Crickets develop super-sensitive sound detectors

Super-sensitive sound detectors used by crickets to spot predators have been recreated in the laboratory.

Some cricket species have developed a pair of hairy appendages on their abdomen called cerci which can detect the smallest fluctuations in air currents.

Physicists at the University of Twente in the Netherlands hope studying tiny artificial hairs might lead to the development of new cochlea implants for the deaf.