Biomimicry News & Research

Strength is shore thing for sea shell scientists (3/9/2010)

Scientists have made synthetic 'sea shells' from a mixture of chalk and polystyrene cups -- and produced a tough new material that could make our homes and offices more durable. ...> Full Article

Mussels - material artists with grip (3/6/2010)

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces believe they have uncovered the basis how marine mussels use the byssus, a bundle of tough and extensible fibers, to fasten securely to wave-swept rocky coastlines. According to their findings, local accumulation of iron-mediated cross-links creates hard knobs within an extensible matrix containing much fewer of these molecular bridges. Such a design could be an interesting concept for developing novel abrasion-resistant, highly extensible coatings. ...> Full Article

Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality (3/4/2010)

CSIRO scientist Dr. Tara Sutherland and her team have achieved another important milestone in the international quest to artificially produce insect silk. ...> Full Article

Glue, fly, glue (3/1/2010)

Like silkworm moths, butterflies and spiders, caddisfly larvae spin silk, but they do so underwater instead on dry land. Now, University of Utah researchers have discovered why the fly's silk is sticky when wet and how that may make it valuable as an adhesive tape during surgery. ...> Full Article

Gecko's lessons transfer well (1/26/2010)

Rice graduate student Cary Pint has come up with a way to transfer forests of strongly aligned, single-walled carbon nanotubes from one surface to another -- any surface -- in a matter of minutes. The template used to grow the nanotubes, with its catalyst particles still intact, can be used repeatedly to grow more nanotubes, almost like inking a rubber stamp. ...> Full Article

Mussel-inspired 'glue' for fetal membrane repair (1/25/2010)

A sealant inspired by mussels' ability to stick to surfaces under wet conditions has shown promise in the repair of defects in human fetal membranes, according to a Northwestern University study. During a pregnancy, such defects -- ruptures or holes -- can lead to the leakage of amniotic fluid, resulting in premature labor or termination of the pregnancy. In tests, the Northwestern sealant was found to be biocompatible and effective at sealing the tiny holes. ...> Full Article

Slime design mimics Tokyo's rail system (1/22/2010)

What could human engineers possibly learn from the lowly slime mold? Reliable, cost-efficient network construction, apparently: a recent experiment suggests that Physarum polycephalum, a gelatinous fungus-like mold, might actually lead the way to improved technological systems, such as more robust computer and mobile communication networks. ...> Full Article

Unusual snail shell could be a model for better armor (1/19/2010)

New insights about a tiny snail that lives on the ocean floor could help scientists design better armor for soldiers and vehicles, according to MIT researchers. ...> Full Article

Cockroaches offer inspiration for running robots (12/29/2009)

The sight of a cockroach scurrying for cover may be nauseating, but the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel, and is providing researchers at Oregon State University with what they call "bioinspiration" in a quest to build the world's first legged robot that is capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain. ...> Full Article

Dental delight: Tooth of sea urchin shows formation of biominerals (12/23/2009)

Some of the most common minerals in biology, including those in bones and shells, have a mysterious structure: Their crystals are positioned in the same orientation, making them behave as one giant crystal, even though they do not look like a faceted crystal. ...> Full Article

Copying mother nature's designs (12/12/2009)

David Bocian of the University of California, Riverside will receive more than $1 million over five years as a co-investigator in the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center, to be headquartered at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. The center seeks to better understand natural photosynthetic systems and design more durable human-made compounds for capturing light. ...> Full Article

Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist's dream (11/30/2009)

John Currey from York University explains that it is almost impossible to make materials that are tough yet stiff: stiff materials tend to break easily and cannot absorb impacts. But not so dry deer antlers. Surviving impacts that are six times greater than crashes that shatter wet femur, deer antler is stiff enough to endure the dueling animals' pushing contests and could teach us how to make stiff, yet tough, materials. ...> Full Article

The cause behind the characteristic shape of a long leaf revealed (11/28/2009)

Applied mathematicians dissected the morphology of the plantain lily, a characteristic long leaf with a saddle-like arc midsection and closely packed ripples along the edges. The simple cause of the lily's fan-like shape -- elastic relaxation resulting from bending during differential growth -- was revealed by using an equally simple technique, stretching foam ribbons. ...> Full Article

Scientists are first to 'unlock' the mystery of creating cultured pearls from the queen conch (11/7/2009)

In their natural form, conch pearls are among the rarest pearls in the world. For more than 25 years, all attempts at culturing pearls from the queen conch have been unsuccessful -- until now. For the first time, novel and proprietary seeding techniques to produce beaded and nonbeaded high-quality cultured pearls from the queen conch have been developed by scientists from FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. ...> Full Article

Mushrooms, water-repellants more similar than you might think (10/29/2009)

The same phenomenon that occurs when it's time for certain mushrooms to eject spores also occurs when dew droplets skitter across a surface that is highly water repellant. ...> Full Article