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What do porcupine, jellyfish and a gecko have in common?
Inspired by their evolution, researchers have come up with ingenious designs to solve many problems that we will learn about and even be surprised from! Read along.
The tentacles of jellyfish are what help it swim swiftly in the deep oceans. They also help jellyfish catch prey to survive. The wavy motion of the tentacles traps microorganisms and other smaller ocean animals that the jellyfish feed on. This discovery has been possible upon taking closer a look at their life. Researchers then used this mechanism to help cure cancer. By injecting the tentacle-like strings inside the body, the strings can attract and trap cancer cells and kill them, hence, help to reduce the cancer-causing cells inside the body.
A gecko has an extraordinary grip which makes it able to climb up and down vertical walls with ease. Upon taking a closer look, it was learned that a gecko has minutely small ‘grippers’ on its fingertips that help it hold itself on any surface. They work best when they are held opposite to the force of gravity. This particular discovery has been substantial in developing adhesive tapes for medical purposes to hold certain pipes and tubs delicately on infants’ bodies. Held in a certain direction, they stick harder than the Gorilla super glue, and when held in the other direction, they peel off as sticky notes.
Our best memory of a porcupine is most probably its sharp knife-like quills and how we could stay as far as we could from them. But believe it or not, those quills have helped doctors in surgeries! When looked under a microscope, the porcupine quills have small scales that give the porcupine its agility in the battleground. One prick and it wins. When one tries to remove the quills, those scales open up like flower petals that pierce the muscles making it even harder to remove them. This process was later used in designing medical grade staplers used to hold the operated organs after surgeries for recovery. The staplers easily glide in the muscle without any pain and hold the tissues together with minimal force, helping it heal faster.
Thank you so much, Dr. Jeffrey Karp, Dr. woo Kyung Cho, Dr. James Ankrum, for your expertise and contribution to humanity.
Understanding nature and its meticulous efforts in the form of evolution of different species that thrive in different environments has given us millions of years of research and development, as we can call it. Hence, it only makes sense to take advantage of such an invaluable resource to design better products and solve many of our problems.
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Thank you so much for reading!
Thank you so much for reading!
