Project Description

The primary research goal of this project is to study and understand the fundamental behavior of the hearing system of frog-biting midges (flies) combining biology with materials and structural engineering. Achieving these insights will uncover design cues for the development of artificial hearing systems for extreme detection, robotics, AI, etc. Through millions of years of evolutionary process, Nature has come up with efficient systems that often exhibit exceptional efficiency that do not follow the trade-offs of man-made materials. What really stands out from other biological systems is that these midges can hear and accurately detect the position of frogs located at very long distance relying only on acoustic information “mechanically” through their antennae. However, this is highly unusual, specially considering that these are very high frequencies for biological materials. While some mathematical models have been proposed to explain hearing in mosquitoes, there is little understanding yet about the factors involved in the apparent greater sensitivity of frog-biting midge antennae. This project combines biology and engineering to develop novel analytical/computational models, in conjunction with state-of-the-art experimental techniques. This project will also explore the use of machine learning and additive manufacturing for future work. For more information, please contact any of the PIs.

Start Date 

Jan. 2019 

Postdoc Qualifications 

Postdoctoral researchers with an structure and mechanics of materials background profile are sought to join this cross-disciplinary team to apply biological and engineering concepts of bioinspiration and bioexploration to identify and characterize key features of these structures to understand their mechanical behavior through the use of modern. More specifically, PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Biological, Biomedical, Aerospace Engineering, or closely related fields; with solid/structural Mechanics background. Experience with computational modeling is preferred. Experience with 3D printing and experimental characterization of materials is a plus.

Co-advisors 

Prof. Pablo Zavattieri
zavattie@purdue.edu
Lyles School of Civil Engineering
http://engineering.purdue.edu/~zavattie

Prof. Ximena Bernal
xbernal@purdue.edu
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
https://bernal-lab.weebly.com/

References 

XE Bernal, AS Rand, MJ Ryan, “Acoustic preferences and localization performance of blood-sucking flies (CorethrellaCoquillett) to túngara frog calls”, Behavioral Ecology 17 (5), 709-715, 2006. 

XE Bernal, RA Page, AS Rand, MJ Ryan, “Cues for eavesdroppers: do frog calls indicate prey density and quality”, ,The American Naturalist 169 (3), 409-415 2007. 

XE Bernal, KL Akre, AT Baugh, AS Rand, MJ Ryan, “Female and male behavioral response to advertisement calls of graded complexity in túngara frogs, Physalaemus pustulosus”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63 (9), 1269-1279, 2009. 

GM Kvifte, XE Bernal, “A new species of frog-biting midge from Papua New Guinea with a key to the described Corethrellidae of the Australopapuan region (Diptera, Corethrellidae, Corethrella)”, ZooKeys, 39, 2016.

J.-Y. Jung, et. al, A natural damper on the head? Mechanical and functional evaluation of the woodpecker skull bones, Advanced Theory and Simulations, 1800152, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1002/adts.201800152

W. Huang, D. Restrepo, J.-Y Jung, F. Y Su, Z Liu, R.O. Ritchie, J. McKittrick, P. Zavattieri, D. Kisailus, Multiscale Toughening Mechanisms in Biological Materials and Bioinspired Designs, Advanced Materials, https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201901561