The ID Report

By Robert Deyes
ARN Correspondent

Throughout history man has looked to the natural world as the source of inspiration for some of the most exquisite inventions ever seen. Perhaps most famous of all is the Eiffel tower which, originally conceived by Gustav Eiffel as a temporary edifice, had at its foundations the design of already-existing natural structures notably the curvature of bones (Ref 1). Velcro was likewise inspired by already-existing biological contrivances as was perhaps Charles Paxton's water lilly-based design of the Crystal Palace in London (Ref 2).

Today biomimetics (or bioinspiration as it is otherwise known) has emerged as a discipline of science that in many respects continues on from these earlier exploits (Ref 1). As evidenced in one recent study by a group at the University of Namur in Belgium, the potential applications of emulation have become much more than pioneers such as Eiffel could have ever envisioned. Namur physicist Marie Rassart and her team brought to life the physical components that underlie the famous humidity-dependent color changes of the male Hercules beetle: "a porous structure made of chitin and air, organized with refractive index variations" (Ref 3). Rassart's team showed in exquisite detail how the beetle's colorful surface reflections depended upon flooding of the underlying porous structure with liquid water (Ref 3).

As many a school boy will testify, the Hercules beetle lives up to the hero of Greek mythology in more ways than one. Not only is it one of the largest known Coleoptera but it is also one of the strongest, able to carry about 850 times its own body weight (Ref 3). At over 10 centimeters in length, the Hercules beetle is bound to draw interest from even the most seasoned entymologist. But it is the color-changing feat and its potential commercial benefits that have attracted the attention of biomimeticists. While evolution pundits remain unsure about the evolutionary significance of such a feat (camouflage and thermo-regulation have been convincingly rebutted, Ref 3), biomimeticists are already looking into how similar hypochromic materials might be used in the development of humidity sensors (Ref 3).

Insects in general have become gold mines for biomimeticists on the look-out for lucrative technological ideas upon which to stake their claim. Covering the outer cuticle of an insect, for example, are numerous sensilliae that are responsible for detecting mechanical strains in the cuticle during activities such as flying and walking (Ref 4). Similar sensors are finding their way into research labs involved in the development of intelligent materials that can detect strains and stress points in, say, metal sheets (Ref 4). The folding of insect wings has likewise been the innovation-favorite of inventors of temporary roof structures that can be quickly extended and re-folded (Refs 2,5).

Nature is chock-full of inventions that may one day inspire parallels in human technology. The insect-eating habits of the Venus flytrap depend on hydraulic pressure to store the 'strain energy' of its devouring components- a finding that might one day be exploited for power amplification in remote locations such as orbiting satellites (Ref 2). Ubiquitous throughout nature are deployable structures- (i) the extensible tubes and bodies of sea anemones, star fish and locusts, (ii) the folded or rolled-up leaves of budding trees (iii) the hinged jaws of snakes and anglerfish and (iv) the elastic springs that catapult fleas and flea beetles into the air- all of which are fair game for the biomimeticist's toolbox (Ref 5).

And yet the bare-bones assumption held by many is that evolution has had millions of years to invent the very designs that appeal to our sense of precision engineering (Ref 2,6). University Of Bath biologist Julian Vincent for example has weighed in with his view that the very structures we admire in nature resulted from "the rigorous demands of evolution" (Ref 2) while popular science writers have waxed lyrical over evolution-based stories of design. "Nature, through billions of years of trial and error," they tell us "has produced effective solutions to innumerable complex real-world problems. The rigorous competition of natural selection means waste and inefficiency are not tolerated in natural systems" (Ref 7).

CEO and president of Promega Corporation, Bill Linton, once remarked that "our most well designed human endeavors can only approximate- and rarely surpass- the elegant precision of nature" (Ref 8). Indeed crediting evolution for the engineering of complex systems that lie beyond the capacity of human minds to fully conceive seems thoroughly misplaced. Moreover there is something deeply telling about the observation that the natural world has machines that we, as intelligent agents, are so ready to copy. Defenders of Intelligent Design theory have of course provided their own take on this singular fact, concluding that the work of an intelligent designer and not the blind walk of evolution lies at the heart of biological complexity.

Literature Cited

1. Philip Ball (2001), Life's Lesson In Design, Nature, Vol 409 pp.413-416

2. Julian F.V. Vincent, Stealing Ideas From Nature, See http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng//biomimetics/Biomimetics.pdf

3. M. Rassart, J-F Colomer, T. Tabarrant, J.P Vigneron (2008), Diffractive Hygrochromic Effect In The Cuticle Of The Hercules Beetle Dynastes hercules, New Journal Of Physics, Vol 10 pp.1-13, See http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1367-2630/10/3/033014

4. A. Skordosy, P. H. Chan, J. F. V. Vincent, G. Jeronimidis (2002), A novel strain sensor based on the campaniform sensillum of insects, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond, Vol 360 pp.239-253, See http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng//biomimetics/StrainSensor.pdf

5. Julian F.V. Vincent, Deployable Structures In Nature, See http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng//biomimetics/DeployableStructs.pdf

6. The peer-reviewed journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics defines its title as "the study and distillation of principles and functions found in biological systems that have been developed through evolution", See http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/bioinsp

7. Rhett Butler (2005), Biomimetics, technology that mimics nature, See http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0711-rhett_butler.html

8. Bill Linton (2002), Opening Statement Of The 2002 Life Sciences Catalog, Promega Corporation