You might be surprised to learn that every new thought in our brain is, in fact, an encrypted or hidden form of some existing memory stored within us. In other words, every discovery is essentially just seeing what we already know from a new perspective. For ages, humans have been observing various aspects of nature’s activities—especially the lives of living creatures created by nature. These observations have been recorded in our memory, and in this interplay with nature, the human mind has become fertile, giving birth to technology! Some of these interactions are well planned, while others are simply a meeting of chance and circumstance. In summary, whether consciously or not, humans continue to recreate nature in the name of technology!
When a bird leaps from a tree branch, it spreads its wings and catches the wind. The upper surface of its outstretched wings is usually slightly curved while the underside is almost flat. As the bird moves forward, the air moves faster over the top of the wing than underneath. This creates higher upward air pressure just below the wings compared to the downward pressure above. With this difference in air pressure, the bird and its wings are lifted into the air. Like all fluids, the mass of air remains unchanged, so an increase in speed results in a decrease in pressure—known as “Bernoulli’s Principle.” This explains how birds stay afloat in the air, but have you ever wondered if only birds or flying creatures make use of Bernoulli’s Principle? The airplane, sprinting down the runway, lifts off the ground and flies by using this very principle. We, too, have learned to fly, inspired by the instinct of fliers!
Humankind learned to race with time, forging a contract with the wind, but as time went on, the desire to outrun time itself grew ever stronger! So people sought even more speed! The engine of a jet plane uses a fan to draw in atmospheric air at the front and compresses it using a compressor. The compressed air is then mixed with fuel, and when an electric spark is added, the gas mixture expands rapidly and bursts out the rear nozzle of the engine with tremendous force. As a result, following the “Principle of Conservation of Linear Momentum,” the jet plane propels forward at great speed. The question remains: how did humans come to understand this method of moving much faster than a regular airplane? The answer is, inevitably—nature’s bounty. While swimming in water, tadpoles use a very similar method to propel themselves forward! Tadpoles suck water in through their mouths and then forcefully expel it through an opening at the back of their bodies, propelling themselves forward.
Speed is important, but sometimes stopping in place is necessary too. While this is relatively easy on land, it’s much more difficult to brake and hover in the air, defying Earth’s gravity, since you risk falling to the ground. However, some birds, like hummingbirds, and certain insects, like dragonflies, can pause and hover gracefully while flying! When they rapidly flap their wings to apply downward force on the air, the air in turn exerts an equal upward force on the wings, according to “Newton’s Third Law of Motion,” allowing them to remain stationary in the air. Now, which aircraft do you think humans designed inspired by these hovering birds and insects? Here’s a clue: this aircraft uses Bernoulli’s principle, but unlike the airplane, it doesn’t need to run along a runway; instead, it creates vortices in the air to lift off. By now, you’ve guessed I’m talking about the helicopter!
As the population has exploded and civilization has grown busier, humanity has faced an acute shortage of time. So, even though air travel allows for rapid transport, humans couldn’t disregard travel by land or water. In fact, people have been driven to make land and water travel even faster. No matter how powerful an engine is used, the friction between the train’s wheels and the railway tracks has always limited the train’s speed—and energy is also wasted carrying the weight of heavy wheels. To prevent energy waste and overcome friction, the “Maglev Train” or “Magnetic Levitation Train” was invented. It uses “magnetic levitation” technology to travel along a fixed path at much higher speeds without touching the ground. But even then, there is air resistance while speeding along! Nature itself has shown humans how to reduce this air resistance. Have you ever seen a kingfisher dive into the water to catch a fish? Notice that when the kingfisher dives, it barely disturbs the water, making almost no splash or sound—the kingfisher’s beak and head are shaped in what we call an “aerodynamic shape.” Thanks to this shape, water droplets offer minimal resistance when the kingfisher dives at high speed, so the fish barely notices before it gets caught. Inspired by this, the front of the Maglev train is shaped aerodynamically to minimize air resistance, allowing it to reach destinations in roughly a quarter of the time of a conventional train!
We’ve talked quite a bit about speed; now let’s turn to shelter. Before air conditioning was common, most houses had vents on the walls so that when the indoor air became hot, it would rise and escape outside, keeping only naturally cool air inside. But the idea of house vents isn’t original to humans! You’ll be surprised to know that termites used vents long before humans with advanced brains ever did! Termites create vents at the top and sides of their mounds to maintain a stable internal temperature.
Whether traveling or building homes, electricity has added a crucial dimension to the pillars of civilization. One of the most important renewable sources of electricity is wind power. However, in earlier wind-powered industries, multiple turbines created significant noise pollution. Frank Fish, a biologist, proposed designing turbine blades modeled after the structure of the humpback whale’s flipper. As a result, turbine blades now feature rows of small bumps that help minimize air resistance and thus reduce noise when the blades rotate.
We know that extreme cold can freeze an animal’s blood and kill living cells. But cod fish survive just fine in the icy waters of the polar regions! How? These fish have a special protein in their blood called “antifreeze glycoprotein,” which helps keep their blood liquid even in intense cold. Inspired by this, researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a polymer called “polyvinyl alcohol,” which is now used to preserve blood at very low temperatures.
While nature has taught humans how to preserve blood, it has also, at times, left us vulnerable! Sometimes you don’t even realize a mosquito has been drinking your blood for quite some time! By vibrating its needle-like mouthpart—a proboscis—at a low frequency as it enters your skin, the mosquito can extract blood while causing you little or no pain. The reason is obvious: it doesn’t want you to notice the theft! Here too, there is a technological lesson from nature. Researchers and engineers at Kansai University in Japan have developed a new type of surgical needle inspired by the mosquito’s method. This needle vibrates at about 15 hertz, allowing it to enter the patient’s skin easily and with minimal pain during surgery!
Humans can use their hands for many tasks, but their abilities are limited—they cannot lift very heavy loads or stretch in all directions at will. In contrast, the elephant’s trunk excels, as it contains not a single bone but over forty thousand muscles. The German company “Festo” has mimicked the structure of the elephant’s trunk to create an artificial “bionic trunk” which can be used for lifting heavy objects in factories or to assist disabled individuals in daily life.
Many plants have dry fruits or seeds covered in tiny hooks or burrs. These features help protect the plant from herbivores and allow seeds or fruits to attach to birds’ feathers or animals’ fur for wide dispersal—these are the two main reasons nature gave them hooks. One day, Swiss engineer George de Mestral noticed his pants and his dog’s fur covered in burrs during a hunting trip. Out of scientific curiosity, he examined the burrs under a microscope. After a little while, a smile spread across his face, for he saw a new technological possibility—one that became famous today as the “hook and loop fastener” technology of Velcro! Replacing buttons, zippers, or laces, this technology has made clothing and shoes more accessible to children and people with disabilities, making them more self-reliant.
The proof that technology is inspired by nature lies deep within its very core—these are just a few examples. Many technologies have formed in the human mind from learning nature’s lessons that have yet to be fully realized. Using the analytical method called “machine learning,” people are now trying to give machines the same reasoning, cognition, and imagination found in our brains. In other words, humans are building artificial minds that can analyze available data, find relationships, and ultimately make decisions with little to no human help. Not only that, but the artificial brain will also revise its own data analysis method based on real-world results, learning from its own actions just as the human brain does—so it has a better chance of success and avoids repeated failures in the future.
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