In very wet places there is so much water on the ground that we could be using to drink instead of letting it dry out.
Biomimicry Idea:
Mimic a spider’s spider silk that collects water on its web. What if we could make a shoe that collected the water instead of getting your feet wet! Spider webs have a sticky substance on them. When it rains the water sticks to the web but doesn’t go through it . We could put a spider web like object in a shoe that collects the water and then sends it into a backpack with a storage chamber. One way we could do this is using small tubes that run from the shoes to a water bottle back pack. Water cohesion and adhesion to the tube walls will push the water upward through the tubes. You can drink water as you hike!
How does a spider web help a spider collect water?
Spiders use a substance called spiral silk which they use to trap the bugs that fly by, but this spiral silk doesn’t just catch bugs it also catches water. That is one way you could collect the water without getting wet.
It takes people a long time and effort to harvest each plant and it takes a lot of time out of their day. Sometimes not enough food is harvested when it is just hand picked.
A Bee glove to collect berries Notice the spikes that help you collect berries more easily when you are hand picking them. They act like bee body hairs that collect the pollen from a flower.
Biomimicry Idea:
Mimic how a bee collects pollen. Pollen gets stuck on the bee’s small hairs and on the legs of a bee. That helps the bee harvest the pollen faster than picking one little piece of pollen at a time. Humans can mimic a bee by harvesting raspberries with a “Bee glove” that collects the berries. This glove would be covered with thorns or rakes on which the berries get stuck. This is just like using the small hairs on a bee. It will make a kind of machine to help harvest plants so people don’t need to spend a lot of time harvesting by hand.
Bee Facts
-A queen bee will lay over 1,50o eggs a year
-All worker bees are female and will do all the work but when winter comes they will kick male bees out of the hive to die
-The bees use honeycomb sells to store the babies and necter
-Male bees are called drones. They mate with the queen
-Bees have straw like tongues so they can suck up necter
-Bees carry pollen on their legs in small sacks with small hairs
Every year before school starts, kids grow and are in need of clothes that fit them and they need to get rid of their old clothes, that they grow out This can waste energy and is expensive.
Biomimicry Idea:
When garter snakes grow too big, they shed their skin. They get a new skin. Birds can use the old skin for building their nests or homes . Mimic a garter snake for kids starting out their new year at school. One week before school starts in the fall, have a Garter Snake Clothing Swap Day. Each kid will bring the clothes they no longer fit in and outgrew. They will get to trade for an older kids old ” skin” ( clothes ) This recycles old clothes and saves energy and money.
How does nature help a garter snake shredding?
Nature helps the garter snakes, in which they use the skin for useful resources and nesting, instead of leaving it aside.
The chemicals used to produce dyes and pigments are often highly toxic, carcinogenic, or even explosive. Synthetic colorant production presents ecological and environmental problems as well. The textile industry consumes a substantial amount of water in it its processes and the resulting waste water, called dye effluent, is toxic and pollutes waterways. Lastly, dyes and pigments degrade and fade over time and require upkeep and maintenance.
Biomimicry Idea:
Mimic the surface structure of the Small White’s wings. The wings are covered in longitudinal ridges and cross-ribs, studded with ovoid beads. The structure of this surface determines what light is reflected and how it is reflected, in this case, as a brilliant white.
We will use nanotechnology and 3D printing to “print” brilliant colors without the use of pigments. These surfaces can then be used to replace the paint on crosswalks, traffic signs and road markings. And unlike the original markings that often need to be repainted or replaced to maintain their visibility, these structual colorationg would resist degradation and require less upkeep. Other possible applications include vehicles, buildings, sculptures, appliances and so on.
How does nature help the Small White create a resource efficient method to project brilliant color?
The white on the wing of the Small White (Pieris rapae) is not from a pigment, but from the structure of each the scales on it’s wing. The structure of the surface determines what light is reflected and how it is reflected. The wings are white due to longitudinal ridges and cross-ribs studded with ovoid beads.
Electron microscopic images of wing scales at approximate magnification of 50x, 200x, 1000x, and 5000xButterfly Wing Colours: Scale Beads Make White Pierid Wings Brighter by D. G. Stavenga, S. Stowe, K. Siebke, J. Zeil and K. Arikawa
Additional Information on the Small White:
Photo by Neil Freeman
How the Small White uses this structure:
If you follow a Small White around you should notice that they rest with their wings half open. This behavior is called reflectance basking. The white surfaces of the wing reflects solar energy. They bask with their wings half open so that the heat produced by sunlight falling on the dark thorax is contained within the ‘cage’ of the half-open wings, rather than being dispersed on the breeze.
Small White Coloration:
Female Pieris rapaeMale Pieris rapae
Despite its name, the Small White isn’t just white, the upperside is creamy white with black tips on the forewings and its underwings are yellowish with black speckles.
Males and females can be told apart by their wing spots. The females have larger black tips at the end of the wings and two larger black spots on the middle of their wings. The males have only one small black dot and a small marking on the tip of the wing.
The inconsistent color of the butterflies helps them to camouflage and protect themselves from their predators. When viewed from below, this butterfly in flight is harder to see with its pale underside matching the bright pale colors of the sky. At rest, the yellowish coloring of the underwing helps it blend in with its favorite food- wild mustard.
Video of the Small White collecting nectar from flowers:
Air pollutants are poisonous and a major problem in many places. Inhaling them can increase health risks.
Biomimicry Idea:
The wiry tentacles on moss captures fog, however, they also capture air pollutants. Because of this we can’t mimic moss to capture water, but we can capture pollutants. If people in the more polluted areas, like large cities, plant moss on vertical gardens placed around or inside buildings, the air outside, and inside will be much clearer.
Building with moss wall to catch air pollution
Breathe Better with Moss Walls
How does nature help moss absorb water?
Moss has a soft and squishy texture which helps it absorb water from water vapor. Water slowly builds up on it’s wiry tentacles and is absorbed into the plant. However, moss doesn’t only collect water vapor, but also the pollutants inside of the vapor. This makes moss the perfect pollution monitor.
From the US Forest Service:
“Finding the connection between moss and air pollution”
Moss has been used to detect air pollution in forests since the 1960s. Moss doesn’t have roots; it’s like a sponge, absorbing moisture and nutrients from the air, as well as contaminants. These contaminants are stored in the moss tissues, making them a living record of pollution levels in the surrounding environment. Because some species of moss are very sensitive to air pollution, they are indicators of good or bad air quality. If certain sensitive species are declining, it’s an indication that the air quality is declining.”
A Bee glove to collect berries Notice the spikes that help you collect berries more easily when you are hand picking them. They act like bee body hairs that collect the pollen from a flower.
Bee Facts
