Sea Otters

Sea Otters, belonging to the weasel family are unique creatures. While we proudly feel that instuments and techniques are solely of the mankind, this water –lover (this is the only otter that gives birth in water) carries a stone alongwith it.It keeps the stone on its chest and smashes the clam against it … to break open the shellfish and taste its flesh!

Insect Cyborgs

Science is really crazy ... or lets say science is all about turning crazy ideas into reality...and most of the time the outcomes strike us as awesome.
Living organisms use glucose as a source of energy...(Sounds familiar)
Biofuel cells .. (Not a new idea)
But How about this?
A biofuel cell was implanted in a living snail, which derives energy from the physiologically produced glucose of the snail... and here comes the icing.. the electrified snail regenerates the glucose used up...
The idea , no wonder, belongs to US Dept of Defence......
A bit scary to think of living with electrodes inserted in you, but then.....who knows what the future has in store for us?

animal defenses

This is something that i found strange.. take a look....


http://www.cracked.com/article_19184_the-8-most-disgusting-animal-defenses.html?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Science&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=feature_module

The Nature's web

The spider silk has been in news recently- the fibre being 5 times stronger than steel, apart from being malleable and ductile.Some of the interesting facts about the web proteins are:

• The spider eats its own web and recycles it for forming new, sticky webs
• The alignment of  two simple amino acids glycine and alanine are found to be responsible for the unusual mechanical properties.
• Bioengineers at Tufts University have created a new fusion protein that for the first time combines the toughness of spider silk with the intricate structure of silica. The resulting nanocomposite could be used in medical and industrial applications, such as growing bone tissue.( http://www.physorg.com/news70608222.html)
• Silkworms were genetically engineered to produce a hybrid of silkworm silk and artificial spider silk. ( http://www.kraiglabs.com/Spider-silk-created-9-29-2010.htm)
• Depositing metal ions using atomic layer deposition (ALD) onto spider silk yields a toughe and break- resistant material ( Lee 2009) 

Why this post on spider silk now? Well, it is not just the web..... A lot of similar instances where nature's simple  creations can put our latest technologies to shame.A whole branch of study is dedicated to this aspect. BIOMIMETICS...Inspirations drawn from the nature leading to the design of new products and processes...They range from artificially synthesized vitamins to nanorobotic antibodies that can hunt down bacteria. Seems nature has the ultimate word.....