Solar-Powered Animal, Oriental Hornet, Discovered By Tel-Aviv Scientists

Apparently even insects are jumping on the solar power bandwagon. A recent breakthrough discovery conducted at Tel-Aviv University has found that the Oriental hornet can turn light into electricity.

The study, reported on in the journal Naturwissenschaften, began when scientists observed that unlike other wasps, the Oriental hornet is most active in the middle of the day. Further investigation revealed that UVB radiation affects the hornet's activity level.

It turns out that an Oriental hornet's shell can trap sunlight, while the pigment xanthopterin converts it to energy. This explains why the hornet is most active mid-day.

Now, this bug isn't exactly the most energy efficient form of solar power. According to National Geographic, the hornet's cells are about .3% efficient at generating electricity. The majority of his energy comes from food. Still, the discovery is fascinating, as study leader Marian Plotkin explains, "We've seen solar harvesting in plants and bacteria, but never before in animals."

Comments

[Daleri Rileda]

01:56 PM on 01/22/2011

Cool!

[doyennedesigndenver]

12:31 PM on 01/10/2011

If more people would buy illegal meter jumpers, maybe US Utility Companies would finally be forced to produce solar panels. This is what is wrong with our society.

Go BigN!

[giono]

12:13 PM on 01/02/2011

Is not all life "Solar Powered"???

[alterego55]

01:38 PM on 01/12/2011

Not near hydrothermal vents.

[Libb Cabal]

04:31 PM on 12/29/2010

Seriously, this is a dream--or a nightmare--come true. Photosynthesizing higher forms of animals.

The bad thing about photosynthesizing animals is that their numbers won't decrease as much when food becomes scarce. This has been a means by which nature limits numbers of a species so that they don't overwhelm the rest of the planet's species.

On the other hand--a photosynthesizing wasp! How cool is that! Makes one wonder how many other hybrid animals there are on our planet.

[KarlaElisa]

01:15 PM on 12/27/2010

Wasn't Israel doing some bee experiments to see if they can't use them as spies or in some form of weaponry?

[Benjamin Rosenfeld]

02:47 PM on 02/18/2011

??? What, like the United States did with bats during WWII?

[pierre F Lherisson]

10:36 AM on 12/27/2010

This is a very exiting discovery. Based on this mechanism of absorption of energy, we might find a way to maximize this principle and use it during our interplanetary trip so we won't have to worry about extra payload of food. That might require some genetic modification.

[Libb Cabal]

04:33 PM on 12/29/2010

Yeah, but there's the whole deal of getting to the next planet with a ****-load of critters who, once they get loose on the planet (and they ALWAYS get loose), may destroy it...or the planet may destroy the critters, then you don't have your energy source to get off the planet.

[Stefan Bast]

05:44 PM on 02/18/2011

I think good old plants and algae are far more suited for that purpose. Lighter, more efficient and less prone to escaping and stinging astronauts.

[Toddynho]

08:50 AM on 12/27/2010

Be careful, there is an entire hive of fossil fuel wasps with deep pockets trying to discredit this revelation.

[lotusgirl]

09:07 AM on 12/30/2010

Thanks for early morning laugh. Fanned and faved for wit!

[starrianna]

02:59 PM on 12/25/2010

Leave it to those Orientals. They are so innovative!

[Estreet1964]

12:43 PM on 12/25/2010

Excellent!

I hear they're much more efficient than those old steam powered hornets.

[ssmigs]

12:35 PM on 12/25/2010

That's definitely a "green hornet"!

[Snerdgronk]

12:40 PM on 12/25/2010

Yah! ... I thought they looked pretty new at the job, too ...

Snerd

[Snerdgronk]

12:16 PM on 12/25/2010

And here I thought the Oriental Hornet was part of the Yellow Horde-nets, easily mis-identified because their dinner jackets tend to be yellow ...

Snerd

[blueskybigstar]

12:04 PM on 12/25/2010

If the article is about the Oriental hornet, then why are we given these pictures of yellowjackets then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_hornet

[lwkite]

12:38 PM on 12/25/2010

Sorry, those are not yellowjackets. Those are paper wasps.

[Snerdgronk]

12:41 PM on 12/25/2010

Actually, they are 'currently digital' ...

Snerd

[blueskybigstar]

01:16 PM on 12/25/2010

Neither the yellow jacket or the paper wasp looks correct, but I swear those are exactly what we have in CA and I and everybody I know have called them yellowjackets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_wasp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket

[dmezz1962]

11:38 AM on 12/25/2010

wow this story created a buzz

[dmezz1962]

11:35 AM on 12/25/2010

and of course some scientist will want millions to study this useless information. All they have to do is go to the environmentalist and say "We want to see if this process can be modified for human use because we need to save dear planet Earth from the evils of man" and Congress will open the bank for them

[Plotius]

11:46 AM on 12/25/2010

what an appallingly ignorant statement.
Dude, Ignorance can be fixed, stupidty cannot.
Which category are you in?

[Snerdgronk]

12:25 PM on 12/25/2010

Yes ... to bee stupid, or not to bee ... errr .... What was the question ...?

Snerd

[david1967]

01:02 PM on 12/26/2010

wasnt ignorant or stupid... right on, dmezz1962!

[hark]

12:23 PM on 12/25/2010

What preposterous nonsense. Are right wingers even capable of saying something thoughtful? Where does all this hatred and anger come from?

[Snerdgronk]

12:44 PM on 12/25/2010

.... From having to be (R)ight

Snerd

[david1967]

01:03 PM on 12/26/2010

from our 1960's hippy parents

[UncleJimbo]

10:55 AM on 12/25/2010

Hornets are just about the only thing in Nature I'm afraid of!......A Swarm of Hornets!......