Nature-inspired solutions in 2020

From sea sponges that can build spaceships to durians generating electricity, the year has also led to some pathbreaking innovations

Paris: Climate change and biodiversity loss are laying bare our dependence on the natural world for everything from the food we eat to the air we breathe.

Nature is “a source of inspiration for science, because it has figured out the way Earth supports life,” said Lex Amore from the Biomimicry Institute.

“It is imperative we look to the biological blueprints that have been successful over millennia to launch groundbreaking ideas faster.” From smelly durian fruit that could charge electric cars to sea sponges that might help build better spaceships, here is a selection of this year’s scientific work inspired by nature.

Removing tumours and blood clots through minimal invasive surgery may soon become easier thanks to a flexible, ultra-thin and steerable needle inspired by parasitic wasps.

These formidable insects inject their eggs into living hosts such as caterpillars through a hollow needle called the ovipositor.

Researchers designed a needle made up of sliding rods that imitate the ovipositor, according to a recent study in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.

Spiders make silk to entangle unsuspecting bugs, but now humans can use it to make optical lenses capable of picturing viruses that are invisible to the naked eye.

Scientists used daddy-long-legs’ dragline silk — which makes a web’s frame — as a support for the lens.

They covered a strand of spider silk in wax then dripped resin onto it. As it condensed, the silk naturally formed a dome, which researchers baked in an ultraviolet oven.

The resulting optical lens is about the size of a red blood cell and could be used to picture nano-scale objects like viruses or the insides of biological tissue.

As the lens is made from natural, non-toxic material, it can safely be used inside the body.

The durian fruit is now helping charge mobile phones and electric cars. Scientists have made extremely light and porous materials called aerogels from the fruit. Aerogels are “great super-capacitors”, which resemble energy reservoirs that dole out energy smoothly. They can then supply energy to charge electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops within a few seconds.