Light Learning for Engineers from Animals
Biomimetics is where humans imitate characteristics of nature for their own benefit, so here are two examples. Indeed, if scientists who learn from creation were not such materialists, they might use Bible verses like Psalm 104:25-26 and Job 12:7-8 as inspiration. Using the night setting on my camera, instructions are given to stay still because the exposure is several seconds instead of the usual fraction of a second. The human eye (an inspiration for a researcher) does the opposite: It has constant tiny movements. His results were surprising when he imitated these movements. Prism effect, Flickr / Ian Mackenzie ( CC BY 2.0 ) The researcher programmed robot cameras with the small motions like the human eye. It seems like they would be blurry, but he obtained sharper images! In other news giant clams may have an impact on solar panels. Algae grow a certain way on the shells, and this helps the clams get the light they need. Their light collection strategy is more efficient...