Biomimicry News & Research
A new bio-inspired approach to synthesizing polymers will offer unprecedented control over the final polymer structure and yield advances in nanomedicine, researchers say.
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Researchers from the University of Bristol have created artificial muscles that can be transformed at the flick of a switch to mimic the remarkable camouflaging abilities of organisms such as squid and zebrafish.
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 | On its own, an ant is not particularly clever. But in a community, the insects can solve complicated tasks. Researchers intend to put this 'swarm intelligence' to use in the logistics field. Lots of autonomous transport shuttles would provide an alternative to traditional materials-handling technology. ...> Full Article |
 | American researchers have created a robotic jellyfish, named Robojelly, which not only exhibits characteristics ideal to use in underwater search and rescue operations, but could, theoretically at least, never run out of energy thanks to it being fueled by hydrogen. ...> Full Article |
People often wonder if computers make children smarter. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are asking the reverse question: can children make computers smarter? It appears so.
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Using a combination of guillotine-based experiments and cutting-edge computer modeling, researchers at the University of Bristol have explored the most efficient ways for teeth to slice food. Their results, published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, show just how precisely the shape of an animal's teeth is optimized to suit the type of food it eats.
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 | Over their 3.8 billion years of evolution, living organisms have developed countless strategies for monitoring their surroundings. Chemists at UC Santa Barbara and University of Rome Tor Vergata have adapted some of these strategies to improve the performance of DNA detectors. Their findings may aid efforts to build better medical diagnostics, such as improved HIV or cancer tests. ...> Full Article |
Shark skin has long been known to improve the fish's swimming performance by reducing drag, but now George Lauder and Johannes Oeffner from Harvard University show that in addition, the skin generates thrust, giving the fish an extra boost. The duo also discovered that Speedo's shark skin-inspired Fastskin® FS II fabric surface does not improve swimming speed, although they point out that the figure hugging costumes probably enhance performance in other ways.
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 | By figuring out how butterflies flutter among flowers with amazing grace and agility, researchers hope to help build small airborne robots that can mimic those maneuvers. ...> Full Article |
 | A study that combines experimental observations of spider webs with complex computer simulations has shown that web durability depends not only on silk strength, but on how overall web design compensates for damage and the response of individual strands to continuously varying stresses. ...> Full Article |
 | Taking inspiration from the yellow fattail scorpion, which uses a bionic shield to protect itself against scratches from desert sandstorms, scientists have developed a new way to protect the moving parts of machinery from wear and tear. A report on the research appears in ACS' journal Langmuir. ...> Full Article |
 | Existing search-and-rescue robots can climb and move over existing terrain, but the majority require large amounts of energy and are prone to overheating. Georgia Tech researchers have designed a new machine by studying the locomotion of a certain type of flexible, efficient animal: snakes. ...> Full Article |
Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore once wrote, "Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf." Now, a new study is finally offering an explanation for why small dew drops do as Tagore advised and form on the tips, rather than the flat surfaces, of leaves. It appears in ACS' journal Langmuir.
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A new sunflower-inspired pattern increases concentrated solar efficiency.
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 | A UC Berkeley study of how lizards use their tails when leaping through the trees shows that they swing the tail upward to avoid pitching forward after a stumble. Theropod dinosaurs ? the ancestors of birds - may have done the same. A robot model confirms the value of an actively controlled tail, demonstrating that adding a tail can stabilize robots on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls ? critical to successful search and rescue operations. ...> Full Article |
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Scientists 'read' the ash from the Icelandic volcano 2 years after its eruption
The millennium-old olive trees of the Iberian Peninsula are younger than expected
Science nugget: Lightning signature could help reveal the solar system's origins
Antarctic octopus sheds light on ice-sheet collapse
Power generation technology based on piezoelectric nanocomposite materials developed
Scientists make stunning inner space observations
Molecular spectroscopy tracks living mammalian cells in real time as they differentiate
Mini cargo transporters on a rat run
Women have bigger pupils than men
Novel radiation surveillance technology could help thwart nuclear terrorism
Purple sea urchin metamorphosis controlled by histamine
Scholars to apply facial recognition software to unidentified portrait subjects
World's largest digital camera project passes critical milestone
'Inhabitants of Madrid' ate elephants? meat and bone marrow 80,000 years ago
Robots fighting wars could be blamed for mistakes on the battlefield
X-rays create a window on glass formation
Can sound science guide dispersant use during subsea oil spills?
How Usain Bolt can run faster -- effortlessly
Growing market for human organs exploits poor
Chimpanzees have policemen, too
Playful learning inside a square
Can consuming caffeine while breastfeeding harm your baby?
Discovery of extremely long-lived proteins may provide insight into cell aging
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
Film coatings made from whey
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Swarming and transporting
Jellyfish inspires latest ocean-powered robot
Chemists mimic nature to design better medical tests
Studying butterfly flight to help build bug-size flying robots
A spider web's strength lies in more than its silk
Scorpions inspire scientists in making tougher surfaces for machinery
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design