First of all I want to apologize that I am way behind with posting. There is so much going on, which is wonderful – but to be honest:  I can’t keep up anymore!  That’s why I want to recommend 2 online papers, which collect biomimetics & biomimicry news from Twitter, Facebook and other sources. Enjoy!

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This is a Scoop It! edition, created and curated by Stoic (@stoicwashere)
LINK » scoop.it

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And this is the NEW paper.li edition:
LINK » paper.li

QUOTE:
Xanthopterin (a pigment) works as a light harvesting molecule transforming light into electrical energy. [...] “We assume that some of the energy is transformed in a photo-biochemical process which aids the hornets with their energy demanding digging activity,” Dr Plotkin told the BBC.

DESCRIPTION
Seems like not only plants are able to process solar energy:
This article desribes the surprising ability of Oriental hornets to harvest the sun with the help of structure, pigments, photo-biochemical processes and even store the energy metabolically.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to article » bbc.co.uk | Download of scientific article » springerlink.com

QUOTE
Each bee contributes enough information to help the group make the best decision as a whole. As Seeley puts it, “Consistencies like these suggest that there are general principles of organization for building groups far smarter than the smartest individuals in them.”

DESCRIPTION
Thomas D. Seeley, professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University,  is a passionate bee-keeper and author of the book “Honeybee Democracy”. This article desribes part of his work, focusing on the decision making process of honey bees when it comes to choosing new sites due to overpopulation. Scouts are looking for sites, judging the quality and describing it honestly (!) doing a dance. The swarm decides based on the information provided by smart individuals.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to article » mnn.com | Link to original source » sciencedaily.com

QUOTE
Since the best city planners around the world have not been able to end traffic jams, scientists are looking to a new group of experts: slime mold [...] a funguslike, single-celled animal that can grow in a network of linked veins, spreading over a surface like a web.

The scientists let the mold organize itself and spread out around these nutrients, and found that it built a pattern very similar to the real-world train system connecting those cities around Tokyo. And in some ways, the amoeba solution was more efficient. What’s more, the slime mold built its network without a control center that could oversee and direct the whole enterprise; rather, it reinforced routes that were working and eliminated redundant channels, constantly adapting and adjusting for maximum efficiency.

CORRESPONDING LINKS
Article published via » treehugger.com
Referring to » popsci.com (including videos, further videos are to be found via YouTube)

SCIENTIFIC PAPER
“Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design” available via » sciencemag.org
Science 22 January 2010: Vol. 327. no. 5964, pp. 439 – 442 | DOI: 10.1126/science.1177894

QUOTE
But the main reason biomimetics hasn’t yet come of age is that from an engineering standpoint, nature is famously, fabulously, wantonly complex. Evolution doesn’t “design” a fly’s wing or a lizard’s foot by working toward a final goal, as an engineer would—it blindly cobbles together myriad random experiments over thousands of generations, resulting in wonderfully inelegant organisms whose goal is to stay alive long enough to produce the next generation and launch the next round of random experiments.

DESCRIPTION
Elaborate article, describing different “design by nature” examples, including pictures.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source » core.form-ula.com

QUOTE
Biomimicry is the art, skill, intuition and science of turning towards nature as inspiration for solving our dilemmas. Nature has millions of years on us in perfecting forms and systems, and it’s about time we humans turn outward when we need answers. The field of biomimicry has already yielded hundreds of solutions. Gathered here in a slideshow are nine facinating examples of biomimicry at work.

DESCRIPTION
Recommendable Treehugger slide show with 9 concisely described examples of “Biomimicry in Action”

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source» treehugger.com

QUOTE
The discovery that butterfly wings have scales that act as tiny solar collectors has led scientists in China and Japan to design a more efficient solar cell that could be used for powering homes, businesses, and other applications in the future.

DESCRIPTION
Goes quite into detail of the preparation process; interesting related articles are listed.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source » robaid.com

BIONICS SECTION
There are more articles to be found in the » bionics section

QUOTE
Spider silk is as strong as many industrial fibers. There is commercial interest in duplicating spider silk artificially, since spiders use renewable materials as input and operate at room temperature, low pressures and using water as a solvent. However, it has been difficult to find a commercially viable process to mass produce spider silk.

DESCRIPTION
Easy to read article, describing the fascinating characteristics of spider silk and the difficulties producing a similar fibre artificially. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, came up with an interesting solution – they let bacteria do the work.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source » enn.com | Link to scientific institute » kaist.edu

CORRESPONDING ARTICLE
Including video “See how silkworms and spiders work their magic.”
Press Release 10-129 | July 29, 2010
Link to » nsf.gov

QUOTE
Turning to nature for inspiration is the key to constructing a lot of things, from very tall buildings, shaped after bamboo, to, apparently, sunscreen, which now researchers believe can be successfully made from hippo sweat. While this may disgust some, it could, indeed, prove to be the best protection anyone could hope for. The bulky animals seldom stay in the shadow, and spend most of their day submerged in water or in mud, but with their backs exposed to the Sun.

DESCRIPTION
Concise article, describing how the crystaline structures of hippo sweat shatters light and therefore works like a sun blocker. And as things in nature are multi-functional more often than not, the sweat has also antiseptic and insect-repellent characteristics.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source: softpedia.com

QUOTE
Most of us don’t solve problems this way. We start by tapping the local knowledge, and if it’s insufficient, we go looking for specialists. But what if we’re following the wrong protocol? We should stop looking for experts and start looking for analogues. It’s a big world: Chances are someone has solved your problem already. And she might be an anteater.

DESCRIPTION
Well written article, explaining why companies shall let themselves be inspired by nature and team up with biologists, also describing some examples.

FULL ARTICLE
Link to original source » fastcompany.com