It’s the stuff of science fiction — but according to a new study, researchers can use high-precision lasers and bug wings to figure out what dead insects sounded like.
Male katydids rubbed their wings together to produce ringing songs. They strike a hard scraper on one wing and a toothed file on the other. This vibrates window-like resonators called mirrors and harps that wiggle like tuning forks to amplify the sound. All katydids generate sound this way, and researchers can use the shape and size of their instrument to predict what their tune might have sounded like.
In the new study, the team reconstructed the song of a 150-year-old katydid called Prophalangopsis obscura. Experts collected the bug in India around 150 years ago, and it’s the only male specimen of this species ever discovered. It might still be around today, but nobody has found another male — dead or alive ...
