Lightning-fast chameleon tongues may inspire medical, space tech

Researchers at the University of South Florida, led by postdoctoral researcher Yu Zeng and professor Stephen Deban, have uncovered a shared high-speed tongue-launching mechanism in both chameleons and salamanders. Despite their evolutionary distance and differing habitats, both animals use a similar "ballistic" slingshot-like system composed of ordinary tissues, tendons, and bone to project their tongues at speeds up to 16 feet per second. This discovery, based on over a decade of video analysis, presents a unified mechanical model that explains how these animals achieve rapid tongue strikes using common biological materials. The team highlights the potential for this mechanism to inspire innovative biomedical and industrial technologies. Because the system relies on simple, robust components that can be scaled and recreated with soft or flexible materials, it could lead to devices capable of precise, rapid extension and retraction. Possible applications include medical tools for clearing blood clots, equipment for retrieving objects in disaster zones, and mechanisms for handling debris in space. Future research will