This invention that’s inspired by nature that has great potential

There are some great examples of technology that are inspired by nature. There’s paint that mimics the textured wax on a lotus leaf to repel water and dirt, the front of the bullet trains in Japan that prevent the sonic boom when the train enters a tunnel is inspired by the kingfisher, and one of the most well known biomimics is Velco. The hook and loop construction is the inspiration of one man who took his dog for a walk and was interested in the way that cockle burrs clung to the dog’s fur.

Velcro was invented before 1960 and the superhydrophobic surfaces inspired by the lotus leaf have been around since 2005. While biomimetic materials are nothing new there are always new inventions. One of the most recent ones is adaptive insulation that mimics the way that squid skin changes colour. A research paper published in March 2022 explains how this could be used for food packaging.

Squids can change colour, and they way they do it inspires adaptive thermal insulation (image by Klaus Stiefel via flikr.com CC BY-NC 2.0)

Squid skin is transparent but it also contains coloured blobs called chromatophores. The squid can contract muscles which makes the chromatophores expand, stretching those coloured blobs so that they are more visible. In this way the squid can change colour. The innovative insulation developed by scientists at the University of California is based on this idea of stretching the functional part of two component material to modify the…