Functioning ‘Mechanical Gears’ Seen in Nature for First Time
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130912143627.htm

Sep. 12, 2013 — Previously believed to be only human-made, a natural example of a functioning gear mechanism has been discovered in a common insect — showing that evolution developed interlocking cogs long before we did.

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well throw me a spanner

far out!

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes

I still maintain that much of what we see as our design, has been copied from nature.

roughbarked said:

I still maintain that much of what we see as our design, has been copied from nature.

I wouldn’t go that far. “We often find an example in nature” is probably more correct.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

roughbarked said:

I still maintain that much of what we see as our design, has been copied from nature.

I wouldn’t go that far. “We often find an example in nature” is probably more correct.

fair enough.. What I am saying though is that it often appears that some example appearing in nature ends up being the way we end up building it.

roughbarked said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

roughbarked said:

I still maintain that much of what we see as our design, has been copied from nature.

I wouldn’t go that far. “We often find an example in nature” is probably more correct.

fair enough.. What I am saying though is that it often appears that some example appearing in nature ends up being the way we end up building it.

That is a correct statement. :)

There are numerous examples even within our own bodies, of designs we have borrowed to fit our own purposes. I suppose it boils down to the fact that if we can observe it function in nature then it makes our work all that much more easy.

leverage