Unifying fluidic excretion across life from cicadas to elephants

This research is about peeing! More precisely can insects pee like mammals? 😊

You have to admire the dedication of scientists to find unifying frameworks and principles wherever they can! 😊 Pardon my facetiousness!

From the abstract:

"Can insects weighing mere grams challenge our current understanding of fluid dynamics in urination, jetting fluids like their larger mammalian counterparts? Current fluid urination models, predominantly formulated for mammals, suggest that jetting is confined to animals over 3 kg, owing to viscous and surface tension constraints at microscales. Our findings defy this paradigm by demonstrating that cicadas—weighing just 2 g—possess the capability for jetting fluids through remarkably small orifices. Using dimensional analysis, we introduce a unifying fluid dynamics scaling framework that accommodates a broad range of taxa, from surface-tension-dominated insects to inertia and gravity-reliant mammals. This study not only refines our understanding of fluid excretion across various species but also highlights its potential relevance in diverse fields such as ecology, evolutionary biology, and biofluid dynamics."

Unifying fluidic excretion across life from cicadas to elephants | PNAS (open access)

Fig. 1 Cicadas urinate in fluidic jets.