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Innovation

Tiny shrimp creates temperatures hot as the Sun

Janine Benyus, founder of the biomimicry institute, explains how a pistol shrimp stuns its prey -- in a most surprising manner.
Written by Christopher Mims, Contributing Editor

Janine Benyus, founder of what used to be called the Biomimicry Institute (it's now called Biomimicry 3.8, for 3.8 billion years in the evolution of life on Earth) is one of my favorite explainers.

Here she is outlining how a pistol shrimp stuns its prey by snapping its claw, which creates a tiny bubble filled with nothing, which of course rapidly cavitates in a process that briefly creates temperatures as hot as the surface of the sun.

Or in other words, nature has many tricks engineers and businesses might some day transform into an endless array of technologies.

See more of Biomimicry 3.8's "Ask Nature" videos or read more about the talents of the pistol shrimp.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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