Biomimic (pronounced bahy-oh-mim-ik)
(1) A synthetic substance, material or device which
mimics the formation, function, or structure of biologically produced
substances & materials, biological mechanisms or processes.
(2) The act or processes involved in the creation of such
substances, materials or devices.
1969: The construct was bio(logy) + mimic. The bio- prefix was from the Ancient Greek
βίο- (bío-), a combining form and
stem of βίος (bíos) (life) used
widely to construct forms in some way (even if in emulation) related to organic
life (ie biological organisms in general).
Mimic was from the Latin mīmicus,
from the Ancient Greek μῑμικός (mīmikós) (belonging to mimes), from μῖμος (mîmos) (imitator,
actor), the source also of the modern mime.
It was used variously to mean (1) to imitate (applied especially to acts
intended to ridicule), (2) to take on the appearance of another, for protection
or camouflage (originally from zoology and other biological sciences but later
more widely applied) and (3) in IT systems for a range of purposes. The alternative spelling was mimick which persisted into the
nineteenth century. Biometric is a noun &
verb, biomimicry & biomimesis are nouns, biomimetic is an adjective and biomimetically
is an adverb; the noun plural is biometrics.
1955 D-Type (XKD510) with tailfin used on the tracks with unusually long straights (left), image of a great white shark (centre) and 1948 Tatra T87 II with stabilizing fin (right).
Jaguar’s experience in 1954 running the D-Type on the
long Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans had proved the effectiveness of the re-designed
bodywork, the cars more than 10 mph (16 km/h) faster in a straight line than
the winning Ferrari but all the drivers reported that at speeds above 160 mph
(257 km/h), straight line stability had suffered and in the cars not fitted
with a tailfin, the lateral movement could sometimes be measured in feet. Aerodynamics at the time was still in its
infancy and most attention had been devoted to reducing drag in the pursuit of
speed and much of the available data was from aviation where lift was a virtue;
it wouldn’t be until the next decade with the advent of more available wind tunnels
that designers began to understand how a compromise between slipperiness and
down-force could be attained and even then, the increases in speed for years
outpaced the test facilities. Jaguar’s
solution was a tailfin, something which fulfilled essentially the same function
as a shark’s dorsal fin; the fish’s tailfin was used for propulsion and
directional change, in a car, those dynamics are handled by other means. The purpose of a dorsal fin is to stabilize,
to prevent the rolling action which would otherwise be induced by movement
through the water and Jaguar’s device likewise provided stability. The fin was enlarged in 1955 and better
integrated with the bodywork.
The Czech Tatra 87 (1936-1950) is regarded as a
mid-century modernist masterpiece (as least visually, its configuration proved
a cul-de-sac) and one thing which always attracts attention is the tailfin,
something Tatra first put on a car in 1934.
What the fin did was split and equalize the air pressure on both sides at
the rear, something designed to ameliorate the behavior induced by physics, the
T87 enjoying the unfortunate combination of swing-axles and a rear-mounted V8
engine. That configuration delivered
some specific advantages but also a tendency for the back end of the car to “wander
a bit”. At speed, the fin helped but
didn’t eliminate the problem and if corners were approached with too much enthusiasm,
the swing axles certainly swung and it wasn’t uncommon for them to slide off
the road or even overturn. The effects
of the fin can be emulated by a car towing a trailer at speed. If a heavy load is placed in the front of the
trailer, stability is usually good but if moved to the rear, there’s the danger
of fishtailing which, if left uncorrected, can result in both car and trailer
overturning.
The legend exists that such was the Tatra accident rate after
the country was occupied in 1938-1939 that Germans there as part of the imposed
administration were forbidden from driving the things. A car must be truly evil for use by the SS to
be declared verboten but historians
have never unearthed the smoking gun of a documented order and declare it
probably apocryphal although words of caution doubtlessly were spread. Some versions of the story claim the order
came from the Führer himself and it seems certain, whatever his tendency to
micromanage, that definitely is fanciful although he was well acquainted with Tatra’s
designs and their influence on the Volkswagen, the so called “peoples’ car” intended
to bring to Germany the mass-market automobile which the Ford Model T (1908-1927)
had delivered to US society.
Biomimicry: Lindsay Lohan in leopard-print.
Humans have been practicing biomimicry long before the
emergence of any form of culture recognizable as a civilization; the use of
animal skins or fur for warmth was an early example of what would later evolve
into a technology. Presumably, at least
some of those who fashioned some of the early canoes and boats might have been
influenced by the appearance of fish when choosing the shape a hull was to
assume. In architecture too nature seems
to have provided inspiration and evidence exists of prehistoric structures which
seem to owe something to both beehives and termite mounds although there’s obviously
no extant documentation to verify the speculation. Later architects and engineers did leave
notes and natural structures including eggshells & mushrooms served as models
of how strength and the volume of internal space could be optimized. However, probably the best known of the early
studies of biomimicry was the observation of birds undertaken in the age-old quest
for human flight, many of Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) sketches of the physiology
of both men and birds part of the research for his designs of “flying machines”. For centuries, others would look to birds for
inspiration although it wasn’t until the 1950s that the word “biomimic” began
to evolve and that happened not among engineers or architects but in the
biology labs, and at the time, what was called “bionics” was conceived as a
practical application, a synthetic emulation of natural systems, then usually
referred to as “biophysics”. In the
following decade, “biomimetic” came to be preferred because it exactly represented
the concept and thus the discipline of “biomimmetics” was formalized: the
engineering of a device, substance or material which mimics those found in the
natural environment.
Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber) and the Peregrine Falcon.
Popular culture played a part in the evolution too. The word “bionic” fell from academic favor because in the 1970s it was used in science fiction (SF) of sometimes dubious quality and in television programmes which were distant from what was scientifically possible. The term biomimicry however flourished as products (such as Velcro) which owed much to models observed in the natural environment appeared with increasing frequency and the techniques came to be described as “reverse engineering”, a term later co-opted in IT to refer to the process of deconstructing a piece of compiled software in order to be able to understand the source code which underlay to program. Biomimicry was also of interest in the social sciences. Although there had for more than a century been studies of the organization of animal societies including bees, ants and primates, the simultaneous rise of the economist and the power of computers to construct big-machine models meant that it came to be understood there might be a financial value in observations, beyond the academic interest of the behaviorists and psychologists.
Three models: Pop artists have often been attracted to similarities between various animals and the human form, either static or in motion but Japanese painter & sculptor Showichi Kaneda san (b 1970) was much taken with the structural alignment between the hammerhead shark and the modern open wheel racing car of which the Formula One machines are the highest evolution (even if in their present form about the most boring yet regulated).
