Inspired by a traditional Balkan bedbug remedy, researchers at UC Irvine and the University of Kentucky have documented how microscopic hairs on kidney bean leaves effectively stab and trap these biting insects. The researchers are going to use these findings to develop materials that mimic the geometry of the leaves in order to aid in… »
A group of researchers at the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, who previously developed a small robotic jellyfish Robojelly, developed its larger version and named it Cyro – a name derived from “cyanea” and “robot”. The cyanea part of the name originates from cyanea capillata (Lion’s mane jellyfish) – the largest known species of jellyfish… »
Inspired by structural elements found in most sea sponges, researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Germany have recreated the sponge spicules using the natural mineral calcium carbonate and a protein of the sponge. The resulting material is a synthetic hybrid which has almost 90… »
Researchers from Belgium, France, and Canada studied the internal structure of firefly lanterns, the organs on the bioluminescent insect’s abdomens that flash to attract mates, and they managed to employ their findings in order to modify a light-emitting diode (LED) to be up to 55 percent more efficient. The technology oould be employed in near… »
Bionics represents the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. In some cases it is also referred as biomimicry, biomimetics, bio-inspiration, biognosis, and it is close to bionical creativity engineering. Ranging from biomedicine, surgical robots, exoskeletons and artificial tissue, to robots, vehicles,… »
North American porcupine upper parts are covered with thousands of sharp, barbed hollow spines (quills), which are used for defense. The ability of these quills to easily penetrate tissues are often hard to remove once lodged in flesh intrigued an international group of researchers, and their investigation might inspire development of medical needles that easily… »
Aside the technology being used to generate the energy from the sun, the efficiency of solar panels also depends on the cleanliness of the panels. Moisture and dust debris piled up on their surface require time consuming and costly maintenance, however, a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania used bio-inspiration to develop a… »
As we reported in our article about a similar technology, sunflowers are able to slowly rotate from east to west during the course of a sunny day in order to maximize the amount of received sunlight in a process called heliotropism. Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison found a way to create their version of a… »
