The bombardier beetle is famous for producing a hot, lethal toxin expelled forcefully through a channel near its abdomen. Now, using a technique known as synchrotron X-ray imaging, researchers have witnessed exactly what happens inside the beetle’s body when the explosion occurs.
“The beetle has a really complicated explosion system that’s all connected together,” said Christine Ortiz, a materials scientist at M.I.T. and an author of the new report, which appeared in the journal Science.
The beetle has two chambered glands in which the explosive chemicals are produced. When a predator approaches or the beetle becomes alarmed, a valve opens and a single drop of the chemical falls from one chamber into the second, where it combines with a catalyst and sets off an explosion.
A flexible membrane closes off the valve while the spray is being released. After the explosion, the valve reopens so another drop of the toxin can enter the explosion chamber.
The mechanism creates a pulsed spray of toxin, rather than a steady stream, which allows the explosion chamber to cool down between pulses, Dr. Ortiz said.
“It can be much hotter than a stream, and it can go much faster because it’s a smaller amount of material,” she said.
Dr. Ortiz and her colleagues are studying the beetle and other species to develop military armor inspired by biology. They have already developed a flexible protective material based on an armored fish.
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