biomimicry
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These self-cooled buildings were inspired by termites and frogs
Architects, looking for ways to keep buildings cool amid rising temperatures, find that nature has some surprising tricks.
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Sea urchins can teach us the secret to effective carbon storage
Like other ocean creatures, sea urchins turn carbon dioxide into shells made of calcium carbonate.
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Scientists make LEDs 55 percent more efficient by copying from fireflies
Turns out, fireflies and LEDs have to overcome a similar problem.
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Nature-inspired water bottle could fill itself using moisture from the air
To keep from drying out in its incredibly arid habitat, the Namib desert beetle gathers moisture from ocean breezes on its wings.
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These wind turbines were modeled after stegosauri
Generally, gigantic engineering companies don’t truck with whimsy. But Siemens, which makes many of the wind turbines popping up on horizons around the world, has created a suite of new products that makes turbines more powerful and is inspired by dinosaurs. It’s like something a 5-year-old thought up, but better.
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Ants basically invented the internet
Step aside, Al Gore. You, too, Tim Berners-Lee. Now we know who really invented the internet: ants. “Invented” is maybe not exactly right. It’s more like they independently discovered one of its fundamental principles. Sort of like Newton and Leibniz and calculus, except that it’s quite clear who discovered this particular algorithm first. (Hint: It […]
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This weird artificial jellyfish is made from the cells of a rat
Watch the video below, and consider this: “Genetically, this thing is a rat,” Harvard biophysicist Kit Parker told Nature News. But, we hear you saying, that is not a rat! It’s a jellyfish! Sorta — but it’s made from silicone and the muscle cells of a rat’s heart. When the resulting “medusoid” (“jellyfishy”) creature is […]
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The Christmas lights of the future will run on firefly juice
Fireflies make light without electricity, and by copying them, scientists have figured out how to do the same thing. Only instead of the yellowish light of fireflies in the night, a team at Syracuse University has figured out how to make green and orange and red light — all out of firefly juice.
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Singapore’s giant supertrees: The ultimate vertical gardens
Singapore is in the middle of a project that looks like a Miyazaki movie come to life. The city’s 18 “supertrees” do everything that normal trees do, only better. They will stretch up to 164 feet tall, grow 200 species of flowers, ferns, and epiphytes, collect solar energy, harvest rainwater, and work as a natural […]