Frog’s natural antifreeze to survive freezing

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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Light production via bioluminescence

bioluminescence

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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Natural electrostatic fields

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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Structural Mechanics in Biomimetics

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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Flectofin® – a hingless flapping mechanism

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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Diversity in Biomimetics – How it can inspire sustainable living

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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