Their cowcatchers had probably nosed through herds of buffalo on the Kansas plains. (si.com)
Babbage is also credited with inventing the cowcatcher, dynamometer, standard railroad gauge and heliograph ophthalmoscope as well as uniform postal rates, occulting lights for lighthouses and Greenwich time signals. (scientificamerican.com)
The paper's senior author, professor Sankar Mitra, has his own analogy for the role of NEIL1: he calls it a «cowcatcher» enzyme, comparing it to the structure on the front of an early steam locomotive used to clear animals or debris off the track. (sciencedaily.com)