Technology of the future that takes inspiration from the animal world

<![CDATA[Who actually could guess that the birds and animals can inspire human beings to make new inventions? Even after years of research in posh laboratories, scientists could not come up with such technologies that they finally discovered in nature.

Kingfisher: Bullet train

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Kingfisher gets into the water very elegantly and its beak helps it to move around the water without splashing water. It all happens so fast that the prey does not even get chance to move away from the predator. When scientists used the same technology and gave an aerodynamic shape to the bullet trains, they could eliminate tunnel boom, which had been a major concern. Moreover, this technique proved more beneficial as it saves a great amount of energy too.

Bat: Medical ultrasound machines

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The use of sonar by bats can be used to improvise the ultrasound machines made by humans. With the help of this technology, human beings can take a comparatively accurate medical image. A few mathematical models have also been made to get a better understanding of the ultrasound process. The man made ultrasound machine is good quality, but with this technique man made ultrasound machines would achieve excellence.

Butterfly: Thermal imaging

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Researchers at the General Electric Research Centre and the University of Albany, New York have come up with an amazing idea of producing cheap thermal-imaging sensors. Morpho butterfly that has a natural ability to detect heat was the source of inspiration for researchers.

Morpho butterfly has wings covered with tiny scales like most other butterflies but unlike others, its scales produce an iridescent effect. The reason behind it is that its scales replicate some wavelength of light. Researchers found out that Morpho butterfly’s wing changes color when it heats up and this theory encouraged them to form cheap thermal-imaging sensors.

Sharks: Fastest boats and swimsuits

Countless overlapping scales called dermal denticles form sharkskin. Theses denticles have channels that interrupt the turbulent swirls of slower water that allows water to move even faster. Scientists have imitated those dermal denticles and used them in swimsuits and bottom of boats. This technology actually enhances the pace of swimmers who put these swimsuits on. Similar effects were seen in boats that use this technology.

Namibian Beetle: water harvesting

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Beetle’s water-collection techniques inspired Pak Kitae from Seoul National University of Technology to design a dew bank bottle. There are small bumps on the shell of the beetle that help moving these drops towards its mouth. The bottle makes use of quite similar technique to collect morning dew.

Basilisk lizard: technology to walk on water

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Basilisk lizard is so lightweight that it can actually run over water. It has the ability to bicycle its feet at the perfect angle which keeps it body upward and helps it to move forward. One day while teaching his class using a lizard, Carnegie Mellon robotics professor Metin Sitti thought of using this technology to assemble a robot that can walk over water.

The machine Sitti and his students made could walk on water, though it sinks time to time. With latest inventions, scientist would surely be able to make machines that would run on land, water and fly up in the air. Who knows we actually start living in the world of fairytales?

Since long Mother Nature has inspired human beings to make inventions that have brought about dramatic changes. These inventions not only have made human life even easier but have also paved way for many more.]]>