Despite being four times thicker than human hair, elephant hair is only half as strong—that's just one finding from researchers studying the hair strength of many different mammals. Their work, appearing in a paper publishing ...
Materials Science
Dec 11, 2019
0
70
Efficiently moving water upward against gravity is a major feat of human engineering, yet one that trees have mastered for hundreds of millions of years. In a new study, researchers have designed a tree-inspired water transport ...
Bioinspired engineering strategies rely on achieving the combined biological properties of strength and toughness inherent in nature. Tissue engineers and materials scientists therefore aim to construct intelligent, hierarchical ...
Nacre, also known as mother of pearl is a composite, organic-inorganic material produced in nature in the inner shell layer of molluscs and the outer coating of pearls. The material is resilient and iridescent with high strength ...
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in South Korea developed a thermoelectric module that generates electricity using human body heat. The module, which is 5 cm in width and 11 cm in length, can ...
Engineering
Mar 1, 2019
0
37
Over hundreds of millions of years of evolution, nature has produced a myriad of biological materials that serve either as skeletons or as defensive or offensive weapons. Although these natural structural materials are derived ...
Polymers
Aug 13, 2018
0
9
When it comes to solar cells, less is more—the less their surfaces reflect a sun's rays, the more energy can be generated. A typical fix to the problem of reflectivity is an anti-reflective coating, but that might not always ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 31, 2017
0
217
New research explains why so many biological networks, including the human brain (a network of neurons), exhibit a hierarchical structure, and will improve attempts to create artificial intelligence. The study, published ...
Computer Sciences
Jun 9, 2016
1
77
(Phys.org)—Many insects, birds, fish, and amphibians emit light as a way to communicate with each other, but the species that produces light most efficiently is the firefly. In a new study, researchers have investigated ...
Nature is no doubt the world's best biological engineer, whose simple, exquisite but powerful designs have inspired scientists and engineers to tackle the challenges of technologies for centuries. Scientists recently mimicked ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 14, 2016
0
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