Biomimicry News And Research - November 2010 Archives
 | Mimicking the reflective iridescence of a butterfly's wing, investigators have developed a color-changing patch that could be worn on soldiers' helmets and uniforms to indicate the strength of exposure to blasts from explosives in the field. Future studies aim to calibrate the color change to the intensity of exposure to provide an immediate read on the potential harm to the brain and the subsequent need for medical intervention. ...> Full Article |
Lessons learned from the ocean's largest mammals have inspired United States Naval Academy researchers to tackle one of the serious design challenges facing a technology that uses underwater turbines to convert ocean tides into electricity -- work present today at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, Calif.
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Working at a crossroad between biology and engineering, scientists have modeled and are now mimicking the ingenious natural design of falling geckos, gliding snakes, cruising seagulls, flapping insects and floating maple seeds to improve the design of air vehicles.
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 | Hummingbirds rank among the world's most accomplished hovering animals, but how do they manage it in gusty winds? A team of researchers has built a robotic hummingbird wing to discover the answer, which they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...> Full Article |
A team of scientists at Harvard University has reproduced many of the characteristics of real bird song with a simple physical model made of a rubber tube -- work presented today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif.
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 | To avoid some of the design challenges involved in creating micro-scale air vehicles that mimic the flapping of winged insects or birds, Georgia Tech researchers propose using flexible wings that are driven by a simple sinusoidal flapping motion. ...> Full Article |
 | Airplanes do not look much like birds, but should they? This question is exactly what a pair of engineers in California and South Africa inadvertently answered recently in experiments they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. ...> Full Article |
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new kind of underwater sonar device that can detect objects through bubble clouds that would effectively blind standard sonar.
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Tiny water creepy crawlies from South Korea and the Russian Far East
NASA satellite data helps pinpoint glaciers' role in sea level rise
Weather on the outer planets only goes so deep
Shattering the endurance record for small electric UAV
But what does it do?
Artificial forest for solar water-splitting
Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice age
World's smallest droplets
Using clay to grow bone
Grammar errors? The brain detects them even when you are unaware
Principles of locomotion in confined spaces could help robot teams work underground
Researchers perform fastest measurements ever made of ion channel proteins
Ultraresponsive magnetic nanoscavengers for next generation water purification
Do potatoes grow on vines? A review of the wild relatives of some favorite food plants
New discovery of ancient diet shatters conventional ideas of how agriculture emerged
Carnivorous plant throws out 'junk' DNA
Untangling the tree of life
More effective, cheaper concrete manufactured with ash from olive residue biomass
New quantitative analysis for open source software projects
High-volume Bitcoin exchanges less likely to fail, but more likely breached, says study
Computer scientists develop video game that teaches how to program in Java
Do palm trees hold the key to immortality?
Researchers show how we can do math problems unconsciously
Keep moving and have fun
New strategy for fingerprint visualization developed at Hebrew University
Children's bicycle helmets shown to be effective in impact and crush tests
How Usain Bolt can run faster -- effortlessly
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Moth-inspired nanostructures take the color out of thin films
Robotic insects make first controlled flight
Seahorse's armor gives engineers insight into robotics designs
Insect-inspired camera captures wide field of view with no distortion, according to CU-Boulder study
Bed of needles
Not slippery when wet: Geckos adhere to surfaces submerged underwater
Cry me a river of possibility: Scientists design new adaptive material inspired by tears
Robot ants successfully mimic real colony behavior
Researchers unveil large robotic jellyfish that one day could patrol oceans
Sometimes, the rubber meets the road when you don't want it to