Monday, August 24, 2009

Worms That Use Decoys

Heat seeking missiles can be confused by the release of flares but nature has long since used this solution. In the latest example of nature anticipating engineering, deep-sea worms have been found that release luminescent flares when bothered.

In what is now sometimes referred to as biomimetics, the seemingly endless variety of profound solutions in biology has inspired a variety of engineering designs. But often times, as in this example, the technology transfer never occurred. Instead the parallel between biology and engineering was observed after the fact. Either way, nature's brilliance is profound.