Nature teaches us a lot. Science is the discovery of truth, discovery of reality. Science is the mean for knowing ourselves. We look, observe, analyze the nature and act accordingly. We adopt ourselves in a manner so as to make ourselves best suited to the existing environment. The main thing in our life is adaptability. Better we can adopt better we are able to live. Cockroaches are known the most successful life forms in the entire history of earth, only due to their ability to adopt themselves in the prevailing environments. Cockroaches were freely roaming millions of years ago, to the time of the dinosaurs till now. They know better how to make themselves suitable for a new environment.
Lot of discoveries has been made by scientists that were inspired by the nature. Airplanes were discovered when men saw the birds flying in the skies. The life in water induced humans to make the vessels thorough which they can also enjoy the living in water. This activity of humans or other animals to copy the other life forms is studied under the name biomimicry. The scientists are giving great stress on this branch of science to solve number of problems which were unsolved or difficult to solve.
If we look on the examples of biomimicry, there are several such examples in which nature has played the role of teacher and mentor for the new and strange discoveries. Few of them which are popular include the discovery of Velcro in year 1941 by George de Mestral who was an engineer in Switzerland. He saw the burrs on his dog's body. When examined microscopically, he saw the spines of the burrs had tiny hooks at the terminal ends by which the burrs used to stick to the dogs body hairs. This observation led him to discover Velcro which is very popular now and used in patches or stripes opposite a hooked material. Another fantastic example of biomimicry is inspired by the high rise termite's house which is kept at constant temperature inside using convection currents produced by opening and closing the vents thereby allowing cool air to enter from the base and hot air to go by the upper chimneys. This observation lead to manufacturing of passively air conditioned high rise building of modern cities.
Another biomimic discovery named super hydrophobic surface of plastics and metals is inspired by the bumpy surface of lotus leaves on which water does not sticks, rolls over it and picks the dirty particles and make the surface glossy. Like the regeneration capacity of animal's skin, scientists have discovered self healing plastic to be used in the airplanes and space shuttles. A very important discovery is in offing in the recent future inspired by the photosynthesis process of plants in which water and carbon dioxide are converted to glucose and oxygen in presence of sunlight. Using the same principle which will be called as artificial photosynthesis, water would be split to oxygen and hydrogen to be used for vehicle fuel, a renewable source of energy. Several such examples of biomimicry are there which would make the world more natural and more livable.
Lot of discoveries has been made by scientists that were inspired by the nature. Airplanes were discovered when men saw the birds flying in the skies. The life in water induced humans to make the vessels thorough which they can also enjoy the living in water. This activity of humans or other animals to copy the other life forms is studied under the name biomimicry. The scientists are giving great stress on this branch of science to solve number of problems which were unsolved or difficult to solve.
If we look on the examples of biomimicry, there are several such examples in which nature has played the role of teacher and mentor for the new and strange discoveries. Few of them which are popular include the discovery of Velcro in year 1941 by George de Mestral who was an engineer in Switzerland. He saw the burrs on his dog's body. When examined microscopically, he saw the spines of the burrs had tiny hooks at the terminal ends by which the burrs used to stick to the dogs body hairs. This observation led him to discover Velcro which is very popular now and used in patches or stripes opposite a hooked material. Another fantastic example of biomimicry is inspired by the high rise termite's house which is kept at constant temperature inside using convection currents produced by opening and closing the vents thereby allowing cool air to enter from the base and hot air to go by the upper chimneys. This observation lead to manufacturing of passively air conditioned high rise building of modern cities.
Another biomimic discovery named super hydrophobic surface of plastics and metals is inspired by the bumpy surface of lotus leaves on which water does not sticks, rolls over it and picks the dirty particles and make the surface glossy. Like the regeneration capacity of animal's skin, scientists have discovered self healing plastic to be used in the airplanes and space shuttles. A very important discovery is in offing in the recent future inspired by the photosynthesis process of plants in which water and carbon dioxide are converted to glucose and oxygen in presence of sunlight. Using the same principle which will be called as artificial photosynthesis, water would be split to oxygen and hydrogen to be used for vehicle fuel, a renewable source of energy. Several such examples of biomimicry are there which would make the world more natural and more livable.
| Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rakesh_K_Gupta |
No comments:
Post a Comment