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1 .This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Wayt Gibbs. Got a minute?
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2 .Planthoppers are tiny insects, only a couple of millimeters long.
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3 .But man can they jump.
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4 .An adult planthopper can sweep its two hindlegs together to spring forward more than a meter,
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5 .the equivalent of you or I leaping over tall buildings in a single bound.
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6 .But these superjumpers must push off with both legs at almost exactly the same time, or else they'll go into a spin and wipe out.
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7 .A new study reports that the planthopper Issus coleoptratus evolved a foolproof solution to this problem:
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8 .in young nymphs of the species, the two legs meet under the belly in plates fringed with interlocking teeth.
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9 .They function just like mechanical gears.
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10 .The work appears in the journal Science.
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11 .As the bug cocks its two hindlegs forward and then thrusts them back to push off, those gears guarantee that both limbs complete their motions within 30 millionths of a second of each other.
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12 .The synchronized forces propel the nymph straight through the air at up to nine miles an hour, impressive.
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13 .But adult planthoppers can jump at more than 12 miles an hour.
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14 .And they do it using smooth-rimmed hips, with only friction to keep their legs in sync.
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15 .So perhaps the gears are like training wheels, just there until the youngsters learn how to jump straight.
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16 .Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American 60-Second Science. I'm Wayt Gibbs.
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