The hammer, anvil and stirrup—also known as the malleus, incus, and stapes, respectively, and collectively, as "middle ear ossicles"—are the smallest bones in the human body. Found in the ...

The key to this discovery was finding the equivalent of the hammer, anvil and stirrup. In the katydid, an outer membrane—much like the eardrum—is connected to a stiff lever-like plate called ...