You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

Ever wonder how woodpeckers are able to absolutely pound the hell out of tree trunks all day long and somehow continue functioning? It’s because their skulls have built-in shock absorbers, and scientists are stealing their natural design for airplane black boxes.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, used video and CT scans of woodpeckers to discover that their skulls are designed with four structures that absorb mechanical shock, and their beaks also have an area filled with a spongy and cerebrospinal fluid that work to inhibit vibration and concussions. The scientists used this to create more shock-resistant flight recorders, also known as black boxes.

[Lee Stewart]

Camels live in the driest climates on earth, and yet they’re somehow able to function with limited water resources. So scientists have taken a hint. Camels conserve water by cooling exhaled air during the night, extracting water vapor from the exhaled air, and absorbing and holding onto water molecules from the surrounding air.
Researchers in the Sahara Desert are using the same technique to remove salt from saltwater to irrigate plants by using cool ground water to evaporate warm sea water, which is then condensed in a salt-free form.

[Lee Stewart]

Hummingbirds have the ability to fly backwards and hover in place, which makes them similar to helicopters. Researchers from Stanford University and Wageningen University published a study after tracking the torque from wings of 12 different species of hummingbirds and found that the birds’ ratio of their wing’s length to their width determined their ability to sustain hovering power. Specifically, hummingbirds with a larger aspect ratio (3.5 to 4.0 for hummingbirds) used less power. Engineers hope to use this information in helicopter design.

[Lee Stewart]

Giraffes are some of the tallest animals on Earth, which means their blood has a lot of area to circulate. Scientists have used their bodies to help humans with treatment for venous leg ulcers with compression therapy.

[Lee Stewart]

Scientists found that Arctic Cod have developed an evolutionary mechanism to keep them from freezing in the icy waters they inhabit. Cod keep from freezing because they have actual antifreeze proteins (literally called antifreeze glycoprotein) that circulates in their blood to keep it in liquid form, and not ice. This led researchers at Warwick University to create a new polymer to preserve blood called Polyvinyl alcohol that acts like antifreeze and prevents freezing, which can kill cells.

[Lee Stewart]

Scientists at MIT have mimicked otter fur in a study published in the journal Physical Review Fluids. They created fur-like, rubbery pelts that use the same mechanism that otters use to keep warm. They trap air between individual hairs when in water, which traps warm pockets of air in their dense fur. All the research will be used for a new type of diving wet suit.

[Lee Stewart]

Counterfeit money is being busted thanks to butterflies. A project called NOtES, from researchers at Simon Fraser University, studied butterfly wings and their iridescence of the Costa Rican morpho butterfly. They created a technology using nanoscale light-interfering structures to create an anti-counterfeiting stamp. It’s more difficult to crack than a hologram and can be “printed” not only on bank notes, but on a whole range of other objects, too.

[Lee Stewart]

Spider webs are practically everywhere in nature where birds exist. But scientists noticed webs go unharmed from birds in flight, while many windows (unfortunately) do not. So scientists from the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute looked to Orb weaver spiders’ webs, which build their webs with ultraviolet (UV) silk. They found that it has reflective properties that protect the web. This led to the invention of the ORNILUX® Bird Protection Glass, which has a UV-reflective coating that mimics the ultraviolet thread patterns found in Orb spider webs.

[Lee Stewart]

The albatross is a majestic, ocean-faring bird that truly soars, meaning it rarely flaps its wings to fly. Instead, it uses the wind to fly more than 600 miles a day. Researchers at MIT are using this flight design to develop drones. They’re hoping to create a fixed-wing, wind-propelled drone that would be able to fly overseas without stopping.

[Lee Stewart]

Sharks glide through the ocean thanks to their silky smooth skin, which has influenced the U.S. Navy to look to the skin as a way to prevent microorganisms (like barnacles) from sticking to the surface of their ships. Shark skin is covered with tiny V-shape scales called dermal denticles, which help sharks fend-off micro organisms. The Navy has since developed a material, known as Sharklet, based on this skin pattern to help inhibit marine growth on ships. It optimizes vessel performance and reduces fuel costs. (Biofilm can add up to 20 percent drag and barnacles over 60 percent, according to a press release.)