Design features

Stuart Burgess awarded IMechE James Clayton Prize in recognition of space craft and Olympic bike designs.

Our incredible facial expressivity points to us having been overdesigned.

‘Common rose’ butterfly (Pachliopta aristolochiae) wings absorb sunlight from a wide angle range, inspires biomimetic solar cells

Eggshell nanostructure shows purposeful construction and design

Powered by ocean wind shear, the dynamic soaring of the albatross enables it to fly for thousands of miles just above the sea surface without flapping its wings.

Butterfly wings combine the low-drag, self-cleaning, and antifouling features of ‘the shark skin effect’ and ‘the lotus effect’.

When a peacock rattles his train for a peahen, the tail’s eyespots seem to stay still against a background of dynamic iridescence.

Encouragement and concerns at Greenville homeschool conference

The Dsup protein protects tardigrade DNA from radiation harm.

The Basiliscus genus of lizard looks as though it can walk on water.

Bioluminescence, the light-emitting pigment that enables a deep-sea creature called the stoplight loosejaw to shine.

The tiny peacock spider has a colourful, mesmerising courting ritual that has to be seen to be believed.

Overlapping fish scales inspire researchers to design better gloves.

Having successfully copied the water strider’s ability to skate across the water surface, robotics engineers have copied its ability to jump, too.

Capybara, the world’s biggest rodent that seems to get along with everything.

These spiders copy themselves by sculpting larger duplicates complete with eight legs and animate them like puppets to fool predators.