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"2022 SP Week 03"
Dubbed the Jellyfish Barge for its shape and translucency, this floating greenhouse is capable of growing its own food hydroponically and producing up to 150 liters of fresh drinking water per day. Even more beneficial is its low-cost, easy-to-assemble design that can be implemented in a variety of locations.
This article reviews the liquid-mediated adhesion and capillary forces of slug mucus which allows slugs to stick almost any solid surface and move locomotively. The researchers test slug adhesion on both anti-adhesive and non-wetting surfaces.
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A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. has discovered the mechanism that allows lizards to maintain a tail during normal activities and then to release it when they need to avoid predators.
In this connection we have highlighted an article that describes how scientists have a breakthrough in their understanding of the proteins that allow venus flytraps to be touch sensitive and close. The name of this protein is called Flycatcher1, and having a better understanding of it gives scientists a better idea […]
The Health Tech CoLab is a center at UC Berkeley that provides a collaborative space for student teams and startups working on medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health tools aimed at increasing access to health care.
This initiative comes at a time when […]
A new study shows how a particular molecule, produced by gut bacteria, affects brain function and promotes anxiety-like behaviors in mice.
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A group of researchers led by Toshiyuki Nakagaki from the Hokkaido University in Japan, placed Physarum polycephalum in a petri-dish scattered with oat flakes. The position of food scraps was deliberately placed to replicate the locations of some of the most visited site […]
The Biomimicry Institute is thrilled to recruit for the Youth Design Challenge (YDC) Manager position. The YDC is a hands-on project based learning experience that provides classroom and informal educators with an engaging bio-inspired framework to introduce bio-inspired design and an interdisciplinary lens on science, engineering, and environmental literacy. YDC gives […]
This study focuses on replicating the remora disc, which allows the Remore Suckersish to easily attach and detach to/ on moving sea-life, in order to create an adhesive disc for underwater hitchhiking. The potential application of this disc can spread from helping human divers, to helping remotely operated vehicles easily traverse […]
Researchers have discovered how certain flavonoids — a type of metabolic product from plants and other organisms — can kill yellow fever mosquito larvae. These compounds inhibit an enzyme, called Nobo, which is used to synthesize ecdysone, a key hormone in the life cycle of insects. The most efficient flavonoid tested, […]
The adjustable manufacturing of diverse polymer composites with nanostructures for osmotic power generation, including homopolymer membranes, mix membranes, and Janus membranes, is discussed in a study available as a pre-proof in the journal Giant.
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Researchers at the biotechnology startup Cortical Labs have created “mini-brains“ consisting of 800,000 to one million living human brain cells in a petri dish, New Scientist reports. The cells are placed on top of a microelectrode array that analyzes the neural activity. “We think it’s fair to […]
Engineers at Rutgers University have invented a 3D-printable hydrogel that senses a change in light and consequently changes shape. It is inspired by the color-changing skin of cuttlefish, octopus, and squid, and it is meant to function as a type of artificial muscle. The main design inspiration was modeled after a […]
Whales, which have baleen plates, feed by taking huge mouthfuls of water and food. They then push the water back out using their baleen plates as a strainer, keeping the food in their mouths. Scientists have long wondered how whales are able to accomplish such tasks without choking under the immense […]
Abstract: The development trend of materials is complex, intelligent and dynamic, and bioinspired materials have all these characteristics. Bioinspired materials development will affect the improvement of human body organ replacements, aircraft, rockets, and other consumer products. The ultimate goal of the field of […]
Adhesive mechanisms in the natural world have many advantages: they are always strongly adhesive — and without any glues or residues. Scientists are researching how these mechanisms can be artificially created. An interdisciplinary research team has now succeeded in developing a bioinspired adhesive material that can be […]
Artists are borrowing from biology to create dazzling “biodesigns” that challenge our aesthetics—and our place in nature
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This article describes the newly emerging practice of biomimicry in digital design. It illustrates the current practices of designers who emulate biology in their work. The Vice President of software design at MentorMe incorporates the Fibonacci sequence into his work because it so often appears in nature. The Fibonacci sequence can […]
Animal walking is one of the most robust and adaptive locomotion mechanisms in the nature, involves sophisticated interactions between neural and biomechanical levels. It has been suggested that the coordination of this process is done in a hierarchy of levels. The lower layer […]
As an important application of functional biomaterials, neural probes have contributed substantially to studying the brain. Bioinspired and biomimetic strategies have begun to be applied to the development of neural probes, although these and previous generations of probes have had structural and mechanical dissimilarities from their neuron targets that lead to […]
Abstract: Synthetic carriers such as polymer and lipid particles often struggle to meet clinical expectations. Natural particulates — that range from pathogens to mammalian cells — are therefore worth examining in more depth, as they are highly optimized for their specific functions in vivo and possess features that are often desired […]
Spider silk is a fascinating material, combining high strength and elasticity that outperforms most synthetic fibers. Another intriguing feature of spider silk is its ability to “supercontract,” shrinking up to 50% when exposed to water. This is likely on account of the entropy‐driven recoiling of secondary structured […]
A team at MIT has successfully engineered a woody composite that is as tough as bone and hard as aluminum. Being that a wood cell wall is constructed from fibers of cellulose — nature’s most abundant polymer and within each fiber are reinforcing cellulose nanocrystals. Therefore these crystals could be worked […]
iGEM at Berkeley is a for students by students organization focused on developing synthetic and computational biology research projects. It gives members the opportunity to develop experimental design, synthetic biology, and literature search/design skills.
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Ron Fearing is an EECS professor at UC Berkeley. His research interests include robotics, gecko adhesion, bioinspired robots, and mobile milli-robots. His current work on small “milli-robots” lies in developing their abilities to run, jump, and crawl. Among other things, he’s worked on “tactile sensing” and “parallel nano-grasping (gecko adhesion).”
Learn about our two Decals!
Click here to find out more about our Fall Bioinspired Design Decal and our Spring Bioinspired Design in Action Decal – ALL MAJORS are welcome.Berkeley BioDesign Community
Click here to learn about the BioD: Bio-Inspired Design @ Berkeley student organization or here to signup for more info.
I imagine that the neurological circuits underlying these processes are governed by both 2d spacing maps with their brains as…
to reduce the impact of car accidents, it may be possible to study the force diverting physics of cockroaches to…
you see this type of head-bobbing stability in many avian creatures related to pigeons like chickens. the head ability to…
not like they taught horses how to run! this is an example of convergent evolution where both sea creatures and…
The brain functions in a similar way with neuronal connections. our brains are able to utilize the multiplicity of connections…