Morpho, pic by Josoroma
There are lots of ways for an insect to colour itself, it might collect pigments from what it eats or produce its own pigments. Some have such striking pigments that we use them for colour!
Interestingly some of the most striking colours don’t come from pigments at all. The Costa Rican morpho produces its stunning blue in a unique way. Every day I come across more and more technologies inspired by bugs – I particularly like this one.
Gecko's amazing foot, Pic by Alan
Again with the sidetracking….
but you know what, insectivores count in the scheme of relevent to bugs….right? Ok, not really – especially as i’m not even going to talk about their eating habits. But they’re amazing!!!! so talk about them, I shall.
When I was in high school I was introduced to an amazing man. He was a farmer in rural Taranaki, in his black singlet and stubbies he was the epitome of a New Zealand farmer, but he had some less than usual hobbies.
This was a man who showed miniature horses and kept native lizards in his backyard – a home-grown herpetologist. The geckos were all natives, accumulated over the years from here and there, and appropriately licensed, and they wowed me – just beautiful! Since then I’ve been enamoured with them – I kept a few as pets (yes I had a licence) and am always impressed by their delicate form and clever climbing.
New Zealand lizards are something special, in the way they climb and live and give birth to live young! But I want
Wellington green gecko pic by Andy Chilton
to mention some fantastic features of Geckos in general.
Only it’s already been written – and rather well. So i hope I’ve given you a glimpse at my love of geckos and inspired you to follow some of the excellent links below:
Curious about lizards and the like in NZ? Take a look a the Herpetological society.
And here’s the latest on the gecko and is feet:
I was just sent this incredible link, and am inspired by the clever tricks we are adapting from nature.
And it’s not just us learning from their engineering, as biologists we are learning too! Curious? see this fantastic TED talk.
And then theres the basic – gecko glue.
In the bug world being a silk spinner can go one of several ways. Bugs spin silk and threads to wrap themselves, and wrap food, and to get from place to place.
The obvious spinners are the spiders. And they are one of the more diverse in their use of thread. Just starting out in life it can be hard work to compete with the rest of your family, but if you are a little aerodynamic like charlottes babies (from the book ‘Charlottes web’) you can travel and find a space of your own.
Then theres the matter of getting something to eat – the obvious use of a web, and this is where its strength, elasticity and stickeyness come into their own. At first glance something so delicate should break upon impact with a highspeed critter, or at least rebound and throw it back out – but threads stronger than high grade steel, with droplets of sticky glue make capture inevidable.
Spiders spin different threads for different tasks, and we are finding uses for them far beyond the realms of engineering. It’s qualities are even being investigated for use in healthcare.
Another spinner is the silkworm. Centuries of tradition has shaped our use of these critters for fine fabrics, fed mulberry leaves and curated in baskets until the thread is ready for collection. This thread is another increadible construction, it’s elasticity and durablity along with it’s beauty make it a sought after material.
Then theres the more obscure spinners like the glowworm. Who, like the spider, uses its thread for food capture (see snares). Glowworms, as mentioned in a previous post, arent actually worms but fungun gnats. The larvae of the gnat builds a trap of up to 100 hanging sticky threads with a glowing lure of the ‘worm’ in the middle to draw in any unsuspecting bug. The ‘worm’ then pulls up the thread and consumes it’s meal.
These are materials made by nature, that we exploit and are inspired by in the materials appearing in our day to day life. From my desk i can see a silk skirt, and a spiders web, maybe one day the bandaids on my desk will be spider silk?
But thats quite enough for one post, let me know what you want more info on – ask and ye shall recieve 🙂
Another skill mastered by bugs is sight. The number of ways an invertebrate uses their specially designed eyes to take advantage of their surroundings is astounding.
Insects are known for their compound eyes, made of thousands of tiny light sensing and processing sections called ommatidia. The way they are put together is specifically tailored to the tasks they perform.
Fast moving carnivores, like dragonflies, tend to have more smaller ommatidia. This allows then to easily spot movements, helping them to catch their dinner. The disadvantage of this is the smaller the ommatidia, the smaller the lens – and as the photographers among you will know small lenses let less light in and are only useful during the day. Dragonflies have a third ‘eye’ that acts as a light sensor – but nocturnal critters need some different strategies.
Being nocturnal has allsorts of challenges. One of which is being able to see where you are going. Many critters use senses such as sound and smell to get around in the dark, but sight is still useful. Nighttime travelers such as moths have ommatidia that are fewer, and far larger. Their size maximises the use of all available light allowing the detection of basic shapes and grainy images.
Some insects see in colour, and others in black and white. The way that bees see is not what we see, they don’t detect the red end of the colour spectrum, but can see into the blues to ultraviolets. Some flowers have taken advantage of this ability to make ‘for bees only‘ landing strips on their petals to entice specific pollinators.
The way that bees process images for flight navigation is called optical flow, and is being applied in the world of robotics. Optical flow is a method of processing images in navigation; gauging distances and avoiding obstacles while using minimal brain/computing power. clever huh 🙂
thats enough on eyes for now, see you next time.
My mother used to say that efficency is applied lazieness, and in some ways she was right. 
But when it comes to saving the planet, efficiency is a buzzword we hear often. And in our search for the best way to do things, using the least ammount of energy we look to the animal kingdom for advice. Here the form – function relationship in any living creature has been carefully crafted over centuries of evolution. Survival of the fittest has ensured that only the most efficent designs have survived (although when romance is involved there tend to be runaway designs). 
The way that a bugs form relates to the function is easy to see. Colours blend in or stand out, to avoid attention or act as billboards. Legs save energy by working with the elasticity of the skeleton. Wings are shaped to cut through the air and use the tough sides of the thorax to beat faster. Swimmers and runners are streamlined for least resistance, check this out for some serious hydrodynamics.
One critter that seems to stand out as a model for tough and efficient design is the cockroach. Its large surface area makes the most of the sun’s warmth and flat body ensures minimal air resistance, acting as inspiration for solar travel.
Cockroaches are so tough, they can survive for up to a week without a head. And are thought to be the only probable survivors of a nuclear war. With all this on their side it’s no wonder their models are being used in extreme conditions such as the mars swarm exercise.
Consider them the armored tanks of the insect world, designed for survival. Look to nature for the blueprints for a sustainable tomorrow.
Also, just for fun – Radioactive cockroach and toys!
” For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return” – Da Vinci.
For fairly gravity influenced animals, mankind is particularly obsessed with flight. We see birds of prey soaring in the updrafts, bats flapping and foxes gliding…………and bugs? All of the above.
Bugs fly in different ways, depending on their requirements. It was once thought that the humble Bumblebee was incapable of flight, and yet they flew. Butterflies glide and flap their large wings to ‘flutter’ gently from place to place. While Dragonflies can beat their wings up to 90 times per second and have delicate control to chase and catch fast moving insects. And beetles clatter around, varying from highly aerodynamic, to those that probably shouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
We use their designs to get in the air, actually and by proxy. Their different methods for achieving flight inspiring us to improve our own designs, with their help we are creating safer and more efficient methods to travel by air. And now there are more ‘practical’ applications for the model airplane.
For more info on flying like an insect, checkout these guys.
And randomly: Bumblebees.
Dont worry, i’m not talking about intelligent design, although most of the designs are intelligent, my views lie in the relms of natural selection. Mother Nature provides the toughest brief of them all, so what better place to borrow ideas.
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Ever been bio inspired?
Most people have, although not all would admit it. The natural world has inspired novels and poetry, and engineering? you might be surprised.
The cleverly evolved designs and mechanisms that appear in nature are the perfect place to go for functional and beautiful ideas.
And as the most diverse and abundant group on the planet bugs are a great place to begin. The series of posts to follow will take a look at bugs and design, hope you enjoyed the teaser 🙂
Sofie A Welvaert 
