Lizard’s skin channels water to mouth
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029061
BBC : Certain lizards living in arid regions have been shown to collect water via a sophisticated capillary system running between their scales. Researchers studying the Texas horned lizard discovered that the interlinked capillary channels, which are partially enclosed by the lizard’s overlapping scales, are wider in the direction of the tail and grow narrower in the direction of the mouth. Water entering the system is squeezed forward because of the channels’ shape and width. Now Philipp Comanns of Aachen University and his colleagues have created a laboratory prototype of the “passive, directional liquid transport” by laser etching channels into a glass-like plastic and leaving raised “scales” in between. Such a capillary system could have practical applications in distilleries, heat exchangers, and small medical devices.
