Word: moths
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KAFATOS' FIRST major research project at Harvard, performed while a graduate student, was an investigation of how a moth escapes from its cocoon. The Elementary Science Study program has published an account of the way he found "How a Moth Escapes from its Cocoon." It will be used in elementary schools in September. In the pamphlet's preface, Kafatos states that science courses should not teach only the well-ordered results of research but also the daily progress of research, but also the daily progress of research, including the disappointments as well as the illuminations. He claims this would encourages...
...answers Kafatos found in this project eventually presented him with a tailor-made system in which to pursue his old interest in cell differentiation. Through other scientists' research he found that different species of moths had various means of escaping from their cocoons. He found that, for example, one Australian species has a hard, pointed structure at the front of its head that it uses as a saw and that the caterpillar of one kind of silk moth leaves an exit hole when it builds the cocoon. The species Kafatos chose to work with, the Chinese Oak Silk Moth, however...
...soon found that the moth opens its cocoon by wetting it with some kind of liquid that softens the glue holding the silk threads together. Kafatos discovered that a certain drug made the liquid appear on the moths' face, even when they were not trying to escape from a cocoon, and collected the liquid efficiently by applying the drug. After realizing that the liquid must contain some material in addition to salt and water, Kafatos guessed that an enzyme, a chemical agent that helps break down or "digest" other chemicals, was the liquid's active element...
...first he believed the liquid was produced in the moth's digestive system. Analysis of the moth's digestive apparatus showed that there was a large amount of protein-digesting enzyme present but it was not certain this was the same enzyme as in the liquid. To confirm that the enzymes were the same, Kafatos became a bug surgeon, removing the midgut of twenty moths. As expected, none of the moths produced any liquid. Yet he was not satisfied with the result: it seemed too easy. He later realized that the pupae he used had been refrigerated for some time...
...Gipsy Moth Circles the World, Chichester...