These are a collection of resources (YouTube videos, journal and news articles, books, and online tools) for bio-inspired design that I’ve come across over the years. Some are just great inspiration for successful bio-inspired design, others are tools that can help you better implement your own bio-inspiration! A lot of these resources are also covered in my Bio-Inspired Engineering Design class (Texas A&M MEEN 440/696).

• “Snakeskin inspires new, friction-reducing material” Daniel Strain, CU Boulder (2021)
• “New Biodegradable Velcro Has Some Surprising Uses” Eric Mack, Forbes (2021)
• “An Octopus-Inspired Soft Robot Uses Origami Principles” Cassandra Martindell (2021)
• “Researchers Have Developed a Chameleon-Inspired Solution to Keep Fish Fresh” (2021) Tara DiMaio, The Spoon
• “How An Elephant’s Trunk Manipulates Air to Eat and Drink” (2021) Jason Maderer, Georgia Tech
• “A surface stays frost-free by showing water drops no mercy” (2021) Zhang et al., Nature
• “Researcher Develops Bio-Inspired Technology Based on Bat’s Ear” (2021) Alex McFarland, UNITE AI
• “Airport Screening Machines Use Echolocation Like Bats Do” (2015) Charley Locke, WIRED
• “Immortal jellyfish: How does this species skip steps in its life cycle?” (2019) Research, Texas A&M
• “The Future of Innovation is Here: 8 Inventions from Nature’s Laboratory (2019) The Biomimicry Institute
• “Engineers Ask Nature For Design Advice” By Jim Robbins, The New York Times (2001)
• “Peacock spiders’ superblack spots reflect just 0.5 percent of light” By Carolyn Wilke, Science News (2019)
• “Chiton mollusk provides model for new armor design” by Lindsey Haugh, Virginia Tech (2019)
• “Bird feathers inspire research on structural colors” by Alex Knisely, University of Akron (2019)
• “Clingfish biology inspires better suction cup” design products & applications (2019)
• “Rock-munching sea urchins have self-sharpening teeth” by Eva Frederick Science (2019)
• “Angle-Sensing, Bio-Inspired Photodetectors” by Molly Moser, Optics & Photonics News (2018)
• “Neither smooth nor rough: Novel bio-inspired surfaces make insects slip” by City University of Applied Sciences (2018)
• “Captured in silken netting and sticky hairs” by Kiel University (2013)
• “Sticky Tape Inspired by Insect Feet” By Lisa Zyga (2007)
• “Six-legged robots faster than nature-inspired gait” by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (2017)
• “Biomimicry: Turning to nature for technological solutions” (2019)
• “Proteus becomes the world’s first manufactured non-cuttable material” (2020)
• “RoboClam: Robot inspired by the razor clam’s amazing digging powers” (2014)