Irvine, Calif., Feb. 14, 2005 -- A new study investigating the respiratory system of insects may have solved a mystery that has intrigued physiologists for decades: why insects routinely stop ...

The insect respiratory system is so efficient that resting insects stop taking in air as they release carbon dioxide, according to research by Stefan K. Hetz of Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.

The basis of this gigantism is thought to lie in the insect respiratory system. In contrast to vertebrates, where blood transports oxygen from the lung to the cell, insects deliver oxygen directly ...

These holes typically line insects' thoraxes and abdomens. Also bizarre: Insect respiratory systems are not patched into the animals' circulatory systems, as they are in humans, where the lungs ...

With support from an NSF grant, two faculty members in biomedical engineering and mechanics have combined forces to answer questions pertaining to insects' breathing. The researchers will study ...

"That means that the respiratory systems of the insects could be smaller and still deliver enough oxygen to meet their demands, allowing the creatures to grow much larger." Alexander Kaiser ...

ARGONNE, Ill., Aug. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists have used X-ray images in an attempt to determine why the giant insects that lived millions of years ago disappeared. In the late ...

"What we didn't know was why." The insect respiratory system is a branching system of air-filled tubes called tracheae, which open to the air through small holes called spiracles. These draw in ...

The respiratory systems of animals must guarantee an efficient oxygen supply. But it seems that, in some insects, they have evolved to restrict the flow of oxygen too. Like most other animals ...

Insects can also adjust the amount of air they let into their respiratory system. The insect’s tracheae system is much more efficient at reducing water loss when you compare it to the pill bug ...

Bradley explained that insects typically maintain 4-5 kilopascals of oxygen in their respiratory systems, 4-5 times lower than the normal oxygen concentration in the atmosphere. In a normal oxygen ...