How shark-skin denticles inspired the construction of antibacterial surfaces; how jellyfish tentacles influenced the design of a technique for snagging rare cancer cells circulating in the bloodstream; how mussel proteins that harden underwater to attach the mollusks to rocks can serve as an effective surgical glue;
If I could reveal anything that is hidden from us, at least in modern cultures, it would be to reveal something that we've forgotten, that we used to know as well as we knew our own names. And that is that we live in a competent universe, that we are part of a brilliant planet, and that we are surrounded by genius.
Biomimicry is a new discipline that tries to learn from those geniuses, and take advice from them and design it.
How does nature repel bacteria? We're not the first ones to have to protect ourselves from some bacteria. Turns out that - this is a Galapagos Shark. It has no bacteria on its surface and no fouling on its surface. And it's not because it goes fast. It's actually a slow-moving shark. So how does it keep its body free of bacteria build-up? It doesn't do it with a chemical. It does it with the same denticles that you had on Speedo bathing suits, but it's a particular kind of pattern. The architecture of that pattern on its skin denticles keep bacteria from being able to land and adhere. There is a company called Sharklet Technologies that's now putting this on the surfaces in hospitals to keep bacteria from landing, which is better than dousing it with anti-bacterials or harsh cleansers that many organisms are now becoming drug resistant.
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Its thermal mass has sufficient heat capacity to buffer the internal environment from heat gain during the day with cold accumulated over the night; narrowing shafts rising through the mound channel and accelerate the release of warm internal air out vents at the mounds’ top; and openings at the base of the mound allow cooler, denser air to flow in replacing warmer air as it rises. These principles informed the design of the Eastgate Center, built in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1995, which uses about 35% of the energy required for temperature regulation as similar conventional office buildings and saved building owners USD 3.5 million up-front, because they did not need to buy an air conditioning system for the
As Stephen Covey once declared, “Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition- such as lifting weight- we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” This may seem like no sweat, but in reality it is laborious to do. Nevertheless, there are many people who embody this quote in our everyday lives and even in literature. The short story The Truth About Sharks by Joan Bauer, depicts such a person. In this anecdote, the experience that the protagonist, Beth faced, taught her to stand up for herself and therefore feel empowered. She went from a sullen teenager who was unable to stand up to her uncle and one who felt insecure in the shadow of her cousin, to someone with the confidence to rise above. The Truth About Sharks portrays a vital change that happened to Beth as a result of her being falsely accused of shoplifting and the challenges she faced to clear her name. This article renders a dynamic change that occurred in the main character, Beth who demonstrated the theme stand up for what you think is right.
The crustacean moult cycle is initiated when the Y-organ in the head secretes the hormone Ecdysone (E) into the circulatory system[3,4,5]; the Y-organ is the primary source of E[5]. Upon contact with the haemolymph (a combination of blood and tissue fluid) within the circulatory system E is converted to its active form, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), by a P450 enzyme[4]. This causes the epidermal cells to secrete moulting fluid, which contains a mixture of enzymes such as proteases and chitinases. The moulting fluid degrades the exo- and endocuticle, and the digested cuticle is reabsorbed to create new cuticle; moult fluid also has a role in initiating the moult. The degraded cuticle is replaced by water or air so that the animal can swell in order to lose the shell. During the passive phase of the moult cycle, the shell splits along the break point caused by the decalcification of the shell, in the crab this is along the epimeral lines. Once the shell has split, the animal wiggles side-to-side to free itself from i...
The film Sharkwater is a documentary directed and produced by Rob Stewart. Rob is an underwater photographer and a biologist that has a fascination with sharks, and their behavioral aspects. His way of studying these creatures he is able to learn about life and how to survive on this earth. This film showed the characteristics of reflexive documentary, this is because of the attention drawn into the sharks, their behaviors, and how we are affecting them. A statement that really stuck the documentary is people are taught their whole entire lives that sharks are dangerous but when you finally see it underwater your whole life can change in a flash. Rob made a very valid point as well, which is believed to be his thesis statement.
Many people feel that biology has become more advanced than physics. Biology has in fact become the new focus of the future as we tend to use it a lot in our daily lives. The study of Biotechnology is known as the branch of molecular biology that studies the use of microorganisms to perform specific industrial processes. This study shows that our lives can be transformed.
Australian beaches are some of the best in the world and WA beaches are some of the best in Australia. But this may soon no longer be a view held by everyone if the WA government continues to support and allow the shark culling off Perth's major beaches. Hi I'm Maya Koentgen, a marine biologist, ecologist and fellow beach user, and I'm here to tell you why shark culling needs to stop. At the moment hundreds of innocent sharks are being caught and killed and why? Because they are simply swimming in their own homes that us humans have invaded.
An English naturalist Charles Darwin (1802-1882) developed a theory of biological evolution. He studied variation in plants and animals during his five years’ voyage around the world in the 19th century. Darwin studied hundreds of species, which he researches variations between locations. His theory states that all species of organism arise and develop through natural selection. Natural selection is the process of organisms that adapt to their surrounding environment, which tend to survive and produce more offspring. Killer whales are remarked to have evolutionary links from land dwelling organisms, millions of years ago. This paper will display the evolution and natural selection of the killer whale.
The sea then turned back to a royal blue now rich w/ oxygen but to the bacteria oxygen was a toxin. The soft membrane bacteria learned to live avoiding oxygen and the hard shelled bacteria created enzymes to prevent damage caused by oxygen.
...t biological science and technology can be developed safely and securely – so that they bring benefits, not danger” (Secretary-General, 2011).
... numerous herbal ingredients which are beneficial to human health; still, it is not directly because of on shark fins.
Most people think that sharks are large, fast-swimmers, and savage predators. This is true of some species and groups should be interested of the appealing aspects of biology found within it: all sharks have an excellent sense of smell; some can detect electrical discharges; some sharks give birth to one of the
The one instant I can pinpoint as the genesis of my interest in biomedical science was the winter of sixth grade, when I picked up a book on creativity and the brain. I found it fascinating, but what really struck me was that here was a several hundred page book that mostly talked about how little we knew about its topic. It made me think. This was supposed to be a book about how much we’ve learned, and what it’s saying is that the progress we’ve made is only in finding out how little we know. This didn’t upset me; it made me curious. Because, of all the things that we should know about, surely our own minds and our own bodies are paramount among them, and yet we still have so much to learn. I’ve since learned that this phenomenon is not restricted to the biological – gravity is one of the most important things in our lives, yet we do not know its cause. But the biomedical questions continue to fascinate me, perhaps because the answers are so vital. Sure, cosmology is intriguing, but what about a cure for cancer, or even the common cold? What about a way of repairing or bypass...
There are different types of engineers in the world. There are the engineers that analyze the mechanics of a system that make it function, engineers that apply electricity to improve our daily lives, and then there are engineers who develop solutions to solve human health problems. The term bioengineering contains both the words biology and engineering, meaning that engineering concepts are applied to improve the lives of humans. Bioengineering is the future to improved health and living styles for human beings. I am fond to bioengineering because it improves the living of people who are in a body that cannot satisfy their daily needs of simply walking or moving at ease. I have a friend that is incapable to walk; therefore he will be sitting down in a wheelchair for the rest of his life unless bioengineering will help him finally get up to his feet for the first time of his life. It...
Biomimicry is the intention of imitating and copying resources, structures and organisms of nature and then to have it used in a biological manner for human purposes.
Inside each of us, there’s a young core, instinctive, creative but also innocent and naïve. What would happen if this intimate essence would be completely revealed?
Introduction One particularly interesting sea creature is the whale shark, formally known as Rhincondon typus; it was first discovered in 1828 by Andrew Smith (Rowat 2012). This large fish is found globally in warm tropical oceans and prefers to stay within 200 meters of the ocean’s surface in waters ranging from 4.2 to 28.7 degrees Celsius (Stevens 2006). This creature can be found all across the globe in warm tropical seas. Aggregations of whale sharks have been seen off the coast of Australia at times, although it is primarily a creature of solitude. Whale sharks are filter feeders that consume plankton as well as small fish and are harmless to humans.