Researchers have dissected the physics of mosquito bites, hoping to learn some of the bugs’ stealthy tricks and to gain inspiration for designing needles that hurt less.
Reporting in the December Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, a team at North CarolinaStateUniversity in Raleigh proposes an explanation for the mosquito’s ability to pierce the skin.
“How does a mosquito bite, and it’s able to penetrate painlessly?” asks lead author and mechanical engineer Melur Ramasubramanian. “Maybe we can learn something from that.”