In keeping with the bio-inspired theme this week, I'm pointing you to a Businessweek article about biomimics that, although has been around for more than a year, gives a good overview of the field and also has a fantastic slide show showing some great examples of biomimetic technology. See a bullet train with a bird nose; whale fin wind turbines
and mussel-like super strong glues. Biologist Janine Benyus is at the helm of the field, advocating that companies can learn from nature's nonpolluting,
energy-efficient systems that exist in harmony with each other.
Photo: Water beading on lotus leaf. Wikimedia Commons.
I can't get enough of this biomimetic stuff. I'm going to have to do a Wide Angle on it. There is so much technology out there inspired by nature. Take this artificial leaf, for example. A team of researchers (Ruba Borno, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Joseph Steinmeyer, MIT; and Michel Maharbiz, Univ. of California-Berkeley) looked at leaves in nature and saw that they work like pumps. Water in trees taken from the roots is pumped to the leaves and down the veins to the leaf's surface, where it meets the air and evaporates. It called transpiration.
These researchers fabricated an artificial leaf that does the same thing. It's made from a glass wafer that contains tiny veins. The end of the vein is open. As water evaporates at the end, it pulls other water out, moving the water at about 1.5 cm per second.
This week on the web site, we're talking all about sharks. But an undercurrent (no pun intended) in some of the articles is technology inspired by nature. This kind of technology is called biomimetic and it's not limited to those inspired by sharks. Researchers know that nature has already figured out a lot of design problems and done so with creative solutions.
Let's take the pine cone. When it's filled with moisture, it closes down. When it's dry, it open up. A new start up company based in the United Kingdom, MMT Textiles, has created a fabric that that adapts to humidity in a similar way. Like a pine cone, it absorbs moisture and in doing so, closes down. Conventional fabrics absorb moisture and swell. And when the MMT Textile fabric becomes dry, the structure of the fabric opens up, which increase insulation properties.
It just goes to show that nearly anything from nature can inspire innovation.
This week on the Discovery Tech site, I'm featuring technology that's used to study sharks and technology inspired by sharks. (What can I do? It is Shark Week on Discovery Channel, after all.) It's the latter category that has inspired today's blog post. Technology inspired by nature, or biomimetic technology.
Engineers Sung-Weon Yeom and Il-Kwon Oh from Chonnam National University in the Republic of Korea have taken inspiration from the jellyfish and turned it into a robot. The scientists used a polymer (plastic) metal composites that is flexible but can also respond to an electrical charge. It was used to make moving parts that behave like biological muscles.
Think "shark" and chances are images of technology are not the first to dance in you're head. But technology abounds. It's used to study sharks -- from satellite tracking to DNA analysis -- and plenty technologies are inspired by sharks. So pull up a beach chair and read what we have in store for you with this Wide Angle series: Shark Technology.
IM Interview: Sharks in the Emergency Room
Sharklet Technologies is developing the world's first surface pattern inspired by sharkskin. The surface resists the growth of organisms such as bacteria and could be used in hospitals to reduce disease.
Monday, Dec. 8 Magnet Meltdown Why did the Large Hadron Collider break down and how do scientists and engineers plan to fix it? Clark Boyd sheds light on this and other technology with his weekly podcast. Listen in.
Video: The Skinny On Clean Rooms Some people wear business suits to work, but scientists who build semiconductors wear "bunny suits.” Tracy Staedter and Kasey-Dee Gardner learn the ins and outs of clean room couture.
Guest Spot Invitation blog: Student researcher David Ellis talks about his area of research and what it's like to be a freshly designated PhD researchers who's still a little wet behind the ears.
Thursday, Dec. 11 The Top 10 languages on the Internet. Can you guess what they are?
Friday, Dec. 12 Opalescent nano-sized particles are being developed for use in drug delivery, special coatings, sensors and more. See the slide show featuring different views of these beautiful nanojewels.
Monday, Dec. 1: We need to dramatically reduce CO2 in the
atmosphere. So, how? Some think we should be burying it in the ground.
Others say that's a risky endeavor. We'll have a Double Take, featuring
both sides of the controversy.
We'll also have a video from producer Kasey-Dee Gardner about a new endoscope that creates 3-D images. The device provides doctors with a much better (and deeper) image of tissue than conventional endoscopes and that can improve diagnosis.
Tuesday, Dec. 2: Take a break from holiday shopping and do a puzzle. This month, our category is robots inspired by living things. Scientists call them "biomimetic."
Wednesday, Dec. 3: Gene Charleton has his weekly podcast from Engineering Works!
Thursday, Dec. 4: Some ancient buildings are lost and gone forever. But scientists are using virtual reality to rebuild architecture, allowing people to walk along corridors or through courtyards in ways that previously were not possible. Read the IM interview with Jose Kozan.
Friday, Dec. 5:Guest blog
from David Alexander Ellis. Does Social Stimuli Expand Time? Recently
graduated PhD student, David Ellis, tells us about his area of study
and what it's like to be starting down the path of research. Read his
guest blog.
Are four wings better than two? After all the dragonfly has been slicing, and then breaking into a hover, then slicing again (sometimes backward) with quadruple force for 300 million years. Previous studies have said no, that air motion between the pair of fore and hind wings reduces lift.
But research from UK's Royal Veterinary College and the University of Ulm have shown otherwise. Using a robot that simulates dragonfly flight, they found that although flying with two pairs of wings does not offer any advantages for lift, it can improve aerodynamics. When the fore and hind wings are phased just right, the lower wings recover energy from the wing tips that would otherwise swirl away in the waste of a wake.
Dragonflies don't have to be told what makes their flight aerodynamic. But what scientists learn from these agile insects could be one day applied to micro air vehicles.
The paper is here. And you can see video of the robot here.
Recent Comments