The
Namib Desert in southern Africa is an arid place, receiving as little
as 1.3cm of rainfall a year. But even in these inhospitable conditions,
life still survives - and there's a lot we can learn from it!
The Namib desert beetle is a beautiful example of how organisms can
adapt to such a harsh environment. The hardened shell that hides its
wings is covered in tiny bumps and indents, with very
different
properties - while the peaks of the bumps are hydrophilic, the indents
are covered with a hydrophobic wax material. When a foggy dawn comes -
an event that only occurs six times a month - the beetle tilts forward
and captures minuscule droplets on its shell. These droplets accumulate
on the hydrophilic bumps, and when they become heavy enough they trickle
down the beetle's shell straight into its mouth. Without such an
effective way of gaining water, the Namib desert beetle could not
survive.
Now a US start-up, NBD Nano, is taking tips from this
beetle in the hopes of providing a renewable water supply to people
living in the driest regions of the world. The team plans to create a
similar hydrophobic-hydrophilic mechanism in bottles so they can draw
moisture from the air. They are far from alone in looking to nature for
inspiration - a whole new field (biomimicry) has been built around this
ethos.
Though this project is still in its early stages, the
Namib desert beetle has already inspired award-winning designs (see
below). Nature has had over 3 billion years to create effective
solutions to an abundance of problems (water shortages being only one),
and we can learn so much when we understand how organisms have evolved
to deal with these issues.
Photo credit: ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
http://bit.ly/TpqmFX
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
http://
The Namib desert beetle previously inspired the Airdrop water harvester: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
The
Namib Desert in southern Africa is an arid place, receiving as little
as 1.3cm of rainfall a year. But even in these inhospitable conditions,
life still survives - and there's a lot we can learn from it!
The Namib desert beetle is a beautiful example of how organisms can adapt to such a harsh environment. The hardened shell that hides its wings is covered in tiny bumps and indents, with very
The Namib desert beetle is a beautiful example of how organisms can adapt to such a harsh environment. The hardened shell that hides its wings is covered in tiny bumps and indents, with very
different
properties - while the peaks of the bumps are hydrophilic, the indents
are covered with a hydrophobic wax material. When a foggy dawn comes -
an event that only occurs six times a month - the beetle tilts forward
and captures minuscule droplets on its shell. These droplets accumulate
on the hydrophilic bumps, and when they become heavy enough they trickle
down the beetle's shell straight into its mouth. Without such an
effective way of gaining water, the Namib desert beetle could not
survive.
Now a US start-up, NBD Nano, is taking tips from this beetle in the hopes of providing a renewable water supply to people living in the driest regions of the world. The team plans to create a similar hydrophobic-hydrophilic mechanism in bottles so they can draw moisture from the air. They are far from alone in looking to nature for inspiration - a whole new field (biomimicry) has been built around this ethos.
Though this project is still in its early stages, the Namib desert beetle has already inspired award-winning designs (see below). Nature has had over 3 billion years to create effective solutions to an abundance of problems (water shortages being only one), and we can learn so much when we understand how organisms have evolved to deal with these issues.
Photo credit: ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
http://bit.ly/TpqmFX
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
http://
The Namib desert beetle previously inspired the Airdrop water harvester: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
Now a US start-up, NBD Nano, is taking tips from this beetle in the hopes of providing a renewable water supply to people living in the driest regions of the world. The team plans to create a similar hydrophobic-hydrophilic mechanism in bottles so they can draw moisture from the air. They are far from alone in looking to nature for inspiration - a whole new field (biomimicry) has been built around this ethos.
Though this project is still in its early stages, the Namib desert beetle has already inspired award-winning designs (see below). Nature has had over 3 billion years to create effective solutions to an abundance of problems (water shortages being only one), and we can learn so much when we understand how organisms have evolved to deal with these issues.
Photo credit: ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
http://bit.ly/TpqmFX
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
http://
The Namib desert beetle previously inspired the Airdrop water harvester: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/
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