Evangelista, Hotton and Dumais publish their discovery that filaree seeds are launched with a spring mechanism that also drills the seeds into the ground in The Journal of Experimental Biology.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers provide the first mechanical description of the jaws of a group of trap-jaw ants that can snap their spring-loaded jaws shut at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour ...

But the seeds are also of interest to biophysicists and engineers because witch hazel capsules can shoot them out at incredibly fast speeds, thanks to a built-in spring-loaded mechanism.

The discovery of such a striking mechanism for functional control ... which enables a 'spring-loaded' conformational change that is required for activation and is quite remarkable given both ...

"But we have discovered at least one mechanism that helps significantly ... "Our research reveals that internal geometric structures within a spring play a centrally important role in enhancing ...