At first I was hiking in the Costa Rican Jungle and was inspired by the many animals and sea life creatures.
In fact, I took notice to the many geckos I was lucky enough to witness in action. What really crossed my eye was how acrobatic these geckos were. Millions of hairs are found on gecko's peculiar feet that are called setae. The hairs attraction is extremely miniscule and the net effect is very powerful. In fact, the hairs are so powerful they are measured up be able to carry 250 pounds. The trick that they us is the change of direction of the setae and the grip is instantly broken, no sticky residue, no tearing, and no pressure necessary. “A team in the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, that researchers developed Geckskin, and an adhesive so strong that it can hold 700 pounds.” Barlett & Crosby/UMASS Amherst.
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Dabiri of California Institute of Technology associated with aquatic bio forms. Wind turbines are the Colossus of the modern landscape and the blades can sweep up to a football field in diameter. Critics call this particular invention unsightly while the blades clobber unsuspecting birds. There is also an a efficiency problem while the blades become more powerful, but they’re size requires that they be spaced apart, this means they take up a lot of land. John Dabiri of Caltech also found a solution underwater and also built an experimental wind farm-(FLOWE). In which the location of turbine relative to each other takes advantage of air flow among them” Dabiri 1. “The turbine placement was determined by studying the wake vortices produced by schools of swimming fish” Dabiri 1. Dabiri’s 30 ft. tall wind turbine has blades that gather energy generated as wind flows through the wind farm. The blades take advantage of the wind’s behavior, for energy production, the way fish take advantage of water’s behavior for forward
Adaptive radiation of different organisms have occurred throughout geological time through the filling of ecological niches. Organisms different from one another are capable of radiating greatly, as they evolve traits that allow them to thrive better in their environment. The Anolis lizards of the Caribbean islands are a great example of a single genus to have radiated not once, but multiple times through very similar mechanisms. Different populations of the Anolis phenotypically vary in their morphological traits to facilitate adaptation to particular niches. These phenotypic variations have evolved in convergence in more than one occasion, as recently discovered fossil specimens show similar patterns in morphology to modern Anolis.
God has given the frilled lizard a great ability to scare things away from him. It stands on its back legs, swaying back and forth . He opens up his mouth, then hisses. Bright frills of skin sticks out around his head. The lizard makes himself look big and to scare off others.
Water turbines are near the oldest ways to run power without using fossil fuels. The new age had turned these into hydro turbines that generally reside in dams. These machines take similar shape to wind turbines. Hidden in the base of a dam, there is a very large turbine that, in a simple explanation, when water runs through it spins. With the energy used by the spinning turbo it is turned into different power sources that are stored into power cells. Way back in time, this idea was used in power mills. Those old spinning wheels on the side of houses that rotate with water pressure. The first power plant was constructed in 1879 at Niagara Falls, Canada. In the United States the first plant was in 1882 in Wisconsin. These extravagant machines seemed marvelous, but that is no longer the outcome. The current age hydroelectricity dams are currently being shut down for harmful aspects triggered from the giant production. Causing an environmental failure to marine life and habitats all around. The possible outcomes are: changing the oxygen levels in the water that cause organisms to perish; fluctuating water levels that cause different
The incredible properties on gecko’s feet are due to nanostructures present on it. It has a series of small ridges called as scansors, containing numerous projections called setae. On the foot of a gecko around half a million of the setae are present. Each seta is approximately 100 μm in length with 5 μm in diameter. Each seta is further subdivided into about a thousand 200 nm-wide projections called spatula. This results in enormous total surface area of the gecko’s feet, which gives enough flexibility to mold itself on any surface.
A gecko’s grip- Geckos are reptiles that can walk on walls and ceilings. Their toes are sticky which help them climb. They have miniscule projections called setae and these then branch into fine tips called spatulas. These spatulas are thin hair like fibers that are found in bunched up in certain areas of their feet. Analysts in California trust that the reptile's "sticky" toes can help in producing a dry and self-cleaning adhesive. (Lewis, 2013) (Kishor Kalauni, 2014)
The article I have is from a science news website, Live Science. The article is about how animals such as geckos and insects such as spiders can climb walls so easily. The writer of the article, Laura Geggel, talks in a third person point of view to go over general research picked up by doctors, comparisons to the animals, and scientific studies of insect and animal sticky conduction. The writer also talks in a relatively informative language to state solutions in how these animals and insects are able to walk on walls. The writer also made numerous examples to help explain solutions to the creature’s ability of wall climbing. The first is the comparison of the gecko wall climbing ability to the ability of a tiny spider. The second example
The New Caledonian Crested Gecko is one of the most sought out reptiles in the herptoculture hobby today. This medium-sized gecko has all the qualities of what to expect of a pet lizard. They combine their sheer beauty and low maintenance and docile tempers, making it an all around great pet to own (Rhacodactylus, p. 16). In the herpetological society, the crested gecko’s popularity has grown above hobbyist, into the hands of many first time pet owners, giving a first time experience made easy. According to Fester, (2007) “the rare Crested Gecko thought to be extinct but rediscovered in New Caledonia in 1994” (fester’ at Ireland
The gecko gripper robot Lemur 3 will work in pretty much the same way as the real gecko, according to Parness. The team working on the project has created a material studded with synthetic hairs much smaller than a human hair. This material adheres when it is pushed against a surface.
For many, the mention of wind energy conjures images of giant white turbines, their blades slowly rotating, stretching off into the distance with no end in sight. This is how it has been portrayed in pictures, but this is not how wind energy truly looks. Photographs in books and magazines imply that wind energy would require these never ending fields. On the contrary, smaller fields where a limited amount of turbines create all the power needed and more for a city that is nearby, or smaller individual turbines creating enough energy for a home or neighborhood without being obtrusive, is how wind energy truly looks. Wind energy harnesses the power of the wind and converts it to other forms of energy, one of the main known forms being electricity.
This research topic involves the study of environmental science. The following characteristics of wind power and hydropower will be discussed: background information that includes definitions and previous research, how wind
What does it look like? The Tokay Gecko is part of the Gecko species and is easily remembered by it’s blue and orange scales. It’s a bilateral reptile and its typical weight is around eight or eleven ounces. It’s normal adult size is about ten to twelve inches.
Along with these benefits come many practical difficulties associated with offshore wind projects. Offshore projects are expensive, particularly when paralleled with those projects which are land-based. The surface of ocean is a harsh place to maintain and build these structures. Due to this reason, high winds that carry larger amounts of energy threaten the steadiness of wind turbines which causes installation to become much more rigorous and costly. Furthermore, it also fetches the need for monitoring which is an expensive and automated system for maintenance. Underwater topography presently describes the viability of installation as most current models use foundations rooted directly into sea beds that are shallow.
Deal, 2010, ‘Wind Power: An Emerging Energy Resource’, Technology and Engineering Teacher, pp. 9-15, viewed on September 12, 2011, retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/853062621/fulltextPDF/13255EC175479D10C7A/1?accountid=42518
“A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy”. (1) The inventor of the first electric wind turbine was Clevelander Charles Brush, who ran his entire Euclid Avenue mansion off of one for 20 years, which later made the cover of Scientific American in 1888. (2) Although the use of alternate energy didn't rise a great deal afterward, this event did open the eyes for many environmentalists. Wind power is only one of our several “energy source[s] whose ‘fuel’ is free and will never be exhausted” (3) with the pros and cons not completely weighed out as to whether it will be truly beneficial or not. The two main issues regarding wind turbines are the environmental effects that they have and the
Wind power is a clean and renewable energy that, while at times unreliable, has very low upkeep cost and is growing at a rapid rate. While there is currently enough wind power to provide many times our current energy need, it is unfeasible in reality. Wind power utilizes the kinetic energy of air and uses it to power a generator to produce electricity. Even though dependence on wind power is impossible, it still can provide a strong, clean, quantity of power to supplement current energy production.