Insects and Innovations: Nature’s Incredible Contributions to Technology

«— You seem to know a lot about butterflies.
— We study them in medical school. Insects, animals, humans. You have no idea how much we have in common.
— Really?
— Did you know that beetles kiss?
— No.
— They do…
— How?
— A beetle rubs its antennae against the female.
— And what does the female do?
— If he rubs the right way, they start making plans for the future, like for the evening. Yes… medicine is an amazing subject.”

From the movie “Come September”

The world of living nature has always been renowned for its diversity. Humans, animals, insects, and microbes share one planet, breathe the same air, and strive to coexist in harmony and peace. Sometimes, they even unite to create something truly remarkable.

At first glance, it may seem that humans and insects have nothing in common, apart from the fact that insects bother people, and people look for new ways to get rid of them. However, there are not-so-obvious technologies that arthropods have mastered to perfection. All we can do is learn from them and marvel at nature’s flawless ingenuity.

Ants mastered agriculture over 30 million years ago by building underground chambers where they stored processed fragments of fresh leaves. On these leaves, they cultivated strains of fungi, much like we plant seeds in our gardens today. The fungi grew, providing ants with an abundant source of easily digestible carbon-based nutrition. Ants carefully protected their fungal “crops” with the help of special bacteria, which produced antibiotics to kill unwanted parasites, much like modern pesticides.

Some ant species even practice animal husbandry — they rear aphids and other sap-sucking insects. Ants maintain their own “apiary” with the sugary secretions of aphids, controlling their movements and ensuring that entire groups don’t wander away from the nest, much like humans prevent livestock from straying beyond pasture boundaries.

However, ants prefer radical methods: they bite off the aphids’ wings and inject chemicals that slow the growth of new generations. They also mark the area around their “farm,” scaring off predators like ladybugs. Just as humans bring cows and goats into warm barns during winter, caring ants transfer their “livestock” into their nests when cold weather arrives.

In addition to their agricultural talents, ants possess remarkable construction skills. While humans were still living in caves, with no thought of building something cozy with their own hands, ants were already constructing entire underground metropolises. Their building process is quick and coordinated, as ants were the first insects to develop a clear division of labor among members of their species. This concept of labor division was later adopted by factories, offices, and large corporations. Without this insight from ants, we might never have seen New York or Beijing as we know them today, and underground cities and subways might never have come into existence.

Earthworms served as the prototype for modern tunneling machines — and this is no joke. Constantly moving forward, worms “eat” through the soil, passing it through their bodies and leaving behind a large tunnel. Drilling machines work on the same principle. The first to notice this remarkable ability was engineer Marc Brunel, who observed a shipworm burrowing its way through an oak chip. Inspired by the worm’s tunneling prowess, Brunel designed the tunneling shield, which enabled humans to dig the first tunnel under the Thames River.

Spiders, master weavers, taught humans how to create networks. The modern world owes spiders the invention of a special elastic bandage that easily detaches from wounds without causing trauma. They also inspired the creation of Kevlar, a high-strength fiber that, when combined with bulletproof vests, provides unparalleled protection. This is all thanks to spider silk, which is incredibly strong, elastic, and lightweight. No wonder Spider-Man put so much effort into perfecting his webbing.

Thanks to special processing technologies, humans learned to create dense, beautiful fabrics with a pleasant texture. These fabrics are breathable, hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking, and significantly more durable than other materials.

Bees, the master confectioners among insects, produce the incredibly useful and beloved sweet — honey. Thanks to the hard work of bees, many candy factories now produce extraordinarily delicious confectionery products.

Butterflies and dragonflies inspired aircraft designers many years ago to invent modern airplanes and helicopters. This is because the wings of butterflies and dragonflies have thickenings that eliminate harmful vibrations during flight. By studying this feature, inventors realized that the same property could be applied to the transportation of people and goods through the air.

Sikorsky’s aircraft, like the dragonfly, could take off vertically without a runway, hover at the required height, turn in any direction, and land on a small platform. Sikorsky’s helicopters were used for both military and civilian purposes. His helicopters made the first flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

When discussing the density of insect wings, we must also mention another feature unique to them — the presence of chitin. Chitin is a substance that makes up the exoskeleton of insects and is one of the most common biopolymers in the world. Humans have learned to use the properties and potential of this substance and continue to explore materials based on chitin derived from insects.

Modern beetles and flies are also known for their innovations in the production of tableware. There are rumors that these creatures have recently joined a pottery workshop to create a few crystal dinner sets.

While insects have not yet mastered ceramic or glass tableware, they excel at producing plastic. This is because the chitin covering the bodies of beetles and flies is used in laboratories to create a special substance — chitosan — from which biological plastic can be made. Creating disposable tableware from bioplastic is a simple task.

In the future, scientists plan to use chitosan as raw material for the pharmaceutical industry to produce dressings, skin recovery films for burns, and medical probes.

Flies, cockroaches, and skin beetles have managed to introduce crime investigation technologies into the human world. With their help, many murders have been solved, as insects have played a significant role in forensic work.

But flies aren’t the only ones serving as crime seconds. Among all insects, there are specialized necrobionts — corpse eaters — and scavengers, such as cockroaches, which feed on decaying remains. Within this diversity, there are also predators — skin beetles. These tiny insects once troubled the ancient Egyptians by damaging the mummies of pharaohs. Today, they assist forensic scientists in investigating crimes, damaging ancient books, leather goods, and zoological museum collections.

Flying vampires among insects — mosquitoes — once contributed to military technology. These winged nuisances were never liked throughout history, so in the 20th century, they donned helmets, camouflage, and headed to the battlefield.

While mosquitoes never reached actual military action, scorpions, fleas, and bees did help one side in a conflict achieve victory. Scorpions were used as projectiles — one of the oldest examples of using venomous creatures in organized combat against enemy troops. Scorpions would sting enemies in exposed body parts, causing terrible pain and death.

In medieval castles in England, Wales, and Scotland, beehives were intentionally kept within the walls of fortifications. In peaceful times, soldiers would harvest honey, but if the castle was under siege, the hives would be dropped onto the heads of the attackers.

Fleas, on the other hand, were used in plague bombs. The bombs would detonate in the air, and the fleas would scatter over vast areas. The weapon was tested on Chinese prisoners, who were tied to posts at a testing site. A bomb filled with fleas was dropped from an aircraft, then the site was disinfected, and the prisoners were untied and quarantined to determine how many of them had contracted the plague. The tests were successful, and flea bombs were used against the Chinese army. However, in field conditions, this weapon turned out to be ineffective and did not have a decisive impact on the combat.

It is unlikely that we have listed all the technologies insects have gifted us, as scientists are still studying the world of invertebrates. But the most important thing we’ve learned is that great discoveries can be made both as a beautiful butterfly and as a diligent earthworm. The key is not to lose your wings.