{
  "id": 5194913,
  "title": "Caterpillar twitches in an ultraquiet chamber help biologists understand how these insects hear without ears",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/caterpillar-twitches-in-an-ultraquiet-chamber-help-biologists",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-02T23:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-caterpillar-twitches-ultraquiet-chamber-biologists.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Within a tranquil summer garden, a tobacco hornworm caterpillar sits on a branch, calmly nibbling leaves. Suddenly, it freezes, sensing an impending threat. Approaching from behind, a wasp carefully assesses its potential meal. Despite their unassuming appearance, these caterpillars possess an extraordinary ability to detect predators, such as wasps, even though they lack ears. The mystery behind this sensory capability has intrigued scientists, who are now investigating the mechanisms behind this extraordinary sense of hearing.\n\nBiologists and engineers have been working together to unravel the enigma of caterpillar hearing. Their research indicates that these tiny creatures employ minuscule, highly sensitive hairs scattered across their bodies to perceive sounds without the need for traditional ears. Deciphering the biological mechanisms that enable this unique form of perception could not only unlock the secrets of nature but also provide valuable insights for designing cost-effective microphone technology.\n\nHowever, conducting experiments on caterpillar hearing requires a controlled environment, free from external disturbances. This is where anechoic chambers come into play, renowned for their unparalleled ability to block out unwanted sounds. These chambers, built with heavy-duty steel springs to isolate them from the ground, are engineered to be some of the quietest spaces on Earth. Inside these chambers, researchers observed the caterpillars' reactions to various vibrations, recording their responses through an accelerometer.\n\nThe team discovered that the caterpillars' reactions to vibrations followed a specific threshold; any vibration below this level went unnoticed. Intrigued by this pattern, they expanded their study by exposing the caterpillars to airborne sound stimuli. Surprisingly, the caterpillars continued reacting to sound even when their threshold for direct vibration response was reached. This finding suggests that the caterpillars are indeed hearing airborne sounds, sparking curiosity about the absence of traditional tympanal organs in their auditory system.\n\nDelving deeper into the anatomy of caterpillars, researchers observed distinctive hairs that could potentially serve as auditory receptors. They meticulously tested the impact of removing these hairs on the caterpillars' hearing abilities, discovering that the removal of specific hairs significantly diminished their defensive responses to sound at various frequencies. This groundbreaking research paves the way for a better understanding of caterpillar hearing and opens up possibilities for designing innovative acoustic devices, including microphones inspired by these microscopic hairs. These new microphones could potentially detect both sound pressure and air particle velocity, providing users with crucial information about sound direction and volume, making them invaluable tools for applications such as hearing aids.",
  "summary": "In a quiet summer garden, a caterpillar perches on a branch, munching serenely on leaves. A moment later, it freezes. It senses danger—and just in time. From behind, a wasp approaches, sizing up its prey.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Conversation",
        "title": "Caterpillar twitches in an ultraquiet chamber are helping biologists understand how these insects hear without ears",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/caterpillar-twitches-in-an-ultraquiet-chamber-are-helping-biologists",
        "published": "2026-09-02T12:03:49.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}