There is always a degree of sadness in reading the obituary of a great scientist.  Today, following up Bombardier Beetles, I came across this one:

Thomas Eisner dies at 81; entomologist who studied insect chemistry
 

Known as the 'father of chemical ecology,' Thomas Eisner turned his childhood fascination with insects into a pioneering career.

As a child, for example, Eisner observed that the bombardier beetle emitted a chemical that stained his fingers dark brown. As an adult, he used a combination of microphotography, slow-motion film and chemical analysis to show that the beetle had separate sacs in its abdomen, one for hydrogen peroxide and one for a quinone.

My attention to these critters had been alerted on seeing on television a report of work at Leeds University.  Here is the press release:

Engineers learn from the beetles
 

An amazing insect, which sprays its predators with toxic steam, has inspired research into a new generation of technology at the University of Leeds.  (A place for which I have considerable affection, since our longest and best collaboration was with the Polymer IRC there.)

The research has resulted in the new µMist™ technology which has the potential to become the platform for the next generation of more effective and eco-friendly mist carrier systems. It has multiple potential applications – such as new nebulisers, needle-free injections, fire extinguishers and powerful fuel injection systems – all more efficient and environmentally-friendly than existing technologies.

The research funded initially by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and subsequently by Swedish Biomimetics 3000™, enabled the Leeds team, led by Professor of Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory Andy McIntosh to examine the mechanisms at work in the bombardier beetle.

That press release dates from September 2007, so one hopes that the technology has advanced since then.  Anyway, we were treated to video of a Californian Bombardier Beetles turning its nozzle this way and that to spray its attackers, and to the workings of a mechanical contraption emitting puffs like a water dragon.

The ‘Northern Promise’, though, seems to be that one can energetically spray fires from a greater distance, with mist rather than liquid water.  This would enable one fire-engine load of water to go further without much of it trickling to waste, and the steam generated would suffocate the fire by starving it of oxygen.

So is one to hope that ‘Beetlebutt’ engines might be able to deal more effectively with those massive fires that we sometime watch with horror on the TV news?