Super Spores!

[Spookie Monster]

A new paper from Nik Money's lab at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in collaboration with Diana Davis and Mark Fischer at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, solves the operation of squirt guns that fire spores over distances of more than 2 meters.

The researchers used high speed cameras running at up to 250,000 frames per second to capture these blisteringly fast movements.  Spores are launched at maximum speeds of 25 meters per second -- impressive for a microscopic cell -- corresponding to accelerations of 180,000 g.  In terms of acceleration, these are the fastest flights in nature.

25 meters per second?  180,000 g?  Wow.  Read more here:

Fastest Flights In Nature: High-speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms Among Fungi

Enjoy!

Spel

[Will]

That is frackin' amazing. :o  Thanks for the article!

[Storiwyr]

Spel, you're my hero. What sources do you use to find this stuff?

[Spookie Monster]

Thanks much, Will1984!  I'm glad that you liked it. :)

Thank you, too, Storiwyr, for your generous words.  For better or for worse, I, like most heroes, am revealed to be rather an average fellow when one removes my mask and my cape (and, hopefully, my tights).  Perhaps three-quarters of the threads that I've started here in Elliquiy U revolve around articles that one can effortlessly find through Science Daily, Space.com, and Wired News.  I encourage you to check out those sites -- I suspect that you'll enjoy them! :)

Spel

[Paradox]

The article is interesting, but Miami in Oxford in Ohio? That's one hell of a combination.

[Oniya]

 Actually, it's Miami University, in the city of Oxford, Ohio.

[Paradox]

I know, Oniya; still, the combination made me chuckle.