Scientific discoveries inspired by nature in 2022

Although plants and animals face mass extinctions caused by human drivers such as climate change, nature continues to inspire scientific discoveries
in unexpected ways.

"Nature has spent hundreds of millions of years optimizing solutions
to extremely complex problems.
" Aaron Gorodsky, a biomedical engineer at the University of California, Irvine, said, "If we look at nature, we can shorten the development process and quickly find valuable solutions
.
" ”

From squid skin food heaters to lubricants made from bovine mucus, this year's nature-inspired scientific discoveries continue to bear fruit
.

Okra adhesive stops bleeding in the heart

Now, with a biodegradable plaster made from sticky okra gel, it is possible to stop bleeding
in the hearts and livers of dogs and rabbits without suturing.

Okra is a fluffy green vegetable whose sticky texture inspired Malcolm Xing of the University of Manitoba in Canada to convert it into a medical adhesive
.

In the study, published in July in Advanced Medical Materials, researchers found that refining okra in a juicer and then drying it into a powder can produce an effective bioadhesive that quickly forms a physical barrier that initiates the blood clotting process
.
The researchers plan to test the plaster
on humans in the coming years.

Bovine mucus lubricant prevents AIDS

Laboratory tests have found that a lubricant made from cow mucus has the potential to reduce the spread of
diseases such as AIDS.

The study, published in the September journal Advanced Science, is still preliminary and has not yet been tested
in humans.

The researchers extracted mucus from the salivary glands of cattle and converted it into a gel
that binds and contaminates the virus.
Mucus is made up of mucin, which may have antiviral properties
.
Mucin molecules have naturally complex biological properties that effectively block HIV and herpes virus infections without side effects or drug resistance
.

It is available in both solid and liquid forms
.
Researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, call it a solid, which traps bacteria or viruses
in the body.
As a liquid, it removes pathogens
from the body.

Robotic fireflies help search and rescue efforts

On warm summer nights, fireflies use their glow to attract mates, ward off predators, or lure prey
.

Fireflies light up the night sky and inspired scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to create insect-sized miniature robots that glow
as they fly.

According to a paper published in June in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, based on nature's inspiration, researchers created luminescent, soft artificial muscles for insect-sized flying robots embedded with tiny electroluminescent particles
.
Controlling the tiny artificial muscles on the robot's wings allows it to glow colored light
during flight.

A "firefly" weighs only a little heavier than a
paper clip.
Researchers have demonstrated that they can use the light emitted by the robot and three smartphone cameras to precisely track the robot
.

Electroluminescence allows robots to communicate
with each other.
For example, if sent to a collapsed building on a search and rescue mission, a robotic firefly looking for survivors can use light to signal other companions and call for help
.
Although until now, these robots have only been able to operate in laboratory settings, the researchers are excited
about their potential future uses.

Trained ants can sniff out cancer

There are an estimated 20 trillion ants in the world, and researchers have found that one ant may be able to sniff out cancer
in the human mammary glands.

According to a study published in the journal iScience in March, scientists at the Sorbonne-Nord University trained mercerized brown forest ants to smell the difference
between the urine of mice implanted and those not implanted with human tumors, according to a study published in the journal iScience in March.

In just 3 training trials, the researchers were able to effectively teach ants to distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous cells with similar accuracy to studies using dogs
.

In some ways, the researchers say, ants outpace dogs because they require extremely short training times, just 30 minutes, compared to 6-12 months for dogs, and are cheaper to train and maintain, feeding honey and frozen insects
only twice a week.

Cancer cells are known to produce volatile organic compounds, molecules that give them a special odor
.
Therefore, some dogs can use a highly sensitive nose to sniff out cancer, but training them can be expensive and time-consuming
.
Ants may one day offer a simpler and less invasive method
of tumor identification than sniffer dogs.

"Squid skin" packaging is kept warm for takeaway

Ordering takeout or takeaway food brings convenience to people, but what if you are worried about the food getting cold?

According to a study published in March in the journal Nature Sustainability, the strange skin of squid inspired the development of a packaging material that can be used as a thermostatic material to keep food warm
as an outer packaging.

Squid and other cephalopods have an amazing ability to camouflage themselves to adapt to their environment
.
Squid have tiny organs called pigment sacs that can significantly change size and can also help them change color
.

To mimic these pigmented sac-filled organs, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, prepared a large-scale "squid skin" composite that regulates heat through reconfigurable metal structures that can be reversibly separated from each other and regrouped together
at different levels of strain.

"Metal islands" in composites are next to each other when the material is relaxed and separate when the material is stretched, allowing the reflection and transmission or heat dissipation
of infrared light to be controlled.