The present article shows the development of a gripper for general purposes with grasping and holding capabilities enabled by a simple control scheme. This objective has been reached exploiting the combination of soft materials, underactuated mechanisms, and a bioinspired design. The development of the soft gripper will be explained by reporting […]
Paper, Looking to Temperatue Regulating Echidnas in Hibernation
Briefly reading through the paper, an echidna is capable of using cold as a resource and enters hibernation to not escape extreme weather of food scarcity, but purely to conserve energy. Scientists measured the body temperature of free range echnidnas and the soil near their hibernation locations […]
University of Utah researchers have found that the structure of an insulin molecule produced by predatory cone snails may be an improvement over current fast-acting therapeutic insulin. The finding suggests that the cone snail insulin, produced by the snails to stun their prey, could begin working in as few as five […]
Reflectin proteins are widely distributed in reflective structures in cephalopods. However, only in loliginid squids are they and the subwavelength photonic structures they control dynamically tunable, driving changes in skin color for camouflage and communication. The reflectins are block copolymers with repeated canonical domains interspersed with cationic […]
Bioinspiration from fish for smart material design and function
Abstract Fish are a potentially rich source of inspiration for the design of smart materials. Fish exemplify the use of flexible materials to generate forces during locomotion, and a hallmark of fish functional design is the use of body and fin deformation to power propulsion and maneuvering. As a result of […]
News, Preventing spread of SARS coronavirus-2 in humans
With all the chaos happening as a result of the coronavirus, I thought this was an interesting article. A team of scientists is currently working to finding out how the disease spreads in order to limit further damage. They are also working towards finding drugs to keep people safe. For instance, camostat mesilate has been […]
A global census of marine microbial life has been underway over the past several decades. During this period, there have been scientific breakthroughs in estimating microbial diversity and understanding microbial functioning and ecology. It is estimated that the ocean, covering 71% of the earth’s surface with its estimated volume of about […]
News, Cross-Modal Recognition in Bees
Cross-modal recognition is a trait that all humans have. It’s when we are able to recognize an object in one sensory ability while experiencing it in another. While not many other animals have cross-modal recognition, this report by Solvi, Al-Khudhairy, and Chittka shows that bees may be capable of possessing mental images of a known […]
Scientists have been fascinated by geckos’ abilities to cling onto countless surfaces. After years of research, certain attributes of their biological compositions have led scientists to pinpoint how geckos achieve this remarkable feat. Now, scientists are working to develop “surface architectures that could improve the safety and reliability of tires.” It is fascinating how nature […]
Sticky problems? We highlight current efforts to design and engineer mussel‐inspired, DOPA‐containing bioadhesives with production by microbial strains. We discuss the in vivo use of orthogonal translation with expanded genetic codes and reprogrammed microbial strains as new tools in bioinspired material science to […]
Inspired by the Gentoo penguin, an architectural facade with traits similar to the penguin’s has been simulated to see whether or not it will provide efficient insulation in different weather circumstances. By analyzing the structure of the penguin feather, this researcher constructed a building wall with layers […]
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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…