Five years ago, French aeronautical engineer Edwin Van Ruymbeke successfully crowdfunded his Bionic Bird – it's a remote-control model that flies by flapping its wings, just like a real bird. Now he's back, with the insect-inspired MetaFly.
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Capable of swimming at speeds of up to 74 km/h (46 mph), the shortfin mako is the world's fastest species of shark. Scientists now have a new understanding of how it's able to reach such speeds, and they believe that their findings could be applied to improving human technology.
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Although LEDs are more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, most commercial models are reportedly only about 50 percent efficient at emitting the light that they generate. This is known as their light extraction efficiency, and researchers have drastically increased it by copying fireflies.
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When you think of lobsters and armor, the obvious connection would be their hard shells. An international team of scientists, however, is more interested in the flexible membrane on the underside of the crustaceans' tails. It has a unique structure, which could find uses in human technology.
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Ordinarily, when we hear about robots or other devices that are able to independently navigate outdoors, it's a given that they use GPS. French scientists have developed an alternative, however, in the form of a six-legged robot that navigates like an ant.
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For decades, when people have wanted to stick two things together but later pull them back apart, Velcro has been the answer. In the future, however, the material may get some competition from bird feather-inspired technology.
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Caterpillars are able to crawl across a wide variety of surfaces, they can move in any orientation, and they're flexible – traits that would also make for good soft-bodied robots. With that in mind, scientists have recently taken an interesting approach to analyzing just how the creatures move.
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Xenos peckii is a parasitic insect that spends much of its life cycle within the body of a wasp, but it's also known for its unusual eye structure. By copying that structure, scientists have created an ultra-slim camera that could allow for the manufacturing of thinner-than-ever smartphones.
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Mother of pearl is the coating found on the outside of pearls, and the inside of certain mollusc’s shells. It's one of nature's hardest, stiffest, most stable materials – and scientists have now figured out how to make an artificial version of it, which can be "tuned" for different applications.
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Earthworms are usually quite clean, despite the fact that they live in the dirt. That's because they're constantly secreting a lubricating layer of mucus, which keeps that dirt from sticking. Scientists have now replicated that quality in a new material that could have numerous applications.
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