The Biomimetics and Bioinspiration seminar has just concluded with an astounding showing of final projects based on solving problems with water access and quality. We based the project guidelines for the 4th Annual Biomimicry Student Design Challenge. Everyone's work was phenomenal and I must give my gratitude to the great people I had the pleasure to work with: Janne, You, and Jessica. Go team! I wholeheartedly recommend this class to any Temple students reading this, and for anyone outside of Temple to explore the topic more fully! If you found this stuff interesting, I suggest picking up the book that guided our discussions in class and that also had an influence on this blog, The Gecko's Foot. I learned a great deal while researching for class and this blog, and I'm definitely not done yet! My blog will continue to exist and feature bioinspired ideas, but my focus will no longer be exclusively on this. So what will I write about? Well you can always expect more superheroes. I will continue to explore the relationship between science and science fiction with examples from TV (like Star Trek, The X-Files, and Doctor Who) and many many movies. Over the summer, there will be some breakdowns of upcoming blockbusters including, but not limited to, Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, The Wolverine, and The World's End. ...Okay, that last one may not even have any science fiction, but I'm warning you now that I'm going to watch and then constantly talk about this new Edgar Wright film anyway. Other topics will include basically any science that I come across that looks cool which will include lots of marine biology, food science, and inspiration from TED Talks. If you ever feel that I am not including enough comic book-based material, donations of gently used graphic novels and Amazon gift cards will be graciously accepted at the address listed under Contact!
Exploring this new interdisciplinary field was made all the more better with collaboration between biologists and bioengineers. I enjoyed meeting all of these folks very much, and it added a lot to the discussion to have multiple viewpoints! So thank you engineers! For your perspective, for sharing your fancy building with comfy lumbar-supportive chairs, and, most of all, for sharing a ton of free pizza after that one seminar. I have been since informed that this was a rare occurrence and not the norm, but I will continue to dream of a reality where you and I can coexist with piles of pizza, even if we only got to share that one perfect day.
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Alanna DurkinExploring the realm of biologically inspired design one superhero example at a time, with some other natural sciences mixed in. Archives
September 2016
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