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Previously believed to be only man-made, a natural example
of a functioning gear mechanism has been discovered in a common insect -
showing that evolution developed interlocking cogs long before we did
The juvenile Issus - a plant-hopping insect found in gardens
across Europe - has hind-leg joints with curved cog-like strips of opposing
‘teeth’ that intermesh, rotating like mechanical gears to synchronise the
animal’s legs when it launches into a jump.