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A new inspiration for efficient innovation (2) comments
By Francis Onwumere | Saturday, December 6 2008 | Materials
  
 Spiderman, Batman, Blue beetle, apart from being everyone’s childhood comic superheroes represent an inspiration that is making a new generation of innovative technology possible. This inspiration is being applied today in a field of engineering design known as Biomimetic.
Biomimetic is the application of methods and systems found in nature to engineering and technology. Researchers are beginning to appreciate that organisms in nature through the course of billions of years of evolution have innovated adaptive systems that enable them to survive with what they do, wherever they are and at the time they need to do it.
Inefficiency in natural systems is not tolerated due to the rigorous competition of the natural selection process. The efficiency of these systems, for instance compare the energy economy of a hawk to that of an aeroplane, are far higher than many technologies developed by man over the course of centuries.
Even though most technological innovations from the point of conceptualization make reference to what we see around us, still the efficiency output achieved is a far cry from that observed in nature. Researchers are thus convinced, now more than ever, that the answer to better technological systems lies in a deeper understanding of the design and methods in nature.
Nature has many simpler processes as solutions to problems that are analogous to our complex real world problems. The solutions we concoct for these problems need to be better adapted in order to improve their efficiency. What better place to learn, than from a system which has over the course of over two billion years perfected its solutions to problems similar to ours.
Biomimetics have been in use for quite a while. The ubiquitous Velcro which was developed in 1948 by George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, was inspired by noticing how the hooks of the plant burrs stuck in the fur of his dog.
Africa has one of the most notable applications of biomemetics. The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe.  The building was designed to be ventilated and cooled entirely by natural means — it was biomimetically modeled on local termite mounds and is probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication.
Because of its altitude, Harare has a temperate climate despite being in the tropics, and the typical daily temperature swing is 10 or 14° C. This makes a mechanical or passive cooling system a viable alternative to artificial air-conditioning. But long before the building was created, passive cooling was being used by the local termites. Termite mounds include flues which vent through the top and sides, and the mound itself is designed to catch the breeze. As the wind blows, hot air from the main chambers below ground is drawn out of the structure, helped by termites opening or blocking tunnels to control air flow.
DaimlerChrysler is developing a new high fuel efficiency concept vehicle based on the body shape of a boxfish, a small coral reef fish that deals with incredibly turbulent flows and is able to hold itself in place in the coral reefs of tropical marine habitats. When the boxfish design is assigned to the body of a car and you get great slip streaming which translates to offer 20 percent lower fuel consumption and up to 80 percent lower nitrogen oxide emissions.
One major problem for public health in developing countries is keeping vaccines refrigerated. Half of vaccines manufactured for these regions don’t reach their intended recipients, because at some point the cold storage is broken and the vaccines can no longer be used.
Bruce Roser at Cambridge Biostability has modelled a new vaccine storage system based on the resurrection fern. In arid situations, this plant is able to lose almost all of its body fluid and stay hibernated for months. And when water is available it becomes greens, but what’s interesting is that it is a perfect storage device.
Rhett Butler of mongabay.com, summarizes three perspectives of nature’s systems after which technological solutions can be modelled:
· Replicating natural manufacturing methods as in the production of chemical compounds by plants and animals.
· Mimicking mechanisms found in nature such as Velcro, "Gecko tape", and Harare’s Eastgate Centre.
· Imitating organizational principles from social behaviour of organisms like ants, bees, and microorganisms.
We have a lot to learn from the way nature’s systems solves problems, and this should form a pre-requisite for us when trying to develop solutions that are adaptive and efficienmt efficient. Perhaps a walk in the village forest may prove more inspirational than jumping to the lab bench.
Further Reading
Gecko + mussels = biomimetic underwater adhesive, mongabay.com, July 19, 2007
Daimler Chrysler, The Mercedes benz bioionic car as a concept vehicle
Subhuman project, Biomimetic Ocean Exploration
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(2) comments Click Here to Add Your Comment |
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estupendo!
By Tobenna | on Wednesday, December 10 2008 | 04:39:33 AM
Great to know that Zimbabwe has such technological advancement - simple, but splendid. Unfortunately, they can\'t boast of further advancement \'cos of tyranical, power-drunk Mugabe. Anyway, this issue of biomimetics is indeed very interesting considering the fact that nature is the principle behind this. Nevertheless, it definitely isn\'t easy replicating such things; but it\'s possible, though it may take a while. |
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Our Flawed specie
By buya | on Saturday, December 13 2008 | 10:26:33 AM
It's puzzling to think that we - humans - don't undergo like evolutionary processes like natural selection, survival of the fittest, etc aren't as other species as in being ambient with nature. We need to step up to the plate. |
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