The unbelievable fact that frogs can survive the freezing of their own body led me to writing this article in the theme session of ice. Frogs are cold-blooded organisms and their body temperature conforms with their immediate surrounding. This feature would normally prevent habitations of cold climate due to the risk of lethal freezing. Nevertheless,...
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The creation of light is for sure one of the most interesting natural phenomena, especially if it occurs by living organisms. Bioluminescence means the emission of light by an organism as a result of a natural chemical reaction [1]. A remarkable variety of marine animals, underground organisms and terrestrial animals are able to produce light by...
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A few months ago I was sharing my car for a road trip. After some minutes of small talk with my fellow passenger it was unavoidable for me to admit that I was a botanist. I am always scared of that moment. It gives your counterpart the unique opportunity to ask this one question, he...
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It is not so common to mention plants in relation to electrostatic fields. Nevertheless, there are some interesting facts about this topic and you might be surprised how many natural processes are hidden behind the phenomenon of electrostatics. Electrostatic fields of plants During fair weather conditions (meaning a relatively clear sky with calm winds), a vertical electric...
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Greetings readers, in my article today I am going to talk about structural mechanics and where in nature we can find examples for it. Biomimetics being a multi-disciplinary study enables the flexibility http://www.blogionik.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=1348&action=editto choose the topic of interest. During my study of Biomimetics, we had a unique mix of students coming both from biology and engineering....
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Dear BlogIONIK readers, We are proud to present you our first guest article! For more information about the author you will find an author box at the end of the article. Thank you Simon! Best wishes, the BlogIONIK team Imagine huge sandy dunes, rare water resources and hardly any life – except a camel...
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It does not matter where on Earth we are, water is essential for all living organisms. Some organisms are luck and do not even have to consider that as a problem but for the others it means a daily fight for survival. Desert is a typical example where water sources are rare, sometimes it does...
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If there is one astonishing example for a biomimetic project following the ‘bottom up approach’, it is the example of the Bird-of-paradise flower Strelitzia reginae with its extraordinary hingeless flapping (opening) mechanism. This biological system has been successfully analyzed, its functional principle abstracted and implemented in a technical system as a cooperation between biologists, engineers...
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Since centuries, people living in areas with cold winters have been trying to economize the energy required to keep their homes warm. Traditional alpine houses were constructed in a way that the living area was above the barn where animals produced enough heat to warm up the ceiling for several degrees. This required much less additional...
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New Year’s greetings to our readers. So far, me and my colleagues have written about many different topics, organisms, complex systems, but where can one actually apply the knowledge gained from Biomimetics? The answer is: „Everywhere!“. In this article I will discuss the diversity of Biomimetics and how we can contribute to a sustainable living. The...
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