Biomimicry News & Research
 | 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 |
A question confronting neuroscientists and computer vision researchers alike is how objects can be identified by simply "looking" at an image. But teaching a computer to "know" what it's looking at is far harder. In research in the Public Library of Science Computational Biology journal, a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Chatham University, and Emory University modeled human brain structure to develop better programming approaches for computer object identification.
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Queensland University of Technology Ph.D. student Wesam Al Sabban is a genius and has the medal to prove it!The engineering student received the accolade for his work on the design of an unmanned aerial vehicle that would be powered by the sun and wind.
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Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed "Shrilk," a new material that replicates the exceptional strength, toughness, and versatility of one of nature's more extraordinary substances -- insect cuticle.
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One of the first tasks for Warwick's new £1.3 million super computer is to use its monster megabytes to analyze the natural properties of the tiny mollusk shell.
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 | Research conducted at the University of Michigan College of Engineering may lead to the use of insects to monitor hazardous situations before sending in humans. ...> Full Article |
Engineers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have developed a robot that mimics the graceful motions of jellyfish so precisely that it has been named Robojelly. Developed for the Office of Naval Research in 2009, this vehicle was designed to conduct ocean underwater surveillance, enabling it potentially to detect chemical spills, monitor the presence of ships and submarines, and observe the migration of schools of fish.
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Researchers mimic the many-layered nanostructure of blue mountain swallowtail wings to make a silicon wafer that traps both air and light.
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Professor Nathan Intrator of Tel Aviv University is using a unique method to interpret and manipulate the pings and echoes that these animals use for learning about their environments and capturing their prey. With this knowledge, he's created mathematical models that may significantly improve the accuracy of existing medical and navigational technologies.
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 | Adi Sklarsh at Tel Aviv University has discovered how bacteria collectively gather information to learn about their environment and find an optimal path to growth. This research will allow scientists to design a new generation of "smart robots" that can form intelligent swarms and aid in the development of medical micro-robots used to treat diseases in the human body. ...> Full Article |
For decades, scientists have dreamed of building computer systems that could replicate the human brain's talent for learning new tasks. MIT researchers have now taken a major step toward that goal by designing a computer chip that mimics how the brain's neurons adapt in response to new information. This phenomenon, known as plasticity, is believed to underlie many brain functions, including learning and memory.
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Birds of a feather don't always stick together
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Jupiter's 'Trojans' on an atomic scale
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New book on computational analysis of human eye
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Energy-saving chaperon Hsp90
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Film coatings made from whey
Appropriate activities promote children’s creativity and mathematical learning
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If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Scorpions inspire scientists in making tougher surfaces for machinery
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design
Insect cyborgs may become first responders
Smart swarms of bacteria inspire robotics researchers