Bio Mimetic Comp

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1. Introduction

One thing I have learned in a long lifethat all our science,measured against reality, is primitive and childlike.

-ALBERT EINSTEIN

As we all know that Engineers, scientists and business men are increasingly turning towards

nature for design inspiration. The field of Biomimetics, the application of methods and systems

found in nature to the engineering and technology, has spawned a number of innovations far

superior to what the human mind alone could have devised. The reason is simple. Humans,

through billions of years of trial and error, have produced effective solutions to innumerable

complex real-world problems. For example, gas-powered cars are only about 20 percent

efficient, that is, only 20 percent of the thermal-energy content of the gasoline is converted into

mechanical work.

Today, it is hard for a human to imitate nature. The machines mirror living beings. Biomimetic is

the science of copying the technology present in nature and emerging it for our better life style

and living. Due to our want of luxuries we have exploited the nature to its maximum that

humans try developing new technologies to replicate what is present in nature to our labs. There

are various kinds of technologies which man has hackneyed from nature. When designers first

made robotic arms, they had to unlearn what they knew about their own arms. The movement of

machine joints needn't be limited the way our elbows and knees are. With the combination of

mans skill and nature we have industrialized magnificent technologies called hi-fi technologies;

this includes running cars by the help of water. Bridge technologies are a technology that has

been copied from the attachment of muscles in our body. We've alsofailed to make submarines

that swim like fish, vehicles that move like animals, orcomputers that think like humans. The

reason is that nature does these things in ways that are multifarious to copy. Someday, we might

yet learn to fly with the grace and delicacy of a bird, or swim like a fish. It's much harder than it

looks to copy nature, but perhaps, someday, we shall ...

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2. Mimicking Nature

Bio mimesis: to mimic life, to imitate biological systems

Biomimetic as a science is growing leaps and crossing every boundary existed. We havedeveloped cars by seeing the speed in which an animal like cheetah can go. And even better we

have made cars that run on water rather than diesel and petrol this is also a part that we have

inherited from nature. All this is because of the research which has gone into the field of

Biomimetic.

2.1 Table Showing Manipulations

We have copied many technologies from nature and a tabulation of some the things are as shown

below.....

Our Invention Gods Creation

1.Camera(lens, focus, iris, retina) Eye(cornea curves to focus, iris, retina)

2.Microphone Eardrum

3.Amphitheatre shape Outer ear shape

4.Pump Heart

5.Valves Heart Valves

6.Plumbing and Hydraulic systems Circulatory System

7.Communication/telephone cables Spinal cord/nervous system

8.Ball Joint Shoulder Joint

9.Windshield viper/fluids Eyelids/Tears

10.Knife Incisor Teeth

11.Computer/Electronic circuitry Brain

12.Computer Program DNA

13.Bubble Level Inner ear tubes for balance

14.Woodwinds Voice box

15.Mortar and Pestle Molar Teeth

3. Technology from natural world

3.1. Terrestrial

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Engineers are in the business of solving problems. It's their job to find ways to achieve certain

outcomes. The problem might involve finding a way to build a skyscraper that can withstand

hurricane-force winds. Or it might be to discover a method to deliver a specific dosage of drugs

to a single cell in the human body.

Engineers often look to nature to see if there's already a solution to the problem they currently

face. Not only must we recognize the solution, but also be able to study, copy and enhance that

solution so that we can take advantage of it. There's a special word for this approach:

Biomimetics. Ultimately, the engineer's creation mimics the structure or function of a biological

entity.

The results can be awe-inspiring or something people routinely take for granted. But even the

basic inventions wouldn't have been possible if engineers hadn't paid close attention to the way

things work in nature. We'll take a look at four ways nature has inspired the technology we rely

upon, listed in no particular order.

These Four are:

3.1.1. Developing Artificial Intelligence3.1.2. Invading Cancer Cells

3.1.3. Sticking to Walls

3.1.4. Navigating Autonomously

3.1.1. Developing Artificial Intelligence

The brain is so complex that even the fastest supercomputer can't simulate it in real time.

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Artificial intelligence is a term that has been thrown around for decades. In the past, computers

were just powerful machines that could crunch enormous numbers. A computer could only

follow explicit instructions.

Today, engineers and computer scientists are trying to make the leap from computation to

thinking. They've met with some progress. In 2008, scientists used the Blue Gene L

supercomputer to simulate a mouse's brain. That might sound simple, but a brain -- even one

belonging to a virtual mouse -- is incredibly complex. So complex, in fact, that the powerful

computer could only run the simulation in bursts of 10 seconds.

The program took a series of measurements and used a genetic algorithm to extrapolate the basic

laws of physics. In the future, we may see machines capable of solving complex engineering

problems. We may even reach the point where computers design even more powerful machines.

(Fig 1)

3.1.2. Invading Cancer Cells

Nanotechnology scientists study viruses in the hopes of developing new treatments for diseaseslike cancer. There are teams of engineers, computer scientists and doctors who are working on

methods to cure cancer and other diseases on a cell-by-cell basis. One solution they're working

on involves designing delivery technologies on the nano scale. They're building medical nano

particles -- objects that are smaller than 100 nanometres in diameter. A nanometre is one-

billionth of a meter. In fact, the nano scale is so small that it's impossible to view nanoparticles

even with the aid of a light microscope. (Fig 2)

Creating a drug-delivery particle that can seek out a cancer cell, infiltrate it and deliver

medication exactly where it needs to go. By targeting just the cancer cells, doctors hope to

eliminate the disease while minimizing any side effects. Healthy cells would remain unaffected.

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3.1.3. Sticking to Walls

Since the dawn of time, man has searched for the ideal way to stick something to something else.

In ancient times, this may have involved hammering a large spike through the hide of a

mammoth to make the cave dwelling a little less draft. These days, engineers look to plants with

burrs or creatures like the gecko for inspiration. Back in 1941, Swiss engineer Georges de

Mestral was picking out burrs that had caught on his clothing and in his dog's fur. He placed a

burr under a microscope and noticed that it had tiny barbs that allowed it to attach to passing

creatures. The engineer came up with a brilliant plan -- create a material that used these tiny

barbs as a fastening device. That material is what we now call Velcro.

Then there's Gecko Tape, a material that uses nanoscopic hairs to cling to sheer surfaces. The

hairs mimic the ones you'd find on the feet of geckos. One day, scientists might be able to create

an entire suit using this material. That suit would allow the wearer to scale walls and perhaps

even walk across ceilings. Before long, we may be able to put in a call to our friendly

neighbourhood Spider-man. (Fig 3)

3.1.4. Navigating Autonomously

In the future, there will be robots. Whether they will cater to our every need or hunt us down in

packs. It remains to be seen. Either way, one feature robots will need to achieve their true

potential is autonomous navigation.

Most robots either require a pre-programmed route or simply react to the environment whenever

they encounter an obstacle. Very few can find their way from one point to another on their own.

Some engineers are trying to overcome this problem by studying ants. The Cataglyphis is an ant

found in the Sahara Desert. Unlike other ants, the Cataglyphis doesn't rely on pheromone trails

to navigate through its environment. Scientists believe that the ants use a combination of visual

piloting, path integration and systematic search. Engineers hope that by gaining a deeper

understanding of how creatures like the Cataglyphis navigate, they can build robots with similar

capabilities.

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4. Aerodynamics

4.1. Taking Flight

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In May 2004, a group of scientists and engineers published a scientific paper in the Physics of

Fluids journal. The team had built models of the pectoral flippers on a humpback whale. On one

model they included tubercles -- the bumps you'd find on an actual whale's flipper. On another

model they used a smooth surface.

They tested both models in a wind tunnel at the U.S. Naval Academy. Their tests showed that

the flipper with the tubercles saw an 8 percent improvement in lift. In addition, the flipper was

less likely to experience stall at steep wind angles and created up to 32 percent less drag.

4.2. Morphing wings

The RoboSwift is characterised by the continuously variable shape of its wings, known as

morphing' wings, which are modelled on the wings of the swift. These wings make the aircraft,

like its living model, very manoeuvrable and efficient. As a result, the RoboSwift is the first

aircraft in the world to have the wing properties of living birds. Wind tunnel tests have shown

that it can come remarkably close to the exceptional flying ability of the swift.

With a wingspan of approximately 50 cm and a weight of less than 100 g, the RoboSwift is a

good deal smaller than standard model aeroplanes. To gain elevation, it is equipped with a very

quiet electric motor with a propeller. The silhouette of the RoboSwift is similar to that of an

actual swift, which makes it less noticeable than other observation aircraft and helicopters. The

pilot is now being trained in birdlike flying behaviour, which will later include gliding flights.

During gliding flights, the motor is turned off and the propeller folds up so the aircraft can fly

even more quietly and save energy.

If equipped with micro-cameras that can observe in various directions, interesting applications

for the RoboSwift are conceivable. For example, in the future the researchers hope to be able to

observe wild birds from nearby without disturbing them by using birdlike aircraft such as the

RoboSwift. This would allow new forms of biological research to be conducted. It would also

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make it possible to perform inconspicuous surveillance of groups of people or vehicles (crowd

control). Bio-inspired'(Fig 4)

4.3. Bio-Inspired Wing Design

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... both! While aircraft have always borne a resemblance to their

feathered counterparts in the sky, new research at U of T is bringing the two even closer

together.(Fig 5)

4.3.1. Bird Sized Airplane

RoboSwift is a micro airplane fitted with shape shifting wings, inspired by the common swift,

one of nature's most efficient flyers. The micro airplane will have unprecedented wing

characteristics; the wing geometry as well as the wing surface area can be adjusted continuously.

This makes RoboSwift more manoeuvrable and efficient. Resembling the common swift,

RoboSwift will be able to go undetected while using its three micro cameras to perform

surveillance on vehicles and people on the ground. Furthermore, it can be employed to observe

swifts in flight, thus enabling new biological research.(Fig 6,6.1)

4.3.2. Morphing

RoboSwift will have a span of 50 cm span and 80 grams weight. It can follow a group of swifts

up to 20 minutes and perform ground surveillance up to one hour thanks to its lithium-polymer

batteries that power the electromotor, which drives a propeller. The propeller folds back during

gliding to minimize air drag. The unique morphing-wing design features are taken from the

swift. Morphing means the wings can be swept back in flight by folding feathers over each other,thus changing the wing shape and reducing the wing surface area.

RoboSwift also steers by morphing its wings. Doing so, the micro airplane can perform

optimally, flying efficiently and highly manoeuvrable at very high and very low speeds, just like

the swift. The students found out that using only four feathers, much less than the bird uses,

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already provides the wing with sufficient morphing capacity; this feature makes actual

production of the design feasible. Steering RoboSwift is done by asymmetrically morphing the

wings. Sweeping one wing back further than the other creates a difference in lift on the wings

that is used to roll and turn the micro plane in the air.

5. Technology from Hydro

5.1. Imitating sharks

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This is due to a special type of scales, called placoid ("slate-like") (photo: scales of great white

shark), very similar structurally to teeth and carrying tiny ridge-like structures. The tiny ridges

arranged parallel to the swimming direction- known as "riblets" - decrease drag in water,

explaining the amazing speed that some sharks reach with minimal effort.

A new coating system is to imitate this "riblet effect", known to scientists for more than 50

years, in order to improve the aerodynamics of vehicles, ships and aircraft. Some films applied

to the outer surfaces would reduce frictional resistance and bring down fuel consumption.

(fig7,7.1) But these films can only be applied to flat or convex surfaces, while bodies whose

aerodynamic or hydrodynamic properties have been optimized tend to have a more complex

shape.

The alternative to film coating is to texture the surface itself with riblets. However, none of the

laser or milling techniques used so far are suitable for components that have to be painted, as the

paint would immediately flow into the tiny grooves and fill them.

A new prototype combines a suitable lacquer and the technology for applying it. An

approximately 20 cm wide transparent silicone film with a riblet pattern serves as a "stamp",

capable of printing patterns with a resolution of a few nanometres, similar to those found in

holograms. The film runs over three flexible rollers and can thus adapt its shape to hug uneven

surfaces. From the front, a new type of resin lacquer is continuously sprayed onto the film and

transferred with the help of the rollers onto the surface to be treated. A UV lamp then turns hard

the resin in a fraction of a second. A field trial will soon show whether the lacquer fulfils its

promise in practice. With this technology we can apply any other micro and nano structures to

lacquered surfaces. Shark scales are made of a hard material called dentin. Basically, the scales

are tiny teeth. They all point backward, so a shark would feel smooth if you dared to stroke it

from head to tail, but rough if you ran your hand the other way.

Studies have found that the scales act as armour for a shark and also create tiny vortices that

reduce drag to make them faster. The scales also allow sharks to swim silently compared to other

fish that generate considerable noise when they ply the water. The design has proved useful to

humans in many ways.

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5.1.1. Military interest

In separate work funded in part by the U.S. Navy, scientists at the University of Florida have

developed a similar coating, made of tiny diamond-shaped scales that flex in and out to impedethe growth of organisms. The algae's spores had a very hard time attaching to the surface. While

the high-tech skins could reduce costs for the shipping industry, they could prove a strategic

advantage for the military.

5.2.'Penguin Power'Propels the Navy

Engineers have tried for more than a century to improve on the simple but inefficient ship's

propeller. The latest effort is based on penguin flippers. Researchers have built a propulsionsystem that utilized two oscillating blades that produce thrust by sweeping back and forth in

opposite directions. A 12-foot scale model of the "penguin boat" has shown promise in early lab

trials. The blades achieved about 87% efficiency, compared with 70% in conventional ships -

which translates into lower fuel consumption.

Based on laboratory results, penguin boat is capable of moving as fast as conventional propeller

driven craft - and it may be easier to manoeuvre. All this information interests the U.S. Navy,

which supports the project through the Office of Naval Research. Just as a penguin or sea turtle

are a rigid body with fish-like flapping fins, Proteus is a boat that propels itself with two

oscillating foils.

The Proteus project is the challenge of pragmatically applying highly efficient natural fish

propulsion technologies to conventional vessels. One hundred and fifty million years of

evolution has enabled fish to develop extremely efficient technologies for aquatic propulsion and

manoeuvring.

Success of Proteus means saving millions of marine transport dollars and subsequent

environmental damage, autonomous ocean research vessels covering more territory, and military

submarines evading their foe because their "fish wake" is difficult to detect. An extensive

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literature review and discussions with marine hydrodynamics experts showed that efficient

propulsion may be obtained by the oscillation of a foil without an undulating body. For example,

large whales and other oscillating foil propelled animals requiring high efficiency employ the

thin uniform mode of swimming, which consists primarily of tail oscillation. Other animals, such

as marine turtles or penguins, obtain efficient propulsion by pectoral flipper oscillation alone.

(Fig-8, 8.1)

6. Technologies present in general

Sharks have micro-grooves in their skin but swim very efficiently. The physics principle is not

well known because a smooth skin should have the least drag, but the Grooved skin is superior.

Boat and aircraft researchers are using plastic from MMM with similar microgrooves that has 2-

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5% less drag and has done better in yacht racing and Olympic scull racing. Boeing has tried on

some aircraft.

i. Bats - possess sophisticated echolocation that involves signal processing and frequency

modulation for collision avoidance. They can even discriminate the direction of travel of

moving objects, such as prey.

Human Application: aircraft collision detection and avoidance

ii. Fireflies utilize compounds to emit cold light that is so efficient it emits no heat.

Human Application: design light emitters that are more energy efficient. The best

LEDs are inferior.

iii. Geckos have an ability to stick to walls involving an exquisite design involving a

physics force at the micro meter level that is only barely known and never utilized.

Human Application: new types of glues

iv. Horses - by recreating part of a unique leg bone in the horse, researchers are designing

stronger materials for planes and spacecraft.

v. Mussels - The secret of how mussels glue themselves to rocks, ropes and boats has been

unpicked by chemists. The discovery could lead to new surgical adhesives or paints that

stop barnacles from sticking to the underside of boats.

vi. Silk Spiders makes a fibre that is stronger than steel per unit weight, even better thanman-made Kevlar. The army is now trying to synthesize artificial silk to make

bulletproof vests from the chemicals but cannot make the fibres solid like spiders can.

6.1. Ballooning

Ballooning is a term used for the mechanical kiting that many, especially smaller

species of spiders, as well as certain mites and some caterpillars use to disperse through the air.

Many small spiders use silk to lift themselves off a surface or use the silk as an anchor in mid

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air. Biologists also apply the term "balloon silk" to the threads that mechanically lift and drag

systems. A spider can be taken up into a jet stream, which depends on its mass,

posture, the convection air current, drag of silk and parachute to float and travel high up into

the upper atmosphere.

Young spiders move away from the place they hatched by sending out a strand of their silk

(known as gossamer) and riding it on the wind. They look like little balloons in the air, and what

they do is actually called ballooning. (Fig-9, 9.1)

7. Hi-Fi Technology

7.1. Mimicking cockroaches

Most people think of cockroaches as household pests. But for a group of American scientists,

roaches are a source of robotic inspiration.

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Cockroaches may not be man's best friend, but they do have their redeeming qualities. While

they may not be welcomed in garages and pantries, they are gaining favour in the labs of

biologists and mechanical engineers who are studying their anatomy with hopes of building

running robots with the same speed, stability and versatility. Such robots soon may prove

important for environmental sensing, space exploration, military uses and more.(fig -10,10.1)

7.2. Mimic of Android

Another thing that makes sprawl robots unique is the technique used to manufacture them, called

shape deposition manufacturing. With this method, materials are layered and shaped before a

new layer is added, to ensure greater design precision and overall quality. A softer, more flexible

substance can be embedded inside a stiffer one to encase functional parts, such as motors and

electrical wires, to create a working hip joint or other biomimetic part.

Although the sprawl robots are still in the research phase, their developers say they will prove

useful in many fields, from exploring potential logging areas to searching the rubble of disaster

scenes. In areas that are too dangerous or too small for humans to enter, small, legged robots

could be used instead. Sensors can be placed on them to search for anything from motion to

chemicals. The robots also could be used in unmanned space exploration. "The smaller they are,

the cheaper it is to put them in a shuttle and send them up there," as told by a researcher. In thenext few years, he predicted, companies will start creating prototypes using the technology of

sprawl robots.

This is the last year of a five-year program for the sprawl robots. Next year, researchers hope to

begin a new program that will focus on incorporating new technologies.

7.3. Cars operating on water

Has anybody thought about running their cars using water rather than petrol or diesel? Well, fuel

cells may make this fantasy a reality. They are certainly much cleaner when compared to

conventional fossil fuels as their only waste product is water, and although the technology

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behind fuel cells is still in its infancy, it promises to provide a solution to the problem of fuelling

the next generation of automobiles. (fig-11.1)

The concept of fuel cells was first developed by German scientist Christian Friedrich Schnbein

in the early nineteenth century, although NASA was one of the first to use it commercially

during their space programme Project Gemini. The technology has evolved over the past 50

years to now being at the forefront of helping to solve the worlds thirst for fossil fuels.

Fuel cells are just like normal batteries, except they have a continuous flow in and out. Unit cells

form the core of fuel cells, which convert the chemical energy of the fuel into electrical energy.

The fuel is typically Hydrogen and the oxidant is usually Oxygen. There several types of fuel

cells, including:

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Solid Oxide fuel cells

Molten Carbon fuel cells

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cellsare the most promising of all the fuel cell types and are

the most popular for use in cars and other devices such as mobile phones. There are four basic

elements in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells;

An Anode,

A Cathode,

An electrolyte membrane

A catalyst such as Platinum.

In cars, pressurised Hydrogen enters through the anode and the Oxygen is sucked in from the

ambient air, thus the only requirement is pressurised Hydrogen, which is a major research area as

storing the Hydrogen safely is a concern. Each fuel cell generates a voltage of 0.7 volts which is

quite small, but when a series of these are put together they can produce much higher voltages

and when combined with an electrical drive system they can power the car. (Fig 11.2)

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power mark. Through its international partnerships, the UK is well placed to compete effectively

in the global arena.

There is lot of work to be done to make fuel cells economically viable but with worldwide

support and cooperation, the goal to have a viable fuel cell-based energy system may be a reality

in a decade.

7.4 Muscle technology

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge - Muscles are strong, tensile part of our body which is being used in the

building of bridge. The steel cables are connected in the same way the muscles are knitted in the

body. With that small beautiful science of our we have build the worlds largest bridge which is

the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge. As the longest suspension bridge in the world at 12,831 feet,

engineers had no easy task erecting this massive bridge. Linking Kobe to Awaji Island in Japan,

this bridge needed to be able to withstand high winds and even earthquakes. Because of this,

engineers designed the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge with a two-hinged stiffening girder system. This

technology allowed the bridge to withstand winds of 178 mph and earthquakes measuring up to

8.5 on the Richter scale. The flexibility of this bridge allows it to expand and contract up to 6

feet in one day. (fig 12.1,12.2)

8. Plagiarism of Nature Saves Energy

New technologies that mimic the way insects, plants and animals overcome engineering

problems could help reduce our dependence on energy, according to new research published in

the Royal Society journal Interface. When faced with engineering difficulties, such as lifting a

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load or coping with extremes of heat, up to 70 per cent of man-made technologies manipulate

energy, often increasing the amount used, in order to resolve the problem. However, new

research which has compared how nature and man-made technologies overcome similar

problems has shown that only 5 per cent of natural machines' rely on energy in the same way.

Instead, insects, plants, birds and mammals rely on the structure and organisation of their body

parts and behaviour; the solutions to problems are already built in.

8.1 Bionic cars

Design of new Mercedes-Benz bionic car inspired by fish body shape DaimlerChrysler is using a

new concept vehicle to examine the great potential of bionics for automobile development, and

has achieved outstanding results for fuel consumption and emissions with a combination of

pioneering diesel engine technology and innovative emission control methods. The Mercedes-

Benz bionic car study will have its world premiere at this year's DaimlerChrysler Innovation

Symposium in Washington. (Fig 13)

8.2. Models of light weight strength

Toucan Beaks Are Models of Lightweight Strength As a boy growing up in Brazil 40 years ago,

Marc A. Meyers marvelled at the lightweight toughness of toucan beaks that he occasionally

found on the forest floor. Now a materials scientist and professor of makers of airplanes and

automobiles may benefit from the first ever detailed engineering analysis of toucan beaks

conducted in his lab.

8.3.Bio mimicry

Bio mimicry Employed by MIT Nanotechnology Researchers The ocean is a perilous

environment for a soft-bodied creature like a sea snail, so nature gives it an advanced

nanostructure armour system that is stiff and strong yet lightweight. It's called a shell.

Understanding the fundamental design principles of natural armour systems like shells may help

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engineers design improved body armour systems for humans in perilous situations, like soldiers

and police officers. At MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, researchers are studying the

structure and mechanics of the tough inner layer of mollusc shells, called "nacre" or mother-of-

pearl, at extremely small, nanometre-length scales.

9. What Happens If Over Dependant on Nature

The theories that climate changes and global warming are caused by humans - known by

scientists as "Anthropogenic Climate Change Theory and Global Warming Theory" - statethat

mankind has introduced such serious pollution to the Earth that our planet's own natural

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processes can no longer make corrections, as they were once able to do, to maintain a long-term

stable global climate. The theories state that the serious pollution results directly from

mankind's inventions of industrial and engineering processes, along with de-forestation to

produce timber and farmland for growing crops to feed animals and people. These continuing

activities by human beings cause excessive and dangerous levels of pollution to be added to the

Earth's atmosphere and to its surface.

9.1. Effect on climate

The result is that theEarth's climate now varies considerably in a new way which did not occur

before humans introduced such severe pollution to the Earth. One of the effects of these

variations in climate is that the glaciers are now melting so fast that ocean levels must raise and,

as a result, massive areas of the Earth's surface will be flooded, including many of the coastal

and river delta land areas which are currently inhabited by humans. No matter what names

people choose to label other people - hoaxers, deniers, sceptics, whatever -regarding or

nowadays "global climate change"!, major physical processes and events have been happening to

the Earth throughout its long history and will keep on happening.

Some physical processes are continuous, taking place over very long periods of time. Other

physical processes take very little time by comparison: we humans have chosen to call some of

those "catastrophic events" because they seem to have taken place with hardly any warning.

For the past 4,000 million years the outer crust of the Earth has been changing. Its tectonic plates

continually move around forming continents which then break up and re-form in other

configurations. The friction caused by the sliding and subduction of the edges of plates against

one another causes mountain chains to be thrown up and fiery volcanoes to spew out new soil

and Smokey, noxious gases which pollute the atmosphere.65 million years ago the dinosaurs

were wiped out by a major event. It was probably a huge meteorite from outer space which

suddenly hit the Earth. The resulting air pollution caused thousands of years of continuing global

darkness and bitter cold because heat and light from our Sun could not reach the surface until the

pollution was eventually absorbed by the Earth.

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10. How to Stop Over Dependence on Nature

Human beings live in the realm of nature; they are constantly surrounded by it and interact with

it. The most intimate part of nature in relation to man is the biosphere, the thin envelope

embracing the earth, its soil cover, and everything else that is alive. Our environment, although

outside us, has within us not only its image, as something both actually and imaginatively

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reflected, but also its material energy and information channels and processes. This presence of

nature in an ideal, materialised, energy and information form in man's Self is so organic that

when these external natural principles disappear, man himself disappears from life. If we lose

nature's image, we lose our life.

Everything, from each separate cell of a living organism to the organism as a whole, generates

bio energy. Just as the bio energy of the separate cell goes beyond its boundaries, so the bio

energy of the organs and the organism as a whole extends beyond their boundaries, forming a

luminous aura. As the ancient acupuncture therapists intuitively established, bio energy and bio

information move along special channels forming a complex structure, in which all the

components of the living whole interact both with themselves and with the external world.

Energy-information interactions are a vital dimension of any living system, including that of

man as the highest stage in the hierarchy of the structures of existence known to science.

Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he

drinks, the food he eats, and the flow of energy and information. And many of his troubles are a

response to the natural processes and changes in the weather, intensified irradiation of cosmic

energy, and the magnetic storms that rage around the earth. In short, we are connected with

nature by "blood" ties and we cannot live outside nature

Disturbances occur in the nervous system and the blood vessels are more liable to suffer from

spasms. At such times the number of road accidents increases, and so on. It has been noted that

there is dependence between any weakening in the Earth's magnetic field and acceleration of

growth, and vice versa, growth is retarded when the magnetic field becomes stronger. The

corpuscular, radioactive irradiations, cosmic dust, and gas molecules which fill all universal

space are also powerful creators and regulators of human existence in biological life. The

universe is in a state of dynamic balance and is constantly receiving various forms of energy.

Some forms are on the increase or decrease, while others experience periodic fluctuations. Each

of us is a sensitive resonator, a kind of echo of the energy flows of the universe. So it would be

quite wrong to regard only the energy of the sun as the source of life on earth and humanity as its

highest manifestation. The energy of distant cosmic bodies, such as the stars and the nebulae, has

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a tremendous influence on the life of man as an organism. For this reason our organisms adjust

their existence and development to these flows of external energy. The human organism has

developed receptors that utilise this energy or protect themselves from it, if it is harmful. It may

be said, if we think of human beings as a high-grade biological substance, that they are

accumulators of intense energy drives of the whole universe. We are only a response to the

vibrations of the elemental forces of outer space, which bring us into unity with their

oscillations. Every beat of the organic pulse of our existence is coordinated with the pulse of the

cosmic heart. Cosmic rhythms exert a substantial influence on the energy processes in the human

organism, which also has its own rhythmic beat.

Man's influence on nature. Man is not only a dweller in nature, he also transforms it. From the

very beginning of his existence, and with increasing intensity human society has adapted

environing nature and made all kinds of incursions into it. An enormous amount of human

labour has been spent on transforming nature. Humanity converts nature's wealth into the means

of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and

compelled it

to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and

animals to different climatic conditions; he has also changed the shape and climate of his

habitation and transformed plants and animals. If we were to strip the geographical environmentof the properties created by the labour of many generations, contemporary society would be

unable to exist in such primeval conditions.

At present the interaction between man and nature is determined by the fact that in addition to

the two factors of change in the biosphere that have been operating for millions of yearsthe

biogenetic and the a biogeneticthere has been added yet another factor which is acquiring

decisive significancethe techno genetic. As a result, the previous dynamic balance between

man and nature and between nature and society as a whole has shown ominous signs of breaking

down. The problem of the so-called replaceable resources of the biosphere has become

particularly acute. It is getting more and more difficult to satisfy the needs of human beings and

society even for such a substance, for example, as fresh water.

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The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also becoming increasingly complex. The threat

of a global ecological crisis hangs over humanity like the sword of Damocles. His keen

awareness of this fact has led man to pose the question of switching from the irresponsible

destructive and polluting subjugation of nature to a reasonable harmonious interaction in the

"technology-man-biosphere" system. Whereas nature once frightened us and made us tremble

with her mysterious vastness and the uncontrollable energy of its elemental forces, it now

frightens us with its limitations and a new-found fragility, the delicacy of its plastic mechanisms.

We are faced quite uncompromisingly with the problem of how to stop, or at least moderate, the

destructive effect of technology on nature. In socialist societies the problem is being solved on a

planned basis, but under capitalism spontaneous forces still operate that despoils nature's riches.

Unforeseen paradoxes have arisen in the man-nature relationship. One of them is the paradox of

saturation. For millions of years the results of man's influence on nature were relatively

insignificant. The biosphere loyally served man as a source of the means of subsistence and a

reservoir for the products of his life activity. The contradiction between these vital principles

was eliminated by the fact that the relatively modest scale of human productive activity allowed

nature to assimilate the waste from labour processes. But as time went on, the growing volume

of waste and its increasing harmful properties destroyed the balance. The human feedback into

nature became increasingly disharmonised. Human activity at various times has involved a gooddeal of irrational behaviour. Labour, which started as a specifically human means of rational

survival in the environment, now damages the biosphere on an increasing scale and on the

boomerang principleaffecting man himself, his bodily and mental organisation. Under the

influence of uncoordinated production processes affecting the biosphere, the chemical properties

of water, air, the soil, flora and fauna have acquired a negative shift. Experts maintain that 60 per

cent of the pollution in the atmosphere, and the most toxic, comes from motor transport, 20 per

cent from power stations, and 20 per cent from other types of industry.

All these spheres are and must remain in a natural state of balance. Any excessive upsetting of

this balance must be to the detriment not only of normal existence but of any existence at all,

even human vegetation. If humanity does not succeed in preventing damage to the biosphere, we

run the risk of encountering the paradox of replacement, when the higher plants and animals may

be ousted by the lower. As we know, many insects, bacteria, and lichens are, thanks to their

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relatively simple structure, extremely flexible in adapting to powerful chemical and even

physical factors, such as radiation. Mutating under the influence of an unfavourable

environment, they continue their modified existence. Man, on the other hand, "nature's crown",

because of the exceptional complexity of his bodily and mental organisation and the miraculous

subtlety and fragility of his genetic mechanism may, when faced with a relatively small change

in the chemical and physical factors of the environment, either produce unviable progeny or even

perish altogether.

The man-nature relation, the crisis of the ecological situation is a global problem. Its solution lies

in the plane of rational and humane, that is to say, wise organisation, both of production itself

and care for mother nature, not just by individuals, enterprises or countries, but by all humanity,

linked with a clear awareness of our planetary responsibility for the ecological consequences of a

civilisation that has reached a state of crisis. One of the ways to deal with the crisis situation in

the "man-nature" system is to use such resources as solar energy, the power of winds, the riches

of the seas and oceans and other, as yet unknown natural forces of the universe. At one time in

his evolution man was a gatherer. He used the ready-made gifts of nature. This was how human

existence began. Perhaps even today it would be wise to resort to this method, but on a quite

different level, of course. The human being cannot restrict himself to gathering, any more than

he could in primitive times. But such a shift in attitude could at least abate the destructive andpolluting principle in civilisation.

As cybernetic methods and principles in the various fields of knowledge and practice develop,

control theory has been widely applied in many spheres. Its aim is to ensure the optimal function

of a system. A humanely oriented mind should be able to transfer the idea of optimality and

harmony to ecological phenomena. In their production activity people are mastering more and

more new materials and learning to replace one with another. In the long term this could lead, as

the alchemists once believed, to production on the principle of everything out of everything.

Moreover, our planet has an active balance, it loses less substance in the upper layers of the

atmosphere than it receives from outer space. It would therefore appear that the amount of

substance available as a whole will not place any radical limitation on material production.

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Losses of living energy from our organism are constantly compensated by various forms of

energy flowing from the vast expanses of the universe. We need not simply energy, such as

electromagnetic radiation or heat, but radiant energy of the finest quality. The struggle for the

existence of living creatures, including man, is a struggle not so much for the elements that

compose his organismthey are abundantly available in the air, water and undergroundnot

for solar energy in its direct, electromagnetic radiation, but for the energy that is captured by the

mechanisms of photosynthesis and exists in the form of organic, particularly plant structures.

So the biosphere is not a chaotic conglomeration of natural phenomena and formations. By a

seemingly objective logic everything is taken into account and everything mutually adapts with

the same obedience to proportion and harmony that we discern in the harmonious motion of the

heavenly bodies or the integral paintings of the great masters. With a sense of wonder we see

revealed before us a picture of the magnificent universe, a universe whose separate parts are

interconnected by the most subtle threads of kinship, forming the harmonious whole which the

ancient philosophers surmised when they viewed the world with their integrating, intuitively

perceptive gaze. We are part of the ecological environment and it is a part of the universe. It

contains myriads of stars and the nearest of them is the Sun. The Sun is the master of Earth. We

are, in a certain sense, its children. Not for nothing did the rich imagination on whose wings

mankind flies ever further and higher in the orbit of civilisation portray the Sun in ancientlegends as the highest deity.

11. Conclusion

Even in the most sophisticated urbanized area of a megacity, every human being is utterly

dependent on the generosity of nature. We are being reminded of it daily from the weather

reports heat waves, droughts, floods, forest fires and hurricanes to the quality of our water,

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air and food and the spread of diseases like the West Nile virus and much more.

In a big urban setting like Toronto, one can live totally in air-conditioned comfort, from the

apartment building to the car stored in its garage to the garage of a downtown business building

and the office itself. Often the buildings are directly connected to theatres and shopping malls, so

one can live for days and nights without ever actually going outside. Who has to worry about the

seasons, time of day or weather conditions?

So we lapse into forgetting our biological nature and it becomes easy to think we are a different

kind of species because of our intelligence. After all, what other species has ever created cell

phones, computers, jet planes or television? Nor are we restricted to a specific habitat as are

most other creatures because we learn to exploit the resources of our surroundings in

ecosystems as varied as desert, arctic tundra, tropical rainforests, coral islands and prairie

grasslands. Having created machines that confer enormous muscle power, we erect structures

that reach to the skies, route subway trains far underground, explore the deepest ocean trenches,

search for life in other parts of the cosmos and on having used natures ideas in developing

artificial object that has brought mankind to a level which is very much greater than any other

species on earth.

In forgetting our biological roots, we have lost that sense of connectedness with everything else

in our surroundings. We no longer sense that everything we do has repercussions. Driving an

SUV in the city, driving five blocks instead of walking, or buying fresh strawberries or tomatoes

in winter, all have repercussions for weather and climate around the world, but we arent aware

of them. Indeed, every item we purchase that comes from distant parts of the planet, every

economic transaction, has consequences for the planet and all life on it. But few think about it.

We forget a simple truth that an Indian from the heart of the Amazon understands the Earth is

the source of everything and it is finite.

12. Bibliography

Some of the books that have been referred are as given below:

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Science and Technology by Steave Nash

Chasing Nature by Ram Murthy

Extreme Engineering and Rapid Science by Zon Chutsky

Shark Skin for Airliners by Steven Ashley

Some of the websites referred are as given below:

www.google.com/biomimetics

www.biomimetics.com

www.biomimicry.com

www.wikipedia.com/mimicking

www.wikipedia.com/terrestrial +technology

www.brainboost.com

www.brittannica.com

www.worldbook.com

www.encylopedia.com/mimicking+nature

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Bio Mimetic Comp