Functioning 'mechanical gears' seen in nature for the first time http://phys.org/news/2013-09-functioning-mechanical-gears-nature.html
<<a plant-hopping insect found in gardens across Europe - has hind-leg joints with curved cog-like strips of opposing 'teeth' that intermesh, rotating like mechanical gears to synchronise the animal's legs when it launches into a jump. The finding demonstrates that gear mechanisms previously thought to be solely man-made have an evolutionary precedent. Scientists say this is the "first observation of mechanical gearing in a biological structure">> <<Interestingly, the mechanistic gears are only found in the insect's juvenile – or 'nymph' – stages, and are lost in the final transition to adulthood. These transitions, called 'molts', are when animals cast off rigid skin at key points in their development in order to grow.>>
