Throughout human history, dogs have long been one of the greatest tools we've honed for detecting scent, extending humanity's reach with capabilities fine enough to sense viruses, cancer, explosives, and controlled substances to name a few, leading a research team to use biomimicry to identify the structures and methodology that enable dogs to have such potent olfactory capabilities. — Read the rest ..read more

Similar in size to a grain of sand, this flying microchip could someday monitor air pollution, track the spread of airborne diseases, and, of course, conduct surveillance. While its inventors at Northwestern University call it the "smallest-ever human-made flying structure," it's actually inspired by propeller seeds that fall from trees, catching the wind as they spiral to the ground. — Read the rest ..read more

The Robeetle—a tiny scurrying robot that at 88 gram weighs about the same as three grains of rice—has earned a Guinness Record as the world's smallest crawling robot. Developed by Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia and colleagues at Washington State University, the "soft robot" is powered by alcohol, specifically methanol. — Read the rest ..read more

Squirrels are parkour masters, running on walls, leaping onto bendy branches, and recovering gracefully from missed landings. UC Berkeley researchers studied squirrels on campus to understand the fantastic biomechanics behind their balance and agility. Eventually, these insights could inform the development of new mobile robots, says UC Berkeley integrative biologist Robert Full whose laboratory has previously demonstrated robot designs inspired by geckos, cockroaches, and other animals. — Read the rest ..read more

Similar in size to a grain of sand, this flying microchip could someday monitor air pollution, track the spread of airborne diseases, and, of course, conduct surveillance. While its inventors at Northwestern University call it the "smallest-ever human-made flying structure," it's actually inspired by propeller seeds that fall from trees, catching the wind as they spiral to the ground. — Read the rest ..read more

The Robeetle—a tiny scurrying robot that at 88 gram weighs about the same as three grains of rice—has earned a Guinness Record as the world's smallest crawling robot. Developed by Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia and colleagues at Washington State University, the "soft robot" is powered by alcohol, specifically methanol. — Read the rest ..read more

Squirrels are parkour masters, running on walls, leaping onto bendy branches, and recovering gracefully from missed landings. UC Berkeley researchers studied squirrels on campus to understand the fantastic biomechanics behind their balance and agility. Eventually, these insights could inform the development of new mobile robots, says UC Berkeley integrative biologist Robert Full whose laboratory has previously demonstrated robot designs inspired by geckos, cockroaches, and other animals. — Read the rest ..read more

Materials scientists engaging in biomimicry of plant surfaces classify three levels of wettability of plants. It turns out that the least wettable leaves, or superhydrophobic leaves, often use both epicuticular wax and surface structure to avoid absorbing water. This phenomenon is sometimes called the lotus effect: This can keep the plant from getting weighed down, can direct water down the stem or away from it, and can also repel other things that may damage the plant. — Read the rest ..read more

What makes the diabolical ironclad beetle (the insect's actual common name) so indestructible? To find out, researchers at the  University of California, Irvine and their colleagues repeatedly drove over them with their cars. Yes, the creepy crawlers survived the tire test and countless other more exacting compression tests in the laboratory. — Read the rest ..read more

Gennaro Notomista, a PhD student in the Robotics and InTelligent Systems Laboratory at Georgia Tech, has created a unique alternative to drone monitoring, now commonly used in land management. Drones are not very energy efficient and can't remain in the air for very long. — Read the rest ..read more