In this blog post, we’ll explore how technologies inspired by nature can transform our lives, focusing in particular on two active areas of research.
The Concept of Biomimetics and Examples in Daily Life
The secret behind how aquatic mammals like otters and sea otters maintain a constant body temperature even in cold water lies in their unique fur structure. When these animals dive underwater, air bubbles trapped between their fur form a thin layer of air close to the skin; this layer acts as insulation, helping them retain body heat for extended periods. Mimicking this principle, researchers developed a fabric in 2016 that helps maintain body temperature even underwater, thereby improving the ability of people who wish to stay active in the water for extended periods to retain their body heat.
Nature already holds the answers to countless problems we face in our daily lives. The field that studies and mimics these solutions to develop technologies that benefit our lives is biomimetics. The achievements of this field have permeated every aspect of our lives. Airplanes inspired by bird wings, Velcro modeled after the hooked structure of burdock seeds, full-body swimsuits modeled after the bumpy texture of shark skin, and adhesive technologies that mimic the microstructure of a gecko’s feet are all results of observing and imitating nature.
In this article, we will focus on two topics in particular—structural materials modeled after pearl oyster shells and storage technologies inspired by DNA’s information storage system—where research is actively underway and which have the potential to bring significant changes to our lives.
Technologies Inspired by Pearl Oyster Shells and DNA
The first subject of interest is the pearl oyster shell. Among materials found in nature, the pearl oyster shell exhibits exceptional mechanical properties; its hardness and toughness are so outstanding that it rivals even the finest structural materials currently used by humans. However, what particularly interests researchers is not only the shell’s superior properties but also the fact that its structure can be synthesized at room temperature.
Most artificial structural materials tend to require higher processing temperatures as they become harder. Processing at high temperatures leads to disadvantages such as increased energy costs and limitations on where processing can take place. On the other hand, if we could mimic materials like pearl oyster shells—which are hard yet can be synthesized at room temperature—it could bring about significant changes across the entire industry. For example, marine structures—particularly equipment such as oil rigs used in the deep sea—typically must be manufactured on land and transported to their sites, which entails high costs and difficulties in performing emergency repairs. If materials modeled after pearl oyster shells were commercialized, structures could be synthesized or repaired immediately on-site, significantly reducing these constraints.
In other words, developing a hard material capable of synthesis at room temperature would allow us to avoid the costs and location constraints associated with high-temperature processing. As a result, flexibility in on-site fabrication and repair would increase, potentially transforming the very way industrial sites operate. From this perspective, the pearl oyster shell is viewed as more than just a strong natural material—it is a source of inspiration for practical manufacturing innovation.
Next, let’s consider the DNA found in our bodies. DNA can be described as a naturally occurring quaternary information storage medium composed of four types of nucleotides: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). In contrast, most human-made digital storage media are based on 0s and 1s—that is, the binary system.
The difference between these two systems has a significant impact on the amount of information that can be stored. In a storage unit of length n, the number of possible combinations is 2^n in the binary system, but it reaches 4^n in the quaternary system. In other words, for a unit of the same length, the quaternary system can hold far more information—equivalent to the square of the binary system—and as n increases, this difference grows exponentially.
In fact, the DNA of a single cell contains an enormous amount of highly compressed information, and its storage density and efficiency are superior to any storage device currently created by humans. Therefore, by mimicking or applying nature’s information storage methods, we open up the possibility of developing data storage technologies that are more efficient than any medium currently in use.
As such, materials modeled after pearl oyster shells can revolutionize structural fabrication and repair methods thanks to their ability to be synthesized at room temperature, while DNA’s quaternary storage method offers the potential to dramatically increase the density and efficiency of information storage. Although these two examples come from different fields, they clearly demonstrate the common principle that “understanding nature’s structures and principles and reproducing them through human technology can solve practical problems.”
So far, we have examined potential changes in the fields of structural materials and information storage through topics actively being researched in the field of biomimetics. Ideas derived from nature have transformed our lives in the past, are currently being applied through various research efforts, and will continue to provide new solutions in the future.
Of course, the path to research and commercialization is not always smooth. However, nature holds countless solutions that we have not yet fully understood, and as long as we continue our efforts to discover and apply them, nature will continue to provide us with valuable inspiration.
