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Bioinspired microneedle adheres 3 times stronger than surgical staples

By Damir Beciri
17 April 2013

adhesive-microneedle-1Inspired by a fish parasitic worm, a group of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) devised a way to close surgical wounds that appears better than anything currently available for clinical use. Once perfected, the invention could be used as replacement for staples and sutures used in the operating room, as well as to… »

Bionics»

Mimicking bean leaves ability to trap bedbugs on the way

By Damir Beciri
9 April 2013

bedbug-kidney-bean-leaf-1Inspired 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… »

Bionics»

3D printer builds droplet network tissue-like material

By Damir Beciri
4 April 2013

droplet-network-sphereWe already published a couple of articles where we described efforts to create artificial tissue, however, a group of researchers at the Oxford University took a slightly different approach by developing a 3D printer that uses a tissue-like material with several of the properties of living tissues. The new type of material consists of thousands… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Festo BionicOpter robot dragonfly

By Damir Beciri
3 April 2013

festo-bionicopter-1After devising systems inspired by penguins, herring gulls and elephant trunk, engineers at Festo devised a new system suitable for their Bionic Learning Network project. Inspired by dragonflies, they developed BionicOpter – an ultra-light system packed with everything needed to mimic the way dragonflies maneuver in all directions, glide without having to beat their wings… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Cyro – large robotic jellyfish

By Damir Beciri
One Comment30 March 2013

jellyfishA 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… »

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Marine animal tunicate can be used both as biofuel and fish food

By Damir Beciri
26 March 2013

forside-helbredde-tunicolFive researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research have found that a certain type of tunicate – marine filter feeders that serve as bacteria eaters and as a food in cultures that consume larger number of seafood – can be used as a renewable source of biofuel and fish food. That means… »

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Study leads to broad spectrum antivirals for deadly viruses

By Maja Bosanac
26 March 2013

filone-chbiol-imageResearchers at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) found a new class of chemical compounds that have the potential to prevent replication of genetically diverse viruses. This could lead to the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs which can be used to treat a great deal of viruses, including highly pathogenic Ebola and Marburg viruses…. »

Bionics»

Using fungi to create more environmentally friendly alternative to some plastics

By Damir Beciri
22 March 2013

fairy-ringFungi, with the exception of mushrooms we find tasty at some point of their lifetime, tend to be something we associate with moldy bread and stench. Fungal colonies composed of mycelia are found in soil and on or within many other substrates. Researchers at Union College are cooperating with Ecovative Design to use mycelia to… »