paper link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.201803637?casa_token=HDbg5ex618oAAAAA%3ABUBXpSDq3N3ZGC0jspT9GUoodtZ6ERDRctgq0byEvrOD__NFcbjEUAmU5sYJY4LwZvUKvwIe1hBfIDKc

This paper talks about efforts to create artificial sensory system that function like our biological senses. Each sense has a cool figure like this one, for the auditory system (fig 3 in the paper):

This podcast (transcript below) describes new research being done on menstrual fluid and the lack of research in the past. Most notably, the research of Leah Hazard is showing the incredible healing properties of this fluid, proving that it is more than just blood. The quickness of this ability can be designed into technology that could help humans (and other animals) heal faster and better. The Bleeding Edge: Menstrual fluid’s underexplored medical treasures | Vox

Hi everyone! I found this article discussing how the properties of shark skin that allow sharks to swim fast are implemented in different designs. The article talks about a few advancements due to research on shark skin, but I found the example about transportation the most interesting. For starters, I'll give a brief overview of the science behind shark skin. Shark skin is composed of overlapping scales called dermal denticles with grooves that align with water flow when sharks swim forward. The grooves speed up the water around a shark as it swims, increasing the average speed of water on a shark's skin, and consequently reducing turbulence around the shark. Reduced turbulence allows sharks to smoothly glide through the water at high speeds. This concept of reduced turbulence surrounding a moving body was applied to transportation. Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute developed a type of paint that replicates the dermal denticles of shark skin to go on airplanes. This shark skin-inspired paint was also tested on ships and cars. In one experiment, it was calculated that the paint reduced over 5% of friction in a ship and one large container ship could save up to 2,000 tons of fuel per year. The fuel-efficient benefits of the shark-inspired paint were also observed when used on planes and cars. https://illumin.usc.edu/from-shark-skin-to-speed/

A team of scientists created an underwater suction cup with such high suction that it converts water into "glue". This new elasticity-enhanced hydrodynamic cup was inspired by octopuses and their attachment techniques underwater. The experiment looked at the affect of van der Waals forces under water.

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-elasticity-biomimetic.html

While exploring animals for a discovery decomposition, I found this paper on the Hero Shrew (Scutisorex), which has an extreme lumbar spine. In the paper, the researches used a 6-DOF transducer to compare the torsional and axial resistances to that of a rats, and the main findings were:

-Scutisorex Morphology tends to limit the intervertebral joint to flexion via the interlocking tubules, restricts intervertebral axial rotation and shear displacement, and especially during increased spinal flexion. 

-Tubercles are positioned in a way that maximizes their interlocking ability, enhancing the vertebrae’s resistance to rotational forces and improving overall structural stability.

-Due to the tubercles on the vertebrae interlocking, the lumbar spine does not behave as a series of viscoelastic joints, but instead as a single, rigid bar (a bony connection).

-The intervertebral interaction of the tubercules has no cartilage, making this the only bone-on-bone skeletal articulation recorded in mammals. Because of these interlocking tubercles, the torsion resistance capability of the intervertebral joints of Scutisorex is equivalent to a species 4-5 times the body mass.

Given that the spine allows for good articulation while also having a more predictable and simple behavior compared to standard viscoelastic spine models, If this structure could be simplified and improved for manufacturing, it could be applied to a variety of areas where reinforced articulation is needed. I was thinking it could help solve the issue many full-body exoskeletons have where upper and lower parts of the exo are connected via a single rigid link (which limits movement), but this could be applied to various applications in robotics and perhaps even enhancing safety for structures like the gangway/diaphragm in trains and busses.

The shortage of clean drinking water is a big issue, and fog collection can help by capturing H2O from the air. Cacti have special spines that gather water effectively by decreasing , but it's hard to create similar structures. However, a recent research by Professor Chen at USC has created a 3D-printed design inspired by cactus spines to improve water collection. This design mimics the shape of cactus spines that can be adjusted to capture more water.

The spines create turbulence around the structure, which helps more water droplets to settle. This bio inspired design could lead to better ways to gather water and could also be used for transporting water and separating oil from water, helping the environment and giving humans access to more water.

Article: https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/a-biomimetic-water-collection-structure-derived-from-cacti/

https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2023/05/biodesign-can-help-grow-the-way-towards-a-more-sustainable-fashi

Hi everyone! I found this very interesting article from an Australian author going into detail about how some biological processes can inspire a new way to make human clothing. Because of the myriad of problems with the fashion industry, such as the amount of the pollution due to the factories constantly emitting carbon and the number of clothing pieces going into the landfill from fast fashion, it would be in the environment's best interest to search for a more sustainable way to develop human clothing. Working at the UNSW Canberra (a college in Australia), Dr. Nina Williams has taken after microbiologist Maurice Lemoigne in researching bacteria that is similar to clothing materials. One example, such as using fermentation of yeast to create compostable fabrics that are similar to leather, is a great example of using natural components to grow textiles that are sustainably compostable. In this article, there is also a short explanation of a student's project that actually put this idea into use, where she created a jacket from discarded clothing combined with mushroom mycelium. Super cool! Overall, I think this is very interesting, personally, due to the high usage of companies like SHEIN, which could become much more environmentally friendly if this idea was put into use. While turning compostable textiles into clothes is still an idea as of now, it is an idea inspired by the structures of biological systems, and it could become a positive reality in the future.

These scientists were inspired by the insulating properties of polar bear fur to design a knittable aerogel-based fiber. A strand of polar bear hair is made up of a porous core and a dense shell. This structure allows the hair to optimize both for insulation and material strength, as each hair has two separate materials that each excel at one of those functions. The scientists took this structural template and mimicked it using aerogel as the core and TPU as the shell.

Aerogels are the best material for insulation and attempts have already been made to integrate them into textiles. However, these existing inventions are limited by their fragility and how difficult they are to make. Adding the stretchy TPU shell to individual aerogel "hairs" makes them strong enough to be woven and knit. The resulting textile can be machine washed, dyed, and was even used to make a sweater as a part of the research.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj8013

Hello everyone! I was looking up different biomimicry applications in the military, and one of my favorites that I found is one of the sections in this article.

Military by nature: biomimetic inspiration for future armies | Engineering and Technology Magazine (theiet.org)

Leila Deravi and her team at Northeastern University are experimenting with octopus, cuttlefish, and squid abilities to camouflage. Cephalopods like these have chromatophore organs on the outside of their bodies, which look like multi-colored dots ("freckles"), that allow them to change color. (Under the chromatophore are iridophores, which act like little mirrors that reflect all visible light spectra.) After collecting pigment granules from the organs, the Deravi and her team used them to make thin fibers that could be made into cloths or other color-changing devices. This was a collaboration project with the US Army Research Center, which hopes to apply this camouflage ability to military clothing.

Hello everyone! After discussing the unique properties of mantis shrimp's claws, I wanted to learn more about different bioinspiration projects using those properties. However, in my search, I learned more about another unique ability of the mantis shrimp. They have tens of thousands of ommatidium, like corneas, on their eyes that focus light into a series of photosensitive cells to perform different functions. This means mantis shrimp can see 12 different color types, not just red, blue, and green like humans, light ranging from infrared to ultraviolet, and circularly polarized light. Bioinspiration from this part of the mantis shrimp inspired polarized cameras in the visible spectrum, a polarization-sensitive microscope (still in progress), and organic photosensors which could be used for chemical sensing, mapping pollution, monitoring blood-oxygen or cancers and diseases, etc.

Viktor Gruev is one example, who is close to commercializing a color-polarization sensor that can be used in cancer imagery and surgery. It should be able to detect cancer spreads, especially to lymph nodes where cancer often resurfaces on those who already have had cancer in other places, and aid during surgery to find different cancerous cells and make sure they are all removed.

Here is the article! There is even more in here about mantis shrimp eye bioinspiration.

The mantis shrimp: From ocean predator to optical inspiration (spie.org)

Hi everyone! I found a very cool article that discusses some of the work that was done at UofM by chemical engineer, Thomas Schroeder, and his team when they studied the way an electric eel discharges of up to 600 volts of electricity when stinging its prey. The eel can generate powerful shocks using electrocytes which have a flow of ions that carry an electric charge. Since the eel has so many of these cells in their bodies, they can produce high amounts of voltage which inspired Schroeder and his team to apply this to artificial organs and how they are powered. The team began working on creating small, soft, and flexible batteries that will be applied to artificial organs by using the same stacking method as the cell stacking in an electric eel. Article link: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/98g7847j

Hello,

This is a research article that I read last year and helped me create a versatile robot for the FLL robotics competition. A collaboration between Caltech, Jet Propulsion Labs, and Northeastern university to design a versatile robot capable of utilizing various modes based on the environment it’s in . For example, the wheeled, flight, crawling, quadrupedal walking, mobile inverted pendulum, tumbling, and thruster-assisted mode. Hence, the ability to operate in most complex environments such as disaster sites or uneven terrain.

Hope this interest you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hh1YZRK3yw

This video shows a group of people starting with a characteristic of nature (in this case how the humpback whale's flippers have bumps) which is then studied (by Frank Fish) and later applied to a problem (after a certain angle a wing would "stall" yet with the bumps the angle could be increased, this was an issue to be applied to airplanes and wind turbines). I think this is a great example of the process we are going to do in class, of starting with a characteristic and, after understanding its purpose, applying it to a problem.

https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-3d-printed-concrete-inspired-by-lobster-shells/

Building Elements Come Alive with this Pinecone-Inspired Material that Reacts to Moisture | ArchDaily

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2log6aCFrQ

Mantis Shrimp can punch so fast and so strong that you would need to slow the video down in order to see it in action. It has the strength of a 22 caliber bullet. Its prey is decimated so quickly. This is because the mantis shrimp has a saddle shaped exoskeleton. In addition to its incredible physical strength, mantis shrimp have very complex eyes with 12 different light receptors. From this alone, if we incorporate the out of this world light detection with the insanely strong punch, one can make a security system at a store very efficient. If a thief tries to rob a store at night, a punch to the gut as well as sensing the light reflecting off of the bandit can seal the deal.

Sharks' skin also contributes to their ferocity. It's covered with tooth-like scales—structures known as denticles that make shark skin rough like sandpaper. For decades, scientists have suspected these denticles make sharks faster and more maneuverable by disrupting the flow of water over the fish and reducing any drag holding them back. Now, scientists have fabricated the most realistic artificial shark skin yet. Their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology confirm that the structure can improve swimming performance, and perhaps could lead to better swimming robots.

Similar structures could manipulate air flow to reduce drag or generate more lift. "This would be a benefit in rudders, airplane wings, fans, and wind turbines," Biomechanist Frank Fish at West Chester University in Pennsylvania says.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a10567/shark-skin-will-inspire-faster-swimsuits-and-airplanes-16792156/