Microfluidic Chips: Butterfly Feeder

Preserved butterfly and moth specimens mounted onto custom microfluidic feeding devices. The channels are cast from PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) using 3D-printed moulds and connected via Tygon tubing to a dosing pump that circulates coloured fluids — turmeric, beet and hibiscus, Spirulina, chlorophyll, deionised water — through the system. The microfluidic form is borrowed from laboratory and biomedical research, where it is used to replicate and study biological environments at small scale. Here it is used to feed dead insects.