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Chakras and a Balanced Brain
When does consciousness exist? Will the sentient robots being created with nanotechnology and the dumping of human memory such as was done to a computer chip by Stanford in 1999 have a soul of their own? I do not believe our soul is dumped in this...
Common Psi-sense
Up until the start of the 20th Century there was a strong cadre of scientists like Michael Faraday and Sir William Crookes who knew integrating the humanities with hard sciences provided the greater insight or wisdom. The quantum physicists have...
Evolution and Exorcisms
EVOLUTION: More surprising to me as I consider where my intellectual head-space has been on this issue, which is central to theological ideal; is the fact that I have become more of a creationist. Skeptics may say that God doesn't exist and I am...
Genetic Genealogy Research
One of the first genetic genealogy studies was conducted in the late 1980s by scientists with the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. These scientists Rebecca L. Cann, Mark Stoneking and Allan C. Wilson studied a...
Lagrangian Points and Nasa's Plan to Explore Space
October 3, 2005
Nasa is relying on its ability to determine the Lagrangian points between every set of planets, moons, asteroids, etcetera it intends to explore in order to implement its plan of successful interplanetary space exploration....
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Nature's Calling
Throughout history mankind's progress has been charted and
referred to by his use of materials. Throughout the stone,
bronze iron and steel ages these materials made a major
contribution to mankind's development. But now in the 21st
century, we live in the age of materials. For technology to
advance further we need to improve all sorts of materials,
looking to nature for inspiration.
This exiting field of research is known by several names
Bionics, Biomimetics, or Biomimicry. Wikipedia define
Biomimetics as
".. the application of methods and systems found in nature to
the study and design of engineering systems and modern
technology. This technology transfer is desirable because
evolutionary pressure typically forces natural systems to become
highly optimized and efficient. A classical example is the
development of dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) from
the observation that the surface of the lotus flower plant is
practically unsticky for anything (lotus effect). Examples of
bionics results in engineering include hulls of boats imitating
the skin membrane of dolphins, sonar, radar, and medical
ultrasound imaging imitating echolocation of bats."
Biomimetics has also been one of the most significant forms of
inspiration for 21st century experimental computer science.
Seeking Natures advice has lead to the conception and
development of cybernetics, artificial neurones, artificial
neural networks, and swarm intelligence. One field of
experimental computing has superseded nature by simulating
evolution, which has produced highly optimised solutions that
have not arisen in nature. This exiting field is known as
evolutionary computing (Who'd have guessed that one?).
There are countless
inventions already created through the
biomimetic approach. Perhaps the most famous of these was
created by Swiss engineer George De Mestral in 1948, who after a
walk one day, was cleaning his dog of burrs and suddenly
realised how they worked, and shortly afterwards created Velcro.
As computing experts and microprocessor designers are rapidly
reaching the limits of what can be done with silicone, the need
for natural solutions such as those based on the human brain
(neural networks) or those that use DNA to store and process
data (DNA computing) becomes ever more important.
The significance of Biomimetics is perhaps said best in the
following quote:
"Nature has been conducting evolutionary experiments for
millions of years, so if we're lucky enough to find something
close to what we require in nature, then it's very likely to
have been highly optimised, and we're unlikely to do much
better." -Greg Parker
Personally, I feel that this something that we should all bear
in mind, one flash of inspiration from nature could benefit all
of mankind forever. Anyway if reading this has sparked your
interest in Biomimetics be sure to check out the following pages:
http://www.biomimicry.net/case_studies_materials.html
http://www.biomimicry.net/case_studies_processes.html
http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/biomimetics/about.html
About the author:
The Disgruntled Wogbeast is a dark and cynical creature that
lives in the bowels of the earth somewhere beneath a country
called Wales in the UK. Please check out the link below to the
DWB's only line of communication to the outside world.
the
Disgruntled Wogbeast
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