Science News Review

Intelligent Design from Biology

Feb 3 at 7:07pm by Aileen

No, no. I’m not talking about what gets taught in high school biology classes or hotly debated in the ideological forever-wars between science and theology. I am talking about human engineers and inventors who develop newer, better and more sustainable technologies inspired to the designs that life has managed to come up with on its own over the course of evolution.

Brainz offers The 15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry, a post that explains a little about what biomimicry (a.k.a. bionics, biomimetics) is and gives some very cool examples beyond the usual Velcro. My favorite is #8, artificial photosynthesis. But I’m sure readers will split fairly evenly over the entire 15 examples, and perhaps start looking around with ‘new eyes’ to appreciate the designs of life. Maybe even be inspired to invent some new product or technology that mimics those designs.

Do check out the article, it’s a fun read.

In other news, surely everyone has heard by now about a California woman who gave birth to octuplets last week. Today (the day after Phil the Groundhog reminded us yet again that spring doesn’t start until March 21) marks the continuing survival of all eight babies for a solid week, which is historically unprecedented.

According to news reports, all 14 of 33-year old Nadya Suleman’s children (oldest is 7) were conceived with the aid of in-vitro fertilization. These latest 8 children apparently represent the last of the frozen embryos Suleman had created from her eggs and a donor’s sperm before her first child was born. Medical ethicists all over the world have weighed in on the situation, most suggesting that the implantation of this many embryos is or should be an actionable ethics violation, but it is possible that she received fewer embryos and that they split (twinned) after becoming attached to the uterine wall.

Links:

The 15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry
Birth of octuplets rattles fertility experts
Suleman Octuplets
Brainz: grey matter at its best