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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the artificial-bees dept.

Soap bubbles pollinated a pear orchard without damaging delicate flowers:

After confirming through optical microscopy that soap bubbles could, in fact, carry pollen grains, Miyako and Xi Yang, his coauthor on the study, tested the effects of five commercially available surfactants on pollen activity and bubble formation. The neutralized surfactant lauramidopropyl betain (A-20AB) won out over its competitors, facilitating better pollen germination and growth of the tube that develops from each pollen grain after it is deposited on a flower. Based on a laboratory analysis of the most effective soap concentrations, the researchers tested the performance of pear pollen grains in a 0.4% A-20AB soap bubble solution with an optimized pH and added calcium and other ions to support germination. After three hours of pollination, the pollen activity mediated through the soap bubbles remained steady, while other methods such as pollination through powder or solution became less effective.

Miyako and Yang then loaded the solution into a bubble gun and released pollen-loaded bubbles into a pear orchard, finding that the technique distributed pollen grains (about 2,000 per bubble) to the flowers they targeted, producing fruit that demonstrated the pollination's success. Finally, the researchers loaded an autonomous, GPS-controlled drone with functionalized soap bubbles, which they used to direct soap bubbles at fake lilies (since flowers were no longer in bloom) from a height of two meters, hitting their targets at a 90% success rate when the machine moved at a velocity of two meters per second.

Journal References:
Xi Yang, Eijiro Miyako. Soap Bubble Pollination, iScience (DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101188)
Svetlana A.Chechetka, Yue Yu, Masayoshi Tange, Eijiro Miyako. Materially Engineered Artificial Pollinators [open], Chem (DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2017.01.008)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:30AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @09:30AM (#1009470)

    Hmm, an interesting idea,
    I *do* still have my sister's idea of a joke birthday present from a decade or so ago lying around in one of the cupboards; one Marvin the Martian battery powered bubble generating ray gun...now, where do I find a bottle of Super Fun Happy-Time TTX bubble solution and the requisite full CBW gear to wear (in case of literal 'blow back') for my new career as the Bubble Assassin?

    As to TFA, as we're seriously negatively impacting on pollinator insect species numbers, any stop-gap measures like this which work should be welcomed.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @02:02PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @02:02PM (#1009521)

    >> as we're seriously negatively impacting on pollinator insect species numbers

    You're a varola mite?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:02PM (#1009623)

      I can neither confirm, nor deny that....besides, you do know that there are a hell of a lot more pollinator species out there than just bees?