Biomimetic and scientific discoveries promising incredible technological inventions

Because nature is always an inspiration for man

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It is a fact that whatever man does, he either draws inspiration from nature or tries to overcome it.

Here we will talk about the practice where artificial products arise from normal biological processes, a technique called biomimetic.

It is a process of transferring standards from the biological to the mechanical analog, with truly inexhaustible applications in many fields of science and technology.

It was better said by Janine Benyus, who made the term popular in 1997 with her book of the same name "Biomimicry": "Biomimicry", she writes, "is basically to take a design challenge and then find an ecosystem that has already been solved this challenge and try to literally imitate what you have learned ".

This is what he did Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds to build his flying machines. By simply copying a good idea of ​​nature, an idea that would find application in a new technology.

Imitation is a science-inspired innovation. This is how we made sonar, studying the use of ultrasound by bats to identify obstacles and food.

But we also got the compass navigation from the magnetic instinct of migratory birds. We did the same with the infrared sensors, we borrowed them from the heat sensors used by the rattlesnakes to locate their prey.

As scientists try to understand exactly what is happening in the living world using simple experimental devices or simulations, engineers and inventors are stretching their ears.

They will apply Mother Nature's solutions to new technologies. And for 2020, these were the discoveries that caught their interest the most…

Fish fins are as sensitive as fingertips

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Fish do not have fins just for maneuvering and swimming, as University of Chicago neuroscientist Adam Hardy discovered in his lab.

He and his team found out how the fins are as sensitive as the fingertips of primates.

To determine how sensitive they really are, the researchers euthanized the fish, but injected a saline solution that kept their nerves fully functional during the experiment.

And then they recorded with the help of imaging techniques the patterns of electric pulses that were delivered to the nerves when the fins were stimulated. Their measurements showed that the fish's fins take on "really small details," Melina Hale, a neuroscientist and team member, told Science News.

Their study was welcomed by many, as such knowledge can be applied to the sensory technology of robot, one of the great bets of humanity for the century we are going through.

The exoskeleton of the beetle which is practically indestructible

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The evil armor beetle is commonly called Nosoderma diabolicum, an insect that fully lives up to its name. At a time when most beetles have a life cycle of no more than a few weeks, this one lives for 8 years. As if a man lives a few millennia.

And to make that happen, he has developed some notable evolutionary strategies, such as armor. We are talking about a tiny beetle that can survive even if it is hit by a car.

If this sounds unbelievable, it's the University of California academic David Kisailus. He put his entire research team in a sedan and they passed over one. Twice. And he survived.

After a long series of such experiments, the research team concluded that the devilish beetle can withstand unimaginable pressure, even 39.000 times his body weight. It is the exoskeleton that does it all, has layers rich in proteins that can move independently without burdening the whole structure.

Researchers make special mention of the way the exoskeleton protects the most sensitive parts of the joints. This observation has already been researched by aircraft designers, as the way the beetle can replace the way the aircraft turbines are secured.

Practical applications are found in every design that requires two different materials to be tied together, such as cars, buildings and bridges…

The dark pigment of the creatures of the Abyss was explained

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When Karen Osborn, a biologist at the US National Museum of Natural History, caught an Abyssinian fish in her net, she wanted to take a picture of it. But no matter how hard she and her team tried, the details of the black fish could not be immortalized.

Their camera had no problem, it was just that its skin tissue absorbed 99,5% of the light from the camera flash.

The 16 creatures of the Abyss included in their study have indeed the blackest black ever recorded. Somewhere 20 times blacker than the black objects of nature.

This dark pigment allows the creatures of the Abyss to disappear into the dense darkness of their environment.

Thus they are protected even from predators that use bioluminescence to find their prey in the extreme conditions of lack of light of the Abyss.

The team found that the 16 species achieve this with huge-sized and very dense melanosomes, the organelles of animals that contain melanin to absorb light.

Biomimetics has a very good pass here. All it has to do is mimic the shape, structure and dispersion of these black melanosomes to produce artificial pigments that absorb the astronomical 99,5% of light.

Such coatings are necessary in the interior of telescopes, but also in solar panels. It can even have military uses. A melanin shield on the outside of a vehicle will be especially helpful for stealth night……

The moth with the acoustic mantle that blocks the sonar of the bat

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Being an insect and trying to hide from predators that "see" with sound detection alone is not easy, however some of these winged prey have evolved in unimaginable ways.

It's not just that their skin "softens" the sound of bats. Two species of moth have special forks like forks on their wings that absorb the sounds of the sonar of the bat.

Researchers were surprised to discover this during the year. Tens of thousands of such tiny scales have their wings, which capture sounds, attenuate their acoustic energy and reflect them back into the bat.

Each group of scales responds at a different frequency, at the same time that all together can "absorb at least 3 octaves of sound," says study leader Marc Holderied.

Academic engineers have already estimated that sound insulation of moths can deliver materials even 10 times more efficiently in terms of noise absorption. Instead of installing rough panels in homes and offices, they already envision delicate wallpapers with nanomaterial coatings like moth scales.

The practical consequences are inexhaustible, spread by architecture and machines up to transport…

The protective coating on the shield of ants

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When evolutionary biologist Hongjie Li discovered that the leaf cutter ants he was studying had a thin layer of minerals in his body shield, he shouted to his colleagues, "I found rock ants."

To better examine the exoskeleton, he had to remove the thin coating. But how; He found it while brushing his teeth. The mouthwash removes food debris from the teeth without damaging anything in the mouth.

His thinking was correct, the mouthwash dissolved the protective coating without damaging the exoskeleton.

Some laboratory experiments later, Li and his team determined that this mineral coating consisted of calcite and high concentrations of magnesium.

Because she was such a great discovery in terms of biomimetics;

"The incorporation of magnesium and calcite can be particularly beneficial for any nanotechnology involving the use of calcite, such as plastics, adhesives, construction mortar and dentistry," the researchers explain.

Even better, the coating of minerals is not something that is born with ants, but something they develop instantly when they need it.

"It is unbelievable that our ants can significantly improve their protection by quickly forming a thin and light mantle of nanocrystals. This confirms the possible application of such nanomaterial coatings in the improvement of shields "…

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