Plastic as hard (or as soft) as a sea cucumberWhen normally soft and pliable sea cucumbers are alarmed, they secrete chemicals that stiffen their skin in a matter of seconds, acting as a sort of body armor. Scientists borrowed the basic idea and used their own ingredients to make a plastic material that goes hard to soft when exposed to water. The material is being developed for biomedical implants such as microelectrodes for the brain. Other potential applications might one day give Viagra some competition.


- Gecko glue and other natural wonders
Vacationers have gazed in wonder as a gecko, shown here, scurries across the wall of their beachside cabana. Several years ago, scientists learned that the attractive force of millions of tiny branching bristles on the gecko's footpads is the factor behind the lizard's superb grip and equally stunning zippy-clean release. Now those scientists are making a variety of adhesives that mimic the technique, raising the possibility of wall-climbing robots, hair-friendly bandages and, yes, even gloves that could someday allow vacationers to scurry after their four-footed friends.


 
- Speedy swimsuit takes its cue from shark skin
Swimmer Michael Phelps won a record-breaking eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, a feat primarily chalked up to his years of training and physical gifts. But his speedo swimsuit, fashioned with fabric inspired by the shape and texture of sharkskin, may have provided an edge. The skin of a shark varies in roughness that corresponds with variations in the flow of water over its body. Speedo started incorporating the design into their swimsuits in 2000. The most recent iteration, the Fastskin LZR Racer, was worn by 89 percent of all medal winners in the Beijing swimming competitions, including Phelps.

- Spitting beetles inspire jet sprayers
The bombardier beetle wards off ants, frogs, birds and other enemies with powerful jets of hot, toxic fluid. The trickery lies in the mixing together of a chemical concoction in a sort of combustion chamber in the insect's abdomen, with inlet and exit valves determining the precise blend. Scientists at Leeds University in England have built an experimental contraption, shown here, that mimics the process and shoots a spray 13 feet. They are now working with a company that funds biomimetics-related research to build devices such as pharmaceutical inhalers and fire extinguishers.



- Drone flies like a seagull
Rick Lind, an engineer at the University of Florida, turned to scrappy seagulls for lessons on how to build remote-controlled spy planes equipped to find their way around tall buildings and swoop along the boulevards that make up many modern-day battlefields. The prototype that Lind holds in this image is based on the ability of the seabirds to flex their wings at the shoulders and elbows. Straight elbows provide maximum stability; the elbows-down position increases maneuverability for the dips, dives and rolls.



- Materials repel dirt like a lotus leaf
The lotus leaf is a symbol of purity and cleanliness: Water drops bead up and roll off the leaf's waxy, water-repellent surface, washing away specks of dirt in the process. The secret comes down to tiny bumps on the leaves' surface, providing no room for droplets to accumulate. In recent years, scientists have translated the design into self-cleaning materials that range from clothes and windows to the insulators used on high-voltage power lines. This scanning electron microscope image shows the bumpy surface of a lotus leaf.



- Future armor could be fishy
Soldiers on future battlefields may wear a coat of armor like the one that has encased an African fish, shown here, for nearly 100 million years. The U.S. Army funded engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to tease apart exactly how the multiple material layers of each scale are arranged to protect the ancient fish, Polypterus senegalus, from predators. They reported the results in the summer of 2008 and plan to transfer the design to structural materials such as armor.



- Bird designs help keep bullet train quiet
The Shinkansen Japanese bullet train is among the world's fastest, capable of zipping between cities at nearly 200 miles per hour. It is also surprisingly quiet, thanks to noise-dampening designs inspired by the feathers of owls and beaks of kingfishers. Serrations similar to those that allow owls to fly stealthily through the night were incorporated into the device that connects the train to overhead electrical wires. The train's nose resembles a kingfisher's beak. The design permits the birds to dive from air to water with minimal energy loss, and allows the trains to exit tunnels without emitting low-level sonic booms.



-  A beetle's "White Album"
The cover to the Beatles collection known as the "White Album" has nothing on the brightness of scales covering the Cyphochilus beetle, shown here. The scales are 10 times thinner than a human hair and whiter than most substances found in nature. Scientists discovered that each long and flat scale has three-dimensional structures that scatter all colors of light simultaneously, thus appearing a brilliant white. By mimicking the structure, engineers envision new materials ranging from brighter paper to whiter teeth.



- Boxfish styling makes car fuel efficient
Chrysler admits that the boxfish, a reef-dwelling amphibian, looks anything but streamlined and agile at first sight. But upon closer inspection, scientists and engineers at the auto manufactureer had a change of heart. They copied the fish's aerodynamic shape and the structure of its rigid, protective skin to produce a concept vehicle, shown here, that is stable, fuel-efficient and durable. Though a production model will never see the light of day, the company plans to incorporate many of the design elements into future cars.



Source: msmbc.com