长篇阅读之科技篇:科技与自然1
文章来源: 文章作者: 发布时间:2007-09-17 02:49 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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Technology that imitates nature
Biomimetics: Engineers are increasingly taking a leaf out of nature's book when looking for solutions to design problems
AFTER taking his dog for a walk one day in the early 1940s, George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, became curious about the seeds of the burdock plant that had attached themselves to his clothes and to the dog's fur. Under a microscope, he looked closely at the hook-and-loop system that the seeds have evolved to hitchhike on passing animals and aid pollination1, and he realised that the same approach could be used to join other things together. The result was Velcr a product that was arguably more than three billion years in the making, since that is how long the natural mechanism2 that inspired it took to evolve.
Velcro is probably the most famous and certainly the most successful example of biological mimicry3, or “biomimetics”. In fields from robotics to materials science, technologists are increasingly borrowing ideas from nature, and with good reason: nature's designs have, by definition, stood the test of time, so it would be foolish to ignore them. Yet transplanting natural designs into man-made technologies is still a hit-or-miss affair.

Engineers depend on biologists to discover interesting mechanisms4 for them to exploit, says Julian Vincent, the director of the Centre for Biomimetic and Natural Technologies at the University of Bath in England. So he and his colleagues have been working on a scheme to enable engineers to bypass the biologists and tap into nature's ingenuity5 directly, via a database of “biological patents”. The idea is that this database will let anyone search through a wide range of biological mechanisms and properties to find natural solutions to technological6 problems.
 
How not to reinvent the wheel
Surely human intellect, and the deliberate application of design knowledge, can devise better mechanisms than the mindless, random7 process of evolution? Far from it. Over billions of years of trial and error, nature has devised effective solutions to all sorts of complicated real-world problems. Take the slippery task of controlling a submersible vehicle, for example. Using propellers8, it is incredibly difficult to make refined movements. But Nekton Research, a company based in Durham, North Carolina, has developed a robot fish called Madeleine that manoeuvres using fins9 instead.
In some cases, engineers can spend decades inventing and perfecting a new technology, only to discover that nature beat them to it. The Venus flower basket, for example, a kind of deep-sea sponge, has spiny10 skeletal outgrowths that are remarkably11 similar, both in appearance and optical properties, to commercial optical fibres, notes Joanna Aizenberg, a researcher at Lucent Technology's Bell Laboratories in New Jersey12. And sometimes the systems found in nature can make even the most advanced technologies look primitive13 by comparison, she says.
The skeletons of brittlestars, which are sea creatures related to starfish and sea urchins14, contain thousands of tiny lenses that collectively form a single, distributed eye. This enables brittlestars to escape predators15 and distinguish between night and day. Besides having unusual optical properties and being very small—each is just one-twentieth of a millimetre in diameter—the lenses have another trick of particular relevance16 to micro-optical systems. Although the lenses are fixed17 in shape, they are connected via a network of fluid-filled channels, containing a light-absorbing pigment18. The creature can vary the contrast of the lenses by controlling this fluid. The same idea can be applied19 in man-made lenses, says Dr Aizenberg. “These are made from silicon20 and so cannot change their properties,” she says. But by copying the brittlestar's fluidic system, she has been able to make biomimetic lens arrays with the same flexibility21.
Another demonstration22 of the power of biomimetics comes from the gecko. This lizard's ability to walk up walls and along ceilings is of much interest, and not only to fans of Spider-Man. Two groups of researchers, one led by Andre Geim at Manchester University and the other by Ron Fearing at the University of California, Berkeley, have independently developed ways to copy the gecko's ability to cling to walls. The secret of the gecko's success lies in the tiny hair-like structures, called setae, that cover its feet. Instead of secreting23 a sticky substance, as you might expect, they owe their adhesive24 properties to incredibly weak intermolecular attractive forces. These van der Waals forces, as they are known, which exist between any two adjacent objects, arise between the setae and the wall to which the gecko is clinging. Normally such forces are negligible, but the setae, with their spatula-like tips, maximise the surface area in contact with the wall. The weak forces, multiplied across thousands of setae, are then sufficient to hold the lizard's weight.


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1 pollination FOGxH     
n.授粉
参考例句:
  • The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
  • Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉,谷物的长势就会受阻。
2 mechanism zCWxr     
n.机械装置;机构,结构
参考例句:
  • The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
  • The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。
3 mimicry oD0xb     
n.(生物)拟态,模仿
参考例句:
  • One of his few strengths was his skill at mimicry.他为数不多的强项之一就是善于模仿。
  • Language learning usually necessitates conscious mimicry.一般地说,学习语言就要进行有意识的摹仿。
4 mechanisms d0db71d70348ef1c49f05f59097917b8     
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用
参考例句:
  • The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 ingenuity 77TxM     
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
参考例句:
  • The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
  • I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
6 technological gqiwY     
adj.技术的;工艺的
参考例句:
  • A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
  • Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
7 random HT9xd     
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动
参考例句:
  • The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
8 propellers 6e53e63713007ce36dac451344bb87d2     
n.螺旋桨,推进器( propeller的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The water was thrashing and churning about under the propellers. 水在螺旋桨下面打旋、翻滚。 来自辞典例句
  • The ship's propellers churned the waves to foam. 轮船的推进器将海浪搅出泡沫。 来自辞典例句
9 fins 6a19adaf8b48d5db4b49aef2b7e46ade     
[医]散热片;鱼鳍;飞边;鸭掌
参考例句:
  • The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关,与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
  • Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句
10 spiny 3F9zU     
adj.多刺的,刺状的;n.多刺的东西
参考例句:
  • This is the Asiatic ornamental shrub with spiny branches and pink blossoms.这就是亚洲的一种观赏灌木,具有多刺的枝和粉红色的花。
  • Stay away from a spiny cactus.远离多刺仙人掌。
11 remarkably EkPzTW     
ad.不同寻常地,相当地
参考例句:
  • I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
  • He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。
12 jersey Lp5zzo     
n.运动衫
参考例句:
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
13 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
14 urchins d5a7ff1b13569cf85a979bfc58c50045     
n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 );淘气鬼;猬;海胆
参考例句:
  • Some dozen barefooted urchins ganged in from the riverside. 几十个赤足的顽童从河边成群结队而来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • People said that he had jaundice and urchins nicknamed him "Yellow Fellow." 别人说他是黄胆病,孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
15 predators 48b965855934a5395e409c1112d94f63     
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面)
参考例句:
  • birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
  • The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》
16 relevance gVAxg     
n.中肯,适当,关联,相关性
参考例句:
  • Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
  • Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。
17 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
18 pigment gi0yg     
n.天然色素,干粉颜料
参考例句:
  • The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
  • Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。
19 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
20 silicon dykwJ     
n.硅(旧名矽)
参考例句:
  • This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
  • A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。
21 flexibility vjPxb     
n.柔韧性,弹性,(光的)折射性,灵活性
参考例句:
  • Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
  • The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。
22 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
23 secreting 47e7bdbfbae077baace25c92a8fda97d     
v.(尤指动物或植物器官)分泌( secrete的现在分词 );隐匿,隐藏
参考例句:
  • It is also an endocrine gland secreting at least two important hormones. 它也是一种内分泌腺,至少分泌二种重要的激素。 来自辞典例句
  • And some calcite-secreting organisms also add magnesium to the mix. 有些分泌方解石的生物,会在分泌物中加入镁。 来自互联网
24 adhesive CyVzV     
n.粘合剂;adj.可粘着的,粘性的
参考例句:
  • You'll need a strong adhesive to mend that chair. 你需要一种粘性很强的东西来修理那把椅子。
  • Would you give me an adhesive stamp?请给我一枚带胶邮票好吗?
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