Tracing the sources of nuclear fusion

摘要

When engineeringtakes inspiration from small animals, the word 'humble' is certain to turn up any descriptions of the technology. But there's nothing humble about the pistol shrimp, apart from its size. Only millimetres in length, these Crustacea are fearsome hunters, marvels of evolution and possessed of the nearest thing we know to superpowers. They are the only creatures apart from humans that kill their prey from a distance, but they don't need to rely on weapons. Instead, the pistol shrimp sports one outsize claw which it can snap (almost exactly like snapping fingers) to generate a Shockwave that can stun or kill even much larger animals, including fish.