNTs (single or double layer). Compared to SWCNTs [8], for which the characteristic

• ), model HMS 564, an oscilloscope (Tektronix TDS), and a lock-in amplifier (Stanford Research Systems SR510), as shown in Figure 4c,d. The oscilloscope data was read by a computer. The responsivity of the CNT-based microbolometer was characterized using a continuous-wave laser source emitting radiation at

Ca_n neutral clusters: a two-step G₀W₀ and DFT benchmark

• Sunila Bakhsh,
• Sameen Aslam,
• Muhammad Khalid,
• Muhammad Sohail,
• Sundas Zafar,
• Sumayya Abdul Wadood,
• Kareem Morsy and
• Muhammad Aamir Iqbal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1010–1016, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.82

• . Apart from the accuracy of the functional, there can be a van der Waals interaction effect for clusters, which can be calculated by semi-empirical corrections added to the conventional density functional approximation and needs detailed assessment for small clusters (n = 2–10). In such cases, DFT-D

Atomistic insights into the morphological dynamics of gold and platinum nanoparticles: MD simulations in vacuum and aqueous media

• Evangelos Voyiatzis,
• Eugenia Valsami-Jones and
• Antreas Afantitis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 995–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.81

• /evoyiatzis/Jupyter-Notebooks. Results and Discussion The radial number density distributions in selected Au and Pt NPs for two temperatures are shown in Figure 2. The NP diameters are 2 nm (Figure 2a,c) and 8 nm (Figure 2b,d). The considered temperatures for the Au NPs (Figure 2a,b) are 100 K (blue line) and

• 1200 K (orange line), while, for the Pt NPs (Figure 2c,d), they are 100 K (blue line) and 1800 K (orange line). Regardless of chemical composition and NP diameter, the number density distributions at high temperatures are similar, and their shape is typical of liquid and amorphous materials. They have

• temperature dependence of the percentage of identified atoms belonging to an amorphous (Figure 4a,b) and to an FCC (Figure 4c,d) domain is shown for the Au (Figure 4a,c) and Pt (Figure 4b,d) NPs. The NP diameters range from 1 to 8 nm. We note that, for both Au and Pt NPs, the sum of the two percentages is not

Beyond biomimicry – next generation applications of bioinspired adhesives from microfluidics to composites

• Dan Sameoto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 965–976, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.79

• composites can be found elsewhere [47]; the bending stiffness D is a function of the outer film modulus Ef, the distance between the central axis of those films (defined by the core thickness d and the film thickness t), the modulus of the core Ec, and the width of the composite b. If the “core” is made of

• independent fibers, it can have an effective Ec that is close to zero when in the unadhered state and will, therefore, minimally affect bending stiffness in comparison to two independent thin films of Ef. For the simplified model shown in Figure 8, if Ec ≪ Ef and t ≪ d, then the overall bending stiffness

• silicone rubber (C, D). Isotropic designs were initially produced with polyurethane, and then structural materials were swapped to thermoplastic elastomers, with directional adhesion created by deliberate defects in the caps (D). Electrically conductive composite versions and geckofluidics were created in

Effects of cutting tool geometry on material removal of a gradient nanograined CoCrNi medium entropy alloy

• Yu-Sheng Lu,
• Yu-Xuan Hung,
• Thi-Xuyen Bui and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 925–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.76

• CoCrNi MEA substrate in the cutting process, (c) polycrystalline structure with the different gradients, and (d) cutting tool with various rake angles. (a–f) Surface morphologies and (g) number of wear atoms for CoCrNi MEAs with various grain size gradients, with a tool rake angle of 10°, a tool cutting

• -edge radius of 1 nm, a cutting depth of 1 nm, a cutting speed of 10 m/s, and at a temperature of 300 K. Force responses for CoCrNi MEAs with various grain size gradients of (a) 2-3-4 nm, (b) 5-7-9 nm, (c) 10-13-15 nm, (d) 4-3-2 nm, (e) 9-7-5 nm, and (f) 15-13-10 nm, with a tool rake angle of 10°, a

• tool cutting-edge radius of 1 nm, a cutting depth of 1 nm, a cutting speed of 10 m/s, and at a temperature of 300 K. Shear strain distribution in CoCrNi MEAs with various grain size gradients of (a) 2-3-4 nm, (b) 5-7-9 nm, (c) 10-13-15 nm, (d) 4-3-2 nm, (e) 9-7-5 nm, and (f) 15-13-10 nm, with a tool

Identification of structural features of surface modifiers in engineered nanostructured metal oxides regarding cell uptake through ML-based classification

• Indrasis Dasgupta,
• Totan Das,
• Biplab Das and
• Shovanlal Gayen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 909–924, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.75

• . HUVEC cell line In the case of the HUVEC cell line, the fivefold cross-validated ROC values for the training set and test set are 0.854 and 0.861, respectively. The ROC plots (Figure 2C,D) have been generated to justify the internal and external predictability of the model. The statistical factors

• in different analyses. Receiver operating characteristic plots of the training set (A, C, E) and test set (B, D, F) for the Bayesian classification analysis in the case of PaCa2 cell line (A, B), HUVEC (C, D) and U937 (E, F) cell line. Uptake-promoting (UPp 1–UPp 20) and uptake-impairing (UIp 1–UIp

• fingerprints. Uptake-promoting (UPu 1–UPu 20) and uptake-impairing (UIu 1–UIu 20) fingerprints from the Bayesian study (U937 cell line). Sc denotes the Bayesian score of the corresponding fingerprints. Receiver operating characteristic plots of training set (A, C, E) and test set (B, D, F) for the ML-based

The effect of age on the attachment ability of stick insects (Phasmatodea)

• Marie Grote,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Thies H. Büscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 867–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.72

• Marie Grote Stanislav N. Gorb Thies H. Buscher Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, D-24118 Kiel, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.15.72 Abstract Many insect species have found their way into ageing research as small and easy-to-keep model organisms. A major

• fully inflated and appear tightly filled with the fluid (Figure 4A). The condition of the attachment pads varied in older animals. Euplantulae and arolia were frequently observed to be sunken in or shriveled and discolored (Figure 4B–D). Additionally, the same pads showed variance in deflation across

• of the cases (Figure 4B–D), whereas the degree of deflation in euplantulae differed depending on how distal the particular euplantula was situated on the tarsus (Figure 4C,D). Overall, the extent of deflation varied across the specimens and tarsi of the same animal. However, the deflation was