Biomimicry

"Through history, numerous art, religious and every-day objects were carved from ivory because of its aesthetic appearance, convenient workability and its durability. Since the ivory trading ban was passed in 1989, many natural and synthetic materials were introduced as a replacement, but these are typically only available in bulk. …The newly developed substitute material called "Digory" is processible with an additive manufacturing technique that derived from stereolithography."

"Army ants form colonies of millions yet have no permanent home. They march through the jungle each night in search of new foraging ground. Along the way they perform logistical feats that would make a four-star general proud, including building bridges with their own bodies. Much like the swarms of cheap, dumb robots that I explored in my recent article, army ants manage this coordination with no leader and with minimal cognitive resources."

"A North African company has developed what it contends is a paradigm-shifting wind turbine technology based on the flapping of hummingbird wings. Any potential paradigm shifts are down the road a bit, but based on some remarkable images and new demo videos, the clean energy machine may be the prettiest wind turbine ever invented. Developed by Tyer Wind, a startup based in Tunisia, the turbine uses biomimicry principles to replicate the mechanical action of hummingbird wings. The design is fundamentally different from standard rotor-based wind turbines because instead of converting linear motion - wind blowing across the land - into a circular motion, it converts it into a figure-eight pattern. Not only is that shape the same as the one hummingbird wings make while the birds hover, but it also generates energy on both the upstroke and the downstroke.

"[...] bioMason grows bricks and masonry without using any heat.

[...] It starts by packing sand into regular molds, which are then inoculated with bacteria. The bacteria wrap themselves around grains of sand. Each grain acts as a nucleus and calcium carbonate crystals form around it. The bricks are then fed nutrient-rich water via an irrigation system for the next couple of days, speeding up the growth of the crystals which then fill the gaps between grains of sand. After four days, the bricks are strong, durable and ready to be used on the construction yard, and the water is then reused for the next set."

"New power sources bear a shocking resemblance to the electricity-making organs inside electric eels. These artificial electric eel organs are made up of water-based polymer mixes called hydrogels. Such soft, flexible battery-like devices, described online October 13 in Nature, could power soft robots or next-gen wearable and implantable tech."

"A novel optics system that mimics the structure of a lobster’s eyes would enable a conceptual Explorer-class mission to precisely locate, characterize, and alert other observatories to the source of gravitational waves, which are caused by some of the most powerful events in the universe. [...] the WFI, is equipped with the novel lobster-eye optics, which mimic the structure of the crustacean’s eyes. Lobster eyes are made up of long, narrow cells that each reflect a tiny amount of light from a given direction. This allows the light from a wide viewing area to be focused into a single image."

"The overheating of buildings and their need for mechanical cooling is a growing issue as a result of climate change. The main aim of this paper is to examine the impact of surface texture on heat loss capabilities of concrete panels through evaporative cooling. [...] A systematic process was been undertaken to examine the impact of different variables on the cooling ability...[...] This study demonstrates the potential exploitation of morphological adaptation to buildings, that could contribute to them cooling passively and reduce the need for expensive and energy consuming mechanical systems."

"Maple trees (genus Acer) accomplish the task of distributing objects to a wide area by producing seeds, known as samaras, which are carried by the wind as they autorotate and slowly descend to the ground. With the goal of supporting engineering applications, such as gathering environmental data over a broad area, we developed 3D-printed artificial samaras. [...] This study demonstrated a bioinspired design for the dispersed deployment of sensors and provides a better understanding of wind-dispersal of both natural and artificial samaras."

"The wing of an earwig is a lot like origami—but its elaborate design is far more ingenious than anything humans can make. Researchers have been studying the secret of these wings and have created an artificial structure that functions on the same principle.

When open, the earwig wing expands ten times larger than when closed—one of the highest folding ratios in the animal kingdom. The large wing area allows the insect to fly, while the compact way the wings retract enables the creature to tunnel underground without damaging its wings. The wing design has another unique feature; however, in its open, locked state the wing remains stiff with no need for muscle power to provide stability. With just one “click” the wing folds into itself completely, without the action of muscles."

"Scientists have engineered perhaps the whitest natural substance, using the same physics behind one ghostly white Southeast Asian beetle. White and black feel like opposites for a reason. Black-colored things absorb nearly all of the light that strikes their surface, while white things send the light back, scattered equally at all wavelengths. A team of European scientists have essentially created the whitest paper using this physical property."

Computer engineers study the mathematics of how to optimize complex systems. In one example, they face a logistics challenge known as the "travelling salesman problem:" how can a hypothetical salesperson visit every city on their route in the shortest distance?

The algorithms developed to answer these sorts of questions are useful in many situations, such as reducing the costs of and pollution from a fleet of delivery trucks. But when engineers tried to optimize traffic on the internet, they found their methods wanting. [...]

Honeybees don't study mathematics, but the demands of evolution reward those colonies that succeed in optimizing their resources. Fortunately, in the strange tale of how honeybees make the internet work, the scientists were smart enough to see that the honeybees knew better than they did.

Photo details: Apis mellifera by Muhammad Mahdi Karim (www.micro2macro.net) Facebook Youtube), GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons

"What’s better than a robot inspired by bees? A robot inspired by bees that can swim.Researchers led by a team at Harvard University have developed a tiny, 175-milligram (about two feathers) device with insect-inspired wings that can both flap and rotate, allowing it to either fly above the ground or swim in shallow waters and easily transition between the two."