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Arapaima fish scales inspire new materials

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Inspired by massive Arapaima fish which lives in is Brazil’s Amazon waters, a group of researchers from UC San Diego are developing new materials suitable for armor and panels. Biomimicry of Arapaima’s complex scales could lead to new ceramics that are both tough and flexible, making them ideal for use in soldier’s body armor, fuel ... »

Bionics| Featured| Tech»

Humpback whales inspire new helicopter rotor blade design

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After observing humpback whales, a group of researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) in Göttingen have discovered and flight-tested a way to increase maneuverability and speed of helicopters. The findings could also improve the passenger comfort by lowering the resulting vibration caused by the main rotor. Although helicopters ... »

Bionics| Featured| Tech»

Silk from the tasar silkworm used as a scaffold for heart tissue

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Since almost all of the body’s own regeneration mechanisms in the heart have become deactivated, a heart attack or other heart damage is serious for patients since the dead cardiac cells are irretrievably lost and scar tissue grows in place of the damaged muscle cells. Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad ... »

Bionics| Robotics»

Shrewbot inspired by shrew whiskers

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There are numerous examples in nature where ‘active touch’ plays a primary role in how an animal finds its way around and how it behaves. Inspired by the Etruscan shrew, one of the world’s tiniest mammals, researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) developed Shrewbot – the newest generation of a robots that use sophisticated ... »

Bionics| Robotics»

Scalybot 2 movement inspired by snake rectilinear locomotion

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All-terrain robots for search-and-rescue missions must be flexible enough to move over uneven surfaces, and be able to squeeze themselves into tight spaces. Many engineers and researchers have been inspired by nature’s way to solve this problem and the develop snake like robots that could be up to the challenge. Georgia Tech researchers have designed ... »

Bionics| Tech»

ORNL researchers developing tech to improve prosthesis fitting and design

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory biomedical engineers are perfecting a portable, wearable system to measure walking patterns that can be applied to real-world activities in a variety of settings. They are also developing a low-cost gait analysis system that can be used to analyze whether prosthesis fits the wearer, or if it is aligned correctly without ... »

Bionics»

Algal protein gives boost to solar hydrogen generation

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Photo-electrochemical cells (PEC) use sunlight to electrochemically split water in order to generate hydrogen in direct manner, and they are usually made of semiconducting materials. Researchers from Switzerland and US used nature as inspiration to optimize the process by developing iron oxide electrodes that are conjugated with a protein from blue-green algae (also known as ... »