excretion

Her puzzled reaction sums up the experience of watching the outrageous parade of bodily excretion and malevolent smirks that make up the directorial debut of Max and Sam Eggers, working from a short story by English author Susan Hill.

Saad Bhamla, an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, and his research group hoped for an opportunity to study a cicada's fluid excretion.

Their framework reveals diverse functions -- such as excretion, venom spraying, prey hunting, spore dispersal, and plant guttation -- highlighting potential applications in soft robotics, additive manufacturing, and drug delivery.

"We've identified the fundamental constraints and forces that dictate these processes, offering a new lens through which to understand the principles of excretion, a critical function of all living systems. This work not only deepens our comprehension of biological functions but also paves the way for unifying the underlying principles that govern life's essential processes."

The researchers published this challenge to the paradigm as a brief, "Unifying Fluidic Excretion Across Life from Cicadas to Elephants," in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of March 11.