Increasing customer demand for durable and functional apparel manufactured in a sustainable manner has created an opportunity for nanomaterials to be integrated into textile substrates. Nanomoieties can induce stain repellence, wrinkle-freeness, static elimination, and electrical conductivity to fibers without compromising their comfort and flexibility. Nanomaterials also offer a wider applicat...

The fabrication and advanced function of large area biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) and slippery lubricant-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) are reported. The use of roll-to-roll nanoimprinting techniques enabled the continuous fabrication of SHS and SLIPS based on hierarchically wrinkled surfaces. Perfluoropolyether hybrid molds were used as flexible molds for roll-to-roll imprinting ...

In addition to their well-documented beneficial effects on plant physiological processes, anthocyanins have also been proposed to function in a diverse array of plant/animal interactions. These include the attraction of pollinators and frugivores, as well as the repellence of herbivores and parasites. The optical properties of anthocyanins may serve as visual signals to potential herbivores, in...

Botanical monoterpenes are secondary metabolites present in essential oils produced by plants. Some of them are insect repellents. The bloodsucking bug Rhodnius prolixus Ståhl (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) is one of the main vectors of Chagas disease in the north of South America and some countries in Central America. In this study, we studied the repellence produced by two monoterpenes, menthyl acet...

The reproductive organs of some plants self-heat, release scent, and attract pollinators. The relations among these processes are not well understood, especially in the more ancient, nonflowering gymnosperm lineages. We describe the influence of plant volatiles in an obligate pollination mutualism between an Australian Macrozamia cycad (a gymnosperm with male and female individuals) and its spe...

The nipple array is a submicrometre-scale structure found on the cuticle surfaces of various invertebrate taxa. Corneal nipples are an antiglare surface in nocturnal insects, but the functional significance of the nipple array has not been experimentally investigated for aquatic organisms. Using nanopillar sheets as a mimetic model of the nipple array, we demonstrated that significantly fewer b...

Response to the alarm pheromone, (E)-beta-farnesene, produced by many species of aphids, was assessed in laboratory bioassays using an aphid pest, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), and its primary endoparasitoid, Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh). This was done in three separate studies, the first investigating responses of a large number of M. persicae clones carrying different combinations of metabolic (c...

The effects of eucalyptol were evaluated against the house fly, Musca domestica L., and blow fly, Chrysomya megacephala (F.). The bioassay of adults, using topical application, indicated that M. domestica males were more susceptible than females, with the LD50 being 118 and 177 microg/fly, respectively. A higher LD50 of C. megacephala was obtained; 197 microg/fly for males and 221 microg/fly fo...

It is a challenge for a superhydrophobic coating to overcome the poor robustness and the rough surface structure that is usually built using inorganic particles that are difficult to degrade. In this study, a robust superhydrophobic coating is facilely prepared by using commercial biodegradable lignin-coated cellulose nanocrystal (L-CNC) particles after hydrophobic modification to build rough s...