national geographic kids BEASTLY BIONICS RAD ROBOTS BRILLIANT BIOMIMICRY AND INCREDIBLE INVENTIONS INSPIRED BY NATURE JENNIFER SWANSON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WASHINGTON D C
CHAPTER 4 BEASTLY HEALERS SLUG SURGICAL GLUE hearing helping FLY SUNBATHING HIPPO SUNSCREEN AWESOME OCTOPUS ARM needle nose WORMS ONE CREATURE MANY CREATIONS GECKOS STICK ANYWHERE TAKING A CLOSER LOOK THE EYES HAVE IT WORM BONE REPAIR bacteria fighting CICADA cancer busting JELLYFISH CONCLUSION GLOSSARY and FIND OUT MORE PHOTO CREDITS INDEX 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 95 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 CHAPTER 1 BEASTLY SOLUTIONS 6 8 LIFESAVING SPIDERS 10 ONE CREATURE MANY CREATIONS SPIDER MANIA 12 BIRDLIKE BULLET TRAINS 14 ADAPTABLE SEA STAR 16 TURTLE BODY ARMOR 18 shock ABSORBING WOODPECKERS 20 MANTA RAY SEARCH AND RESCUE 22 FASCINATING FROG SKIN 24 BAT DELIVERY TAIL OF DISCOVERY CAT EYES LEAD TO A BRIGHT IDEA 26 CHAPTER 2 BEASTLY HELPERS ELEPHANT TRUNK TECHNOLOGY CEPHALOPOD CAMOUFLAGE BOA CONSTRICTOR GRIPPERS ONE CREATURE MANY CREATIONS BRILLIANT BEES TAKING A CLOSER LOOK BEE BIONICS FISH FAKE-OUT CLIMBING ROBOTIC INCHWORMS ECO-FRIENDLY termite style BUILDINGS dolphin inspired TSUNAMI SENSORS CHAPTER 3 BEASTLY ENERGY SOLAR-POWERED BUTTERFLIES SILENT SWOOPERS TAIL OF DISCOVERY WINDY WHALE FIREFLY LIGHTBULBS IN-SYNC GEESE FOG-CAPTURING BEETLES coral inspired CEMENT SHIPSHAPE PENGUINS ONE CREATURE MANY CREATIONS SHARKSKIN SUPERPOWERS 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 4 BEASTLY BIONICS
INTRODUCTION STICKY FEET TO CLIMB WALLS ULTRAFLEXIBLE ROBOTIC ARMS SUPERSENSITIVE HEARING ARE THESE ABILITIES ONLY FOUND IN MOVIES NO THEY’RE TECHNOLOGIES MADE WITH BIONICS When you hear the word bionic you might think of robotic body parts But bionics a combination of the words biology and electronics electronics means so much more than making robotic limbs It is engineering inspired by biology or nature example if you needed to build a robot that could move long distances distances across flat Looking to nature is useful For a ground you could study animals that can do that Maybe kangaroos would work They cover a lot of distance when they jump To make a robot kangaroo you’d need to understand how kangaroos move how they crouch and then push off with their two hind legs to jump into the air Then you’d have to figure out how to copy that movement with gears motors metals and plastic That can be a the borrowed movement challenge But in 2014 engineers actually succeeded in creating a bionic robot that hops like a kangaroo of a real kangaroo is called biomimicry biomimicry or biomimetics a word that means to imitate designs from biology Biomimicry isn’t limited to robots Many different areas of study use bionics architecture transportation transportation energy medicine farming and even communication Because nature has already solved some challenges challenges humans face it’s the perfect place to find ways to help could build a tsunami early warning system based on the way dolphins communicate with one another You could climb really fast and really high by mimicking the gecko or quickly repair broken bones by copying the glue from the sandcastle worm It’s innovation in action Sound intriguing If so get ready to meet some awesome bionic creations inspired by amazing animals Think of the possibilities You WITH ITS STICKY FEET THIS ROBOTIC GECKO CAN CLIMB ALMOST AS WELL AS THE ONE FOUND IN NATURE This book is chock-full of biomimetic inventions We break down each with info in a few different categories AMAZING ANIMAL The incredible inspirational animal DESIGN DILEMMA The challenge engineers needed to solve BUILDING BIONICS All the amazing amazing info of how the technology was created HELPFUL ADDITIONS Useful add-ons add-ons to the technology that the original animal doesn’t have GOING FURTHER A supercool extra fact about the technology DID YOU KNOW A fascinating fact about the awesome animal THREE TERMS USED THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK BIONICS the study of nature to engineer modern technology BIOMIMICRY to copy designs from nature Term comes from bio as in biology meaning life and mimesis or mimicking meaning to copy BIOMIMETICS the study of the structure and function of living things as models for new designs INTRODUCTION 5
