Innovation is moving forward at record speeds and new answers to age old hurdles occur every day. It seems the more we look, the more we see that the solutions to our challenges have been right in front of us all along. Scientists and inventors are increasingly looking to nature as they develop innovative designs to improve our world. From cats to spiders nature has provided astonishingly elegant designs that will enhance and improve our lives as we begin to unravel its secrets and science.
Anyone who loves cats knows the sublime joy of having a cat purring on your lap. Purring is created by rhythmic vibration of the muscles of the larynx and diphram1. The frequency of the vibrations is such that they improve feline bone and muscle health1. Veterinary scientists have speculated that this may clarify why cats can be so sedentary and yet experience a relatively low level of bone and muscle disease, especially when compared to their canine housemates1.
The lighter than gravity environment of space predisposes astronauts to lose bone density and causes loss of muscle tone. In fact “Microgravity, the kind that people experience on the space station, can result in one percent bone loss per month2.” Scientists are investigating specialized suits designed with this purring principle, to counter act the effects of weightlessness in space. These suits will hopefully help to maintain healthy bone density and muscle tone for astronauts while in space. Engineering suits to vibrate between 25 and 150 Hertz1, the frequency that cats generate when they purr, may be the “purrfect” way to help keep our astronauts in good physical shape.
In addition to space age innovations animals are helping in such areas as varied as producing artificial spider silk3. Spider silk which is “tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel” has a plethora of potential industrial and medical applications3. Likely usages include artificial tendons, bio-cables , suture material, bullet proof vests and helmets, the only real limit is what can be imagined.
One of the greatest challenges is producing spider silk in amounts and quality that will make it feasible to use. To that end researchers are currently trying to incorporate the spider silk gene into goats in such a way that they will produce spider silk in milk4. These transgenic goats (which in appearance and behavior are indistinguishable from their ordinary cousins4) would be milked just as their ancestors have for centuries. Instead of making cheese, spider silk would be extracted from the milk and could then be utilized for multiple purposes.
One of the most exciting prospective uses for me is its many military applications. My brother, Lt. Colonel Shane Norris Fullmer spends his career designing and producing army vehicles that will save the lives of soldiers. What if a spider silk reenforced Humvee would have been in use when my nephew Sargent Derek Roberts’s vehicle was blown up in Iraq? His life and the life of his friends may have been saved. Hopefully this technology will very quickly see real life uses, which really will save lives.
1. Why do cats purr? Leslie A. Lyons, an assistant professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis January 27, 2003 scientificamerican.com
2. Can suits that simulate cat purring keep astronauts healthy? Ester Inglis-Arkell io9.com January 14, 2012
3. Lab Spins Artificial Spider Silk, Paving the Way to New Materials Bijal P. Trivedi National Geographic Today January 17, 2002
4. “Scientists breed goats that produce spider silk .” PHYSorg.com. 31 May 2010