http://principialabs.com/biomimicry-design-ideas-from-nature/ design, build, test, iterate. Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:50:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://principialabs.com/biomimicry-design-ideas-from-nature/#comment-43 Brian Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:23:02 +0000 http://principialabs.com/biomimicry-design-ideas-from-nature/#comment-43 <p>Here’s another one from Technology Review. Scientists have long suspected that the bumps on a humpback whale’s flippers give them their great agility and provide some sort of hydrodynamic advantage. Engineers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have recently <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20379/" rel="nofollow">tested this theory in a wind tunnel</a>, and found that bumps on the leading edges of wings can increase critical angle-of-attack (the angle at which the wing stalls and loses lift) by as much as forty percent!</p> Here’s another one from Technology Review. Scientists have long suspected that the bumps on a humpback whale’s flippers give them their great agility and provide some sort of hydrodynamic advantage. Engineers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have recently tested this theory in a wind tunnel, and found that bumps on the leading edges of wings can increase critical angle-of-attack (the angle at which the wing stalls and loses lift) by as much as forty percent!

]]> http://principialabs.com/biomimicry-design-ideas-from-nature/#comment-42 Brian Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:26:40 +0000 http://principialabs.com/biomimicry-design-ideas-from-nature/#comment-42 <p>Here’s a great example of biomimicry from Technology Review, in which the microscopic structure of mother-of-pearl becomes the model for a new nanomaterial that is stronger and lighter than the metals it replaces. Read “<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/20333/" rel="nofollow">Strong, Light, and Stretchy Materials</a>” for more details.</p> Here’s a great example of biomimicry from Technology Review, in which the microscopic structure of mother-of-pearl becomes the model for a new nanomaterial that is stronger and lighter than the metals it replaces. Read “Strong, Light, and Stretchy Materials” for more details.

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