WEBVTT - Biomimetics 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.240 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.720 Forward Thinking, giving everyone, and welcome to Forward Thinking the 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.040 podcast that looks at Patron says Oobi, Do I want 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.119 to be like you? Oh? I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm and 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.080 I'm Joe McCormick. Hey, everybody, I have a question for 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.600 you away. Let's say you were going to put your 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.720 life in the hands of a particular technology. Let's say 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.159 it's some kind of biomedical device that you need to 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.559 save your life, or maybe it's some kind of vehicle 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:38.920 that if it fails, you're going to have a lot 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.680 of trouble. But this device doesn't exist yet. You need 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:48.120 to create it, Okay, And you've got two choices. Would 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:52.720 you rather have one really smart scientist and one really 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.320 smart engineer with about six months to work on it 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.800 and a six figure but it, or would you rather 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:07.440 have millions of really really bad scientists with four and 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.360 a half billion years to work on it and pretty 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.280 much infinite resources. So what you're telling me is that 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:18.480 we're not exactly an emergency status since in theory we 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.600 have four and a half billions. I'm going with the 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.320 four and a half billion years approach, because I don't 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.600 think I'd live that long even without whatever life threatening 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.520 situation happens to be pointing, let's just say, what if 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.600 you've uploaded your consciousness to the matrix, and and then 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.440 four and a half billion years later, you're they're gonna 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.640 put the hard drive that your brain is stored on 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.800 on this vehicle that's gonna fly through the sky. Would 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:48.880 you rather have this vehicle designed by what if? Alright, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:54.400 so the limited but talented humans or the completely brainless 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:59.000 but amazingly well supplied other I think, I think, I 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.760 see where you're going with this. And while many of us, 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:09.079 I think, credit amazing geniuses for the innovations that make 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.720 our lives convenient and safe and healthy, we can't ignore 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:18.600 the fact that many of those innovations come to us 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.040 courtesy of the fact that nature has had billions of 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:28.280 years to try out different designs, not consciously, I want 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.560 to make that clear, but all these different approaches have 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.360 come around in life, and the ones that have worked 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.720 the best have stuck around. So nature has gotten great 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.880 at perfecting certain types of approaches. So I go with 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:43.720 I go with the four and a half billion years 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.840 dumb approach. Yeah, you saw through my analogy, Lauren would 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.160 also I have the notes here. Yeah, I I it's 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.160 a really hard question to answer when I already know 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:57.400 the topic that we're discussing today. Okay, Well, my analogy, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.320 of course is that the millions of dumb scientists with 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.760 nearly infinite time and resources is the process of biological evolution, 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.600 which is a decently good one. Doesn't have very good 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.840 foresight or any foresight, doesn't have very good top down 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.840 control or any top down control necessarily, right, but it 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.600 does have a lot of time and a lot of 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.480 resources to work things out, and it can produce some 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:27.919 really amazingly useful things and and some very specialized things. Yeah, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:32.040 things that if we wanted to try and create something 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.680 technological that would give us an advantage in some way, 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.240 or make our lives better in some way, or just 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:43.000 achieve a certain type of task. Often it behooves us 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.760 to take a look at nature and see if there 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.360 are any examples in the natural world where this already exists, 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:51.880 and then say, how can we do that same thing. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.360 That's actually something that scientists and engineers do all the time. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.800 It's this field known as bio mimetics or bio mimicry, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.120 and Jonathan recently did a video about biomemetics where he 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.400 talked about some really interesting topics that's field. To be fair, 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.360 I was copying an ant that had previously done a video, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.480 so I was I was bio mimic ng. Really all 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.159 we ever do is copy ants, that's true, not not 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.880 the organism we're talking about, the actual DreamWorks motion picture ants. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:29.039 I was thinking about my aunts. I mean, like, they're 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.880 real and they are living organisms, so if you were 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.840 to invent technology based on them, that would be biomemetics. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.880 We get loop your every episode. I'm not sure what 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.599 what's causing it, but no, this is actually a really 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.800 awesome topic just in general, and we so awesome that 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.560 we want to cover it in a pair of podcasts. 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.600 So this one we're like looking at a very kind 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.240 of general approach to biomemetics. But we've got another one 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:55.360 that's much more focused on a particular organism. But for 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.080 this we thought we'd talked about lots of different examples 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.680 that you can find of cutting edge technology that is 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.760 taking its inspiration from stuff that's existed in some cases 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.880 for billions of years, including some of the ones that 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.279 you went into in your video, because we wanted to 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.239 sort of break those out and really explain the weird, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.240 nitty gritty bits of of how it's working. Um. The 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.719 first topic that we wanted to cover was how moths 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:25.320 eyes have inspired better solar panels. Okay, now I talked 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.920 about in the video, but this seems counterintuitive at first. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.839 Uh So, Lauren, why don't you kind of walk us 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.360 through what is it that's special about a moth's eyes. Well, 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.840 let's let's back it up. But before that, you know, 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.000 we've spent a lot of time on this show talking 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.880 about how solar panels are pretty inefficient, right. Um, as 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.960 they stand, the best ones in the field are really 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:52.000 only using some of the light hitting them. Um. Part 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.160 of the problem being that each of the many layers 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.960 of photovoltaic material that that make up solar panels reflects 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.279 a little bit of light, meaning that that light that's 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.240 reflecting can't be used to generate electricity, meaning that you're 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.600 wasting potential. Right. It's like it's it's reflecting out of 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.560 the solar panel, so you're not capturing it. Right. It's 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.520 kind of like if you wanted to heat up your 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.880 body as much as possible. You wouldn't want to wear 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.880 bright colors that reflected all of the light off or 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.360 or leave large parts of your body uncovered. That wouldn't 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.960 be very effective either because yourself in mirrors. Wow, you 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.680 are ruining my plans for the weekend. Alright. So so 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.120 getting to the moth size, what what's so special about those? 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.200 It turns out that they are really non reflective UM, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.200 which is really useful to nocturnal animals, which moths are, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.359 you know, they do their thing at night UM, And 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.440 it means that they can see in really low lighting 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.240 situations because lots of light gets through to the nerves 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:48.960 in their eyes that that you know, work with their 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:53.159 brains to sense light. It also helps in camouflage in 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.360 the sense that they're reflecting less light so predators can't 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.200 see them. But really we're focusing not to make too 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.520 big a pun on the fact that it's redirecting light 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.320 into the eye itself. And they have two structures in 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.279 their eyes that help them out with this. At first, 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.560 they have a tapital mirror, which is a lens at 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.400 the back of their eyes that that bounces light back 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.760 through the eyeball for a second chance at hitting all 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.440 of those sensor nerves. Um. It's also why like like 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.280 shark eys and cat eyes seemed to glow in the dark. 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.840 Also alligator eyes. Yeah yeah, A lot lots of animals 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.800 have this thing, um. And they've also got a special 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.280 structure called and okay, this is for reals the technical term, 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.160 you guys, a corneal nipple array. We can't say that 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:39.240 on this podcast. This is science and it's it's this 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:44.000 nanoscopic landscape of cone shaped structures, each only some like 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.200 two D three hundred nanimators tall and wide. Wow. And 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.640 remember a nanometer is one billionth of a meter. These 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.520 are tiny, tiny structures. Yeah yeah, And and these we 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.920 little things allow light to just kind of slip by 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.520 that the shape doesn't reflect light the way that a 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.440 flat surface would. Researchers started taking note of this all 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.200 the way back in the nineteen seventies. Wow, all right, okay, 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.160 so we see these little structures. We see that they 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.720 are allowing light to slip through and not reflect off. 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.480 But that doesn't necessarily mean there's a practical application right away. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.160 But someone managed to find one, right Yeah, researchers and 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:20.800 you talked about them a little bit in detail. In 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.880 the video at the North Carolina State University recreated the 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:30.680 nanostructure and and started putting it into photovoltaic materials. So 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.280 the exact amount of light that's regained by the structures 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.760 in photovoltaics is unconfirmed at the moment, but but it's 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.920 really cool that scientists are working on it. Right, So 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.480 this is a promising technology. We do not yet know 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.480 if it's efficacy is such that it's going to be 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.960 a good return on investment. It may turn out that 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:55.199 the expense of engineering this doesn't really justify whatever whatever 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.080 increase and efficiency we might see, or it may turn 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.680 out that it ends up boosting a should see enough 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.160 where this becomes the norm. Yeah. Uh. One of those 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.319 early problems that we've run into is that, um, the 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.680 nano structures get really easily clogged with dirt. I mean, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.120 they're they're little pokey things, and so dirt can just 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.200 kind of sidle up in there and get stuck. But 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.960 but some researchers at the University of Cambridge are working 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.480 on creating self cleaning materials that have this desired nanostructure, 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:28.199 which involves like photo catalytic nanoparticles of titanium dioxide that 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.280 break dirt down into just carbon dioxide and water. Of course, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.160 I mean that's what I would have done. Well, the 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.680 cool thing here is I mean, since they get clogged 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.800 with dirt, that would obviously mean that you are making 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.360 the solar panel more sort of well the yeah, the 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.080 level in front of the photovoltakes gets opaque and so 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.520 no light is getting through. So yeah, obviously this is 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.560 a very important part. Uh, yeah, it's pretty cool. We've 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.960 talked about self cleaning materials a couple of times too, 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.439 so I'm glad that we were able to to incorporate 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:59.600 that in this discussion. Clearly I wasn't able to go 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.040 into kind of detail in the video, so it's really 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.280 neat to be able to get a chance to express 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.040 it here. So one of those other topics that you 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.840 talked about in the video was the centripetal spiral and 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.360 nautilus shells and how they can be useful in in 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.120 in fluid dynamics and okay, so so the gig with 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.080 this guy's uh you know, turbines, which are just rotating 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:24.360 devices that include a rod with blades attached to either 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.160 move a fluid or to have a fluid move through 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.800 the machine, thus generating work. UM. Turbines have existed for 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.600 a few thousand years in the form of water wheels 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:39.880 and wind meal wind meals, meals, windmills, yes, um and 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.280 the and there have been a lot of modern advancements 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.559 to these from the materials used to make them too 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:49.280 very precise fluid dynamic driven physical tweaks UM. But they're 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:53.160 still not perfect despite the best of our science, because 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.720 they involve necessary resistance due to drag, a lot of noise, 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.000 and continual where to their compos eonens. And this is 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.760 important research because although the turbines that we have today 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.079 work pretty well, we've got a lot of things that 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.040 would benefit from moving more smoothly through fluid, like you 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:14.400 know cars or airplanes. Yeah, atmosphere is a fluid, So 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.840 having that sort of smooth movement through a fluid. Studying 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.920 fluid dynamics, I mean, this is a complex field that 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.400 concerns a lot of different sciences and also engineers. Yeah, 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:30.040 and if you have a more efficiently moving car, then 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.640 you have to then you don't have to use as 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.240 much fuel. Yeah, there are multiple benefits that spill out 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.080 by this kind of study. One J Harmon, who's the 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:43.360 CEO of an industrial fluid dynamics design company called pack Scientific, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.680 has patented a few designs based not on the age 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.840 old turbine design, but rather on the golden spiral a 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.400 k A logarithmic curve with a growth factor of Fi, 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:01.360 or a Fibonacci spiral or the shape of a nautilus shell. Huh. Yeah, 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.920 As it turns out, um, you can look around in 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.000 nature and that that shape pops up in more than 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:12.000 just knowledge shells right everywhere. Basically, Um, it's this really efficient, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.360 like sturdy, space saving shape. Lots of roses have petals 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.120 arranged in this spiral. Sunflower seeds grow in the same pattern. 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.720 Pine cones and pineapples have their spines arranged and like 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:28.640 double five spirals, both clockwise and counterclockwise. Um, the human 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:34.480 inner ear is a golden spiral. Whirlpools are this golden spiral. Yeah. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.320 So when you see the shape appear over and over again, 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.880 you're probably in the movie Uzumaki and you should watch out. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.320 Or so that's really that's kind of a nonsensical Japanese 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.640 horror film. I don't I don't necessarily recommend it. The 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.040 the interesting thing I find about the shape about seeing 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:51.640 it over and over again, is that this is a 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.760 suggestion that this particular shape has worked well for its 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.080 numerous applications depending upon what it is you're looking at 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.840 the fact that you're seeing it and not a bunch 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.840 of different types of spirals. If you see one type 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.280 of spiral happening repeatedly, that might be an indication that 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.600 something's going on there that that merits further study, that 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:17.160 perhaps there are ways of taking advantage of said shape. Yeah. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.200 Harmon maintains that creating things that either move fluid or 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.520 or move through a fluid in this shape will make 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:28.200 them just hella efficient, you know. Really, that's that that 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.480 is the technical science term that that it will reduce 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.160 drag to to not very much drag at all. Um. 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.600 He claims that it's the shape of like least resistance 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.880 conserving the most possible energy. And the idea here is 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.680 that the shape enacts a centripetal force on the fluid. 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.160 And I'm not a fluid dynamics expert, but I'm going 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:54.360 to attempt to explain how how this goes. So, Okay, so, 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.520 letting fluid flow through this spiral shape means that the 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:03.319 fluid molecules along the edges of the surface will experience drag, 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.640 but creating what's known as a boundary layer of slow 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.160 moving fluid at the edges of the shape, which lets 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.560 the rest of the fluid flow through the center of 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.920 the shape faster, thus creating a vortex that kind of 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.440 pulls the fluid through the shape. Good Lord, the fact 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.880 that you have fluid through and flow so many times 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.560 in that explanation and you managed to get through it, 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.600 it blows my mind. I was speaking like five times 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:36.480 as slow as flow flings fluids down by the flow. Shoot, yeah, 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.360 it's but no, that's really cool. And and you know 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.280 it's again. This is one of those things that you 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.640 would have to test repeatedly to see if the effects 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.240 are in fact measurable. But but it is one of 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.040 those things that on a on a on a given 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.680 level seems to make real sense. So the spiral is fascinating. 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.400 But there are also other examples of biomimicry, including the 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.760 amazing geck I tak about this in the video, and 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.600 I talked about how I love geckos. That is totally true. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:10.280 I love I think they're the cutest things. And I've 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.520 been fortunate enough to visit Hawaii a few times. Hawaii 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.000 often if you are staying in a home in Hawaii, 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:18.800 which is normally where I stay, I've got a friend 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.240 who lives there. Um, all those homes are kind of 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.280 a gecko palaces, And so you'll wake up and you'll 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:27.960 just see geckos on your wall and on your ceiling, 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.440 and occasionally you need to shake out your clothes just 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.200 to make sure that you're not gonna have a gecko 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.600 surprise when you put them on. Did they No? They 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.600 they can? They could, I mean they could, they could 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.880 really nip. I mean they're they're they're they're not. Their 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.760 jaws are pretty small, and they tend to they are 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.760 very timid critters. They run away, they don't. They are 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:50.720 not the kind that want to come up to you. Yeah, 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.760 but as you talked about in the video, and as 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.120 I think we've alluded to briefly on this podcast before, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:01.520 geckos have some amazing feat. Yes, they are able to 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.600 crawl up vertical surfaces. They're able to crawl across ceilings. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.280 They're able to hang by a single toe from a 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.560 pane of glass. Yeah, So if you wanted to recreate 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.600 this in the lab. How would you go about doing that? Well, 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.080 you could think, maybe, oh, maybe I need to put 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.680 some kind of really sticky material like glue on my hands, 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.200 or maybe suction cups like giants suction cups. That's got 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.920 to be how they do it really well? In these 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.280 types of things aren't really very feasible, especially in the 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.920 long term. If you've got some kind of sticky residue 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.960 like a glue um that's not going to stick to 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.920 some types of surfaces. They're multiple problems. Why are you 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.960 going to stick to everything? To It's not necessarily going 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.040 to be easy for you to remove your hand and 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.600 then move it to the next space. And three, it 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.200 will eventually wear off if you don't have some way 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.680 of secreting said sticky substance. So how do they do it? Well, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.000 they don't do it. There was sticky substance. Do they 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.960 do it? They do it through hair their nanotechnology. Yes, 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:06.240 they do actually, uh so. Researchers studying geckos found out 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.679 that they have nano scale beta caratin elastic hairs on 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.280 their feet and toes. And let me let me break 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.240 that down for you, just in case you that that 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:16.840 doesn't really mean a whole lot to you in the 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:22.000 particular configuration of words. Um, they're they're very strong, very 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:26.720 thin protein structures. Beta carratins are what make up like reptiles, 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.199 scales and claws and shells uh and also birds, feathers, 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:34.240 beaks and claws. They've got about the same toughness of 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.399 kitan which makes up sea bug shells, lobsters and crabs 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.880 and all that kind of stuff. Um. But they can 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.280 be really stretching in bendy, especially at the nano scale, 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.159 in which, as we have spoken about before, everything is 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.240 super wicky. Yeah. Yeah, things on the nano scale have 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.440 they behave in different ways than stuff that we're used 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.680 to on the macro scale. So when you get down 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.120 to the nano scale, you're actually getting small enough where 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.679 quantum effects are to take place to which is kind 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.480 of cool. Yeah. So but wait a second. I can 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.520 stick my head, which is covered in hair if you 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.080 can't see it right now, against a wall, and that 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.280 does not help me stick to the wall. So how 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.000 are these little hair like fibers Helmell. First of all, 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:19.680 the human hair is, you know, some hundred thousand nanometers thick, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.680 so it's not nearly on the same scale. All right, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.240 These we little hairs are so we that they interact 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.399 on a molecular level with the stuff that that walls 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.320 or glass or whatever are made of. Um, what's called 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.640 the Vanderwalls force kicks in and and whayam, the critter 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.520 can climb right up. Something. I love Oasis song about that, 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:47.320 You're my vonder Walls. What's just me? Well, all joking aside, 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.840 or at least most of it aside Vanderwall's force. This 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.440 is something that can be either an attractive force or 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.480 a repulsive force. It's not necessarily one or the It's 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.200 it's not just attraction. But this is something we talked 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.000 about on a molecular level with surfaces and their their 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.000 tendency to either add here or repulse. So a few 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:13.520 different research teams have been working on replicating this in materials. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.399 There's a team, particularly from the Zoological Institute at the 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:21.720 University of Keel, that created a silicone tape that's patterned 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.520 with tiny hairs, no glue, no residue, works underwater. It 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.199 can be peeled off and restuck to things thousands of 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.760 times without losing its gripping power. See, I want to 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.000 have one of those toys that you used to have 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.560 where you could throw it against the wall very slowly 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.520 crawled down using this kind of approach, and you could 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.240 just throw it against the or the wall or a 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.480 window or anything and it just splats and stays there. 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.920 That would be I would have fun with that. That 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.560 would be minutes of a good fun. Okay, you for 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.600 you long minutes a good fun. However, I'm a simple 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.640 humanating and could easily stretch that into a full afternoon 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.680 of activities. So oh and part part of the thing 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.359 here is that these hairs aren't the only things that 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.560 that get goes have going for them in terms of 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.680 sticking capacity. Um, they're they're well climbing ability also involves 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.000 the curved shape of their toes um and the way 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:16.800 that their feet and toes spread out when they make 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.560 contact with the surface, and their toes self cleaning abilities. 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.359 Self cleaning. Now, this is kind of going back to 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:27.600 what we had to you know, the discussion about the 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:30.879 little projections and the moth I projections that when we 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:32.560 made the synthetic versions, we had to come up with 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:34.960 some sort of self cleaning process in order to make 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.560 the solar panels and I get all clogged up and opaque. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.320 So what's going on here? Well, our our friendly neighborhood, 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.320 creepy Crawley researchers at the University of Akron, and I 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.840 do want to mention you. You've pronounced it in the 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:51.679 video Akron and that has to be fair. He was 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.080 talking about the planet. To be fair, that only happened 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.760 in one take, and Dan chose that take. I was, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.040 I was, I was born in Makron, so I have 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.200 so I just I needed to point it. I understand. 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.600 I have Ohio State pride. I watched that video recently, 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:10.879 as in just before we went into this podcast, and 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:12.919 I winced when I realized that was the take he 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.080 went with. At any rate, Um, we we've we've mentioned 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.600 these researchers a couple of times recently, I think, and 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:24.919 they published some research about Getto's footprints that has helped 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.160 helped us kind of solve this puzzle a little bit further. 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:31.280 It turns out the getto footprints contain residue of these 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.760 thin oils called phosphilipids UM, which we're pretty sure gettos 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.440 excrete to keep all those little nano hairs clean UM. 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.119 And it might also help them quickly adhere to and 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.840 release from surfaces, right, So that that would make sense. 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:48.920 You would want to keep the hairs clear of any 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:53.200 debris because otherwise it would it would inhibit your exactly, 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:55.040 you wouldn't be able to adhere to the wall anymore. 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.760 And also, yeah, the oil making it easier to h 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.720 to release and then put your foot down and then 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.359 release again in order to continue motion. Uh. Again, it 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.760 makes sense. Obviously, these are things that are under continuing study. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.800 So it's uh, it seems to be a solid hypothesis. 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:17.720 We'll see if it after we're able to study it further, 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.640 if it holds true. Yeah, and once once we get 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:22.880 that figured out, it might help some of these other 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:28.320 physical process uh researchers to to perfect the designs that 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.479 they're making. Like like, in addition to that silicone tape, 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:35.160 some other researchers are working with carbon nanotubes to reproduce 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.560 the physical structures of these little hairs. Man, carbon nanotubes, 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:43.359 why can't they do? They are magic? They are They're 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.280 not really, but they seem like it. No real magic, 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:50.720 thanks Joe. They're made by wizards. Um. The most success 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.480 that these researchers have seen so far has been with 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:57.800 a vertically aligned, single walled carbon nanotubes in case you 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:01.720