The jewel beetle needs a blazing forest fire to breed. When they arrive, they are guaranteed breeding and a safe place to lay their eggs with a great supply of food laid on for the next generation, free from any threat of predation.

There are tiny sensory pits on the beetle's thorax or chest, densely packed with tiny receptors that enabled the beetle to sense infrared radiation; the heat given off by a fire.​

The interesting thing is that two other species of fire beetle, use different infrared detectors to guide them to fire.

Scientists, with the help of engineers plan to develop the next generation of infrared detectors which will be smaller with increased sensitivity.

 

 

 

 

The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe is an example of a building designed with a thermal regulation system inspired by that which is used to cool African termite mounds.

African termites build huge mounds with soil particles bound with saliva to form walls. This building material is strong and water resistant, and termite mounds are the largest non-human made structures in the world.

​External temperatures can fluctuate a great deal (between the low 30s at night and over 100 during the day), but the inside must be maintained at 88-89F. So African termites have developed an ingenious thermal regulation system in which a series of vents are opened and closed throughout the day and night to create a series of ventilating convection currents.

This system of ever changing, constantly monitored ventilation was used in the Eastgate Centre. 

Spider silk may seem fragile, but it actually has a tensile strength that is a whopping five times more than steel! Scientists have been trying to replicate and harness the properties of the elusive material for years and now researchers from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Bayreuth have actually unlocked the secret of how spiders construct the elastic fibers. Armed with this new knowledge, they’re planning to build an artificial spinning apparatus that will mimic a spider’s silk glands, which could eventually lead to a material that could have an unlimited number of applications from medical to construction.

Read more: Scientists Unlock Secret of Spider Silk Which is 5 Times Stronger than Steel | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

 

Along the same lines as robotic fish, robotic bugs can offer air quality surveillance and environmental monitoring. However, the U.S. military hopes to use these bugs for reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one tiny robot, so scientists are making sure that the bugs can manoeuvre through tight areas, just like their real-life counterparts. With flies flapping their wings about 25 times per second, researchers use high-speed cameras in order to get the range of motion just right.any.

Cockroaches are generally seen as a feat of evolution, and they move incredibly well on their six legs. Researchers are using them as a source of inspiration for the world's first legged robot to be able to run easily over rough terrain. But it isn't just the capability of getting over rocky areas or moving quickly that scientists want to mimic - it's also a cockroach's brainless ability to zip from here to there that the researchers are after. Cockroaches don't have to think about running, instead they mostly use instinctive muscle action that doesn't require reflex control. If robots that can really run over rough ground are ever developed they can't afford to use so much of their computing ability and energy to accomplish it.

The Namibian fog-basking beetle captures fog for water. The beetle, a desert dweller, makes its way to the top of a sand dune. At the top of the dune, it turns its body to the wind and lowers its head. On the beetle’s back is a pattern of peaks and troughs, which push the tiny fog droplets together to form larger ones. The droplets accumulate and then run down the beetle’s back toward its mouth. When thirsty, the beetle simply tips its head down to drink the water that has collected on its back. 

It is hoped that this could be adapted to create 'fog nets' on a larger scale, which would not only combat global warming (water vapour is one of the most common greenhouse gases) but could be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa as a source of water.

 

 

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Insects like bumblebees, as well as hummingbirds, and dragonflies, have incredibly efficient wing flapping capabilities which are being harnessed in an effort to produce more efficient wind turbines.Vertical axis windmills have been with us in one form or another for more than 1000 years. Designs have undergone constant improvement (including more examples of biomimicry using the whale as inspiration), but the efficiency of current turbines peaks at around 30%. Theoretically, it isn't possible to capture more than about 59.3% of the kinetic energy in wind, but that still leaves some room for improvement. 

The Morpho butterfly lives in the forests of South America where it rains a lot; if a tiny amount of water was absorbed into its wing, the butterfly would become unstable, flying would be impossible and it wouldn't be able to survive.

However, the butterfly combats this with a clever adaption, its wings are totally water repellent, meaning that any rain drops that do come into contact with it, simply bead up and roll off. They're wings are actually made up of millions of tiny ridges so only a tiny amount of the surface of the water comes into contact with the wing, it stays in droplet form and simply rolls off.

This has inspired the creation of many water repellent coatings which could solve many problems including the dreaded 'dropping the phone down the toilet' which was demonstrated in Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature.

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The sandcastle worm lives in a mineral shell that it creates by secreting a glue-like substance that sticks to bits of sand.  The glue doesn’t dissolve in water, is able to displace water, and solidifies almost immediately.  Such properties appealed to medical professionals looking for new ways to repair broken bones.   For decades, doctors have been treating shattered bones with screws and pins -which aren’t always effective.  By following the model of the sandcastle worm, researchers continue to make advances in a bio-glue to bind bones.