Japanese researchers successfully reduced noise by modeling the front of a bullet train after a kingfisher’s head. Ideas from nature help solve human problems. Researchers in Louisiana are figuring out how we might use their cells to help treat diseases found in humans.
Another example: alligators have incredible immune systems.
CONNECTION BETWEEN BULLET THE BLUE SKY AND EXIT HOW TO
She talked about snakes, for example, which have heat receptors similar to human pain receptors, and so might help medical researchers better understand how to treat chronic pain in humans. Robertson said that many different animals have inspired all kinds of innovation, which is one reason the San Diego Zoo is a center for biomimicry research and innovation. Because the colors come from reflection, not production by the screen itself, these screens use less energy. She explained that Qualcomm’s new display screens have a special internal structure that allows them to reflect ambient light to produce certain colors. When you look at peacock feathers, and you see all those green, blue, purple colors, you’re not seeing pigment, you’re actually seeing structures in the feathers that allow them to reflect back certain colors. Essentially, they’ve created a new type of display screen, and it’s inspired by peacock feathers, butterfly wings, and other animals that produce structural color. The San Diego Zoo is partnered with Qualcomm, and we are helping them with their new Mirasol technology. She said that peacocks, too, hold some of nature’s secrets. Robertson said kingfishers aren’t the only birds that have inspired engineers and designers. And it saved them 10-15% more energy because it was more aerodynamic. And sure enough when they tried out that new model, it moved through without creating the boom. It has a pointy part to it just like the beak of the kingfisher. And so they did model the front of the train like the kingfisher’s face. So he thought, I wonder if I could apply this principle to the shape of the front of the bullet train. He had witnessed a kingfisher bird diving down through the air, going into the water and creating very little splash. It disturbed the wildlife.īut one of the engineers on the team trying to solve the problem was a birdwatcher. The sound was waking up people who lived nearby. The booming, it turned out, had to do with the shape of the face of the train.Īnd the reason this booming was happening, they discovered, is that this cushion of air was building up in front of that speeding train, going like 300 kilometers an hour. They were getting so fast that the typical bullet shape was causing a loud booming sound when these trains would exit typical train tunnels. In Japan, they have these very fast bullet trains. Kingfishers have a large head and a long, narrow beak. She told us how in the late 90’s Japanese engineers modeled a bullet train after a kingfisher, which is a bird found in many parts of the world. Image Credit: D A J FossettĮarthSky spoke to Sunni Robertson of the San Diego Zoo, a center for biomimicry research and education. They typically travel up to 300 km/h (186 mph). Japanese companies have operated bullet trains since 1964. This new discipline – using nature to find sustainable solutions to human problems – is called biomimicry. That’s exactly what happened in Japan in the late 1990s. In a world where scientists are using nature’s best ideas and imitating natural designs and processes to solve human problems, a kingfisher can inspire a bullet train.
0 kommentar(er)
