Question Jumping Roundworm Uses Electricity to Attach to Flying Insects

Article Title: This jumping roundworm uses static electricity to attach to flying insects
By: Michael Banks 
Published 17th of October, 2025
Biophysics and bioengineering From the Article: 
'The parasitic roundworm Steinernema carpocapsae, which live in soil, are already known to leap some 25 times their body length into the air. They do this by curling into a loop and springing in the air, rotating hundreds of times a second.

If the nematode lands successfully, it releases bacteria that kills the insect within a couple of days upon which the worm feasts and lays its eggs. At the same time, if it fails to attach to a host then it faces death itself.'

'To investigate, researchers are Emory University and the University of California, Berkeley,  conducted a series of experiments , in which they used highspeed microscopy techniques to film the worms as they leapt onto a fruit fly.'

'They found that a charge of a few hundred volts – similar to that generated in the wild by an insect’s wings rubbing against ions in the air – fosters a negative charge on the worm, creating an attractive force with the positively charged fly.'

'Carrying out simulations of the worm jumps, they found that without any electrostatics, only 1 in 19 worm trajectories successfully reached their target. The greater the voltage, however, the greater the chance of landing. For 880 V, for example, the probability was 80%.'

Image One: Taking flight: a parasitic roundworm prepares to jump on its host (courtesy: Victor M. Ortega-Jimenez)

Article: physicsworld.com/a/this-jumping-roundworm-uses-static-electricity-to-attach-to-flying-insects/
Associated Journal Article: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2503555122