This page is devoted to both Japanese and overseas examples of technology derived from the study of movement in animals and plants.
(See "Table legend" at the bottom of this page for an explanation of table content)
Photo by richard ling | Giant kelp |
Keeps its grip even in rough seas | |
Bladders to provide buoyancy in water | |
Giant kelp attaches to the sea bed or rocks, and has gas-filled bladders at the base of fronds to provide buoyancy to the whole plant. | |
Wave power generators | |
BioPower Systems | |
AskNature: bioWAVETM -- Wave power anchoring system based on undersea plants Amazing Nature Database: Learning new ways of tapping wave power from giant kelp (Japanese only) |
Photo by foto footprints | Slime mold |
Moves in search of food | |
Finding the shortest distance without a brain | |
The slime mold spreads in all directions at first, but on finding food, leaves just the most efficiently connected branches, and retracts the rest. | |
Urban waterway, electricity, road and other networks | |
CREST | |
AskNature: Cytoplasm seeks efficient routes -- slime mold Amazing Nature Database: How slime molds build efficient networks (Japanese only) |
Photo by nialkennedy | Tuna |
Swimming | |
Tidal power generation systems | |
Swim efficiently just by swinging the tailfin like a pendulum | |
Generation of electricity by converting the to and fro movement of tidal flow into rotational movement that can turn turbines | |
BioPower Systems | |
AskNature: bioSTREAM&trade -- tidal energy Amazing Nature Database: Learning from tuna to develop novel tidal power systems (Japanese only) |
Photo by merfam | Heart |
Never stops moving | |
Pump that prevents backflow and can also adjust pressure | |
The heart uses valves to prevent backflow, and adjusts pressure to ensure one-way circulation of a constant amount of blood to every part of the body. | |
Pumps in factories, artificial hearts, etc. | |
AskNature: Valves handle high pressures -- humans Amazing Nature Database: The human heart, a multifunctional pump (Japanese only) |
Photo by Jo?o de Deus Medeiros | Maranta (prayer plant) |
Moves leaves in response to sunlight | |
Automatic sunlight adjustment system | |
Maranta moves its leaves according to quantity and angle of sunlight, opening its leaves downward in daytime and closing them at night. | |
Application to blinds, solar panels and roofs | |
Amazing Nature Database: Maranta, a plant that moves in response to light (Japanese only) |
Photo by PaulS | Honeybee |
Imparts information to nest mates through dancing | |
Efficient division of labor | |
Honeybees use various dances to communicate information on the direction and distance to patches of flowers, type of nectar, whether there are enough worker bees, etc. | |
Algorithms that generate the most efficient division of labor | |
Amazing Nature Database: How honeybees use dances to allocate jobs (Japanese only) |
Photo by MollaAliod | Shoals of fish |
Swimming without colliding into other fish in the same shoal | |
Robot cars | |
Fish sense each other's presence through their eyes and lateral lines, and maintain an appropriate distance. | |
Driverless cars that use laser beams to measure distances and drive themselves | |
Nissan and other car manufacturers | |
Nissan Motor's EPORO robot car (Japanese only) |
Photo by Pacific Southwest Region | Flocks of birds |
Fly without colliding with other birds in the same flock | |
Artificial life simulation program that can reproduce flock movement in video | |
Birds follow three simple behavioral rules to prevent collisions with other birds no matter how large the flock is. | |
Development of robots capable of avoiding obstacles as they move for exploration of other planets or disaster sites, etc. | |
Computer program: Craig Reynolds Robot development: The Free University of Brussels, etc. | |
Amazing Nature Database: "Boids" that avoid collision no matter how many there are (Japanese only) |
Photo by doggydoggy.tw | Ant swarms |
Form processions | |
Transport algorithms | |
Ants secrete pheromones as they move. Other ants detect those pheromones and follow the trail. | |
Determination of shortest transport routes | |
Santa Fe Institute, Free University of Brussels, etc. | |
Amazing Nature Database: The processions that swarming ants create(Japanese only) National Geographic: Swarm theory (Japanese only) |
Photo by Lip Kee | Woodpecker |
Speedy drilling of holes in hard tree trunks | |
Motorcyclist helmets, mountaineering ice axes | |
Woodpeckers use head and beak muscles to protect their brains from shock, and apply the principle of leverage to pound their beaks vertically into a tree trunk. | |
Softening the shock and vibration of jackhammers and drills, absorbing the shaking of buildings during earthquakes | |
AskNature: Head structures absorb shock -- golden-fronted woodpecker Amazing Nature Database: Learning new ways of absorbing shocks from the woodpecker, a hole driller that never gets a headache (Japanese only) |
Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey | Shipworm |
Eats wood as it bores holes | |
Shield tunneling | |
The shipworm uses the hard shell on the tip of its head to bore into wood while keeping it from caving in. It also uses secretions from its mouth to line the inside of the hole with a hard tube. | |
Digging tunnels in crumbly earth or underwater | |
Marc Isambard Brunel | |
AskNature: Head bores through wood -- shipworm Nature Technology Database: The shipworm, a tunneling wizard that inspired shield tunneling (Japanese only) Japan Society of Civil Engineers: Doing great things with shield tunneling (Japanese only) |
photo credit | Like ... (plant or animal) |
What it is or does | |
Outcome | |
Natural process involved | |
Potential application for human society | |
Researcher or research organization | |
Information source |