Do you remember the original TV series of Kung Fu starring David Carradine? Here’s a quote from the original pilot, courtesy of from Master Kan, teacher of Carridine’s character, Kwai Chang Caine : “From the crane we learn grace and self-control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed [...]
Do you remember the original TV series of Kung Fu starring David Carradine? Here’s a quote from the original pilot, courtesy of from Master Kan, teacher of Carridine’s character, Kwai Chang Caine : “From the crane we learn grace and self-control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed and patience. And from the tiger, tenacity. And from the dragon we learn to ride the wind.”
And as this sounds a little bit fancy for our ears nowadays the principle of watching the animals to learn is still working very well for us today.
How useful can for example be an animal’s tail? For the gecko, unlike most animals, it could be a matter of life or death, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.
My only experience with geckos so far was in my vacation in egypt when my girlfriend let me call the housekeeping of the hotel every night to get rid of the gecko who sneaked in the room secretly. But even then I noticed his climbing skills. Geckos rely on their tails to keep from falling off vertical surfaces and, if they do fall, to right themselves in midair and maneuver like a skydiver gliding to a safe landing.
The discovery is already helping engineers design better climbing robots and may aid in the design of unmanned gliding vehicles or spacecraft. Perhaps, the researchers say, an “active” tail could help astronauts maneuver in space. The research is helping build the perfect “distributed foot” for tomorrow’s robots, based on evolution’s ancient engineering.
Watch this breathtaking video of Robert Full who studies cockroach legs and gecko feet.
2 your learning success, Dirk
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Keep posting stuff like this i really like it