【正文】 l, it’s a very difficult challenge.‖ 107 ?Despite the obstacles to true energy harvesting, researchers persist. At the University of Washington, Brian Otis is designing a batteryfree inflight monitoring device for hawkmoths. ―There is data for insects showing huge differences in temperature between rest and movement,‖ he explained. Otis believes the high internal heat of a flying insect is another potential power source. 108 ? Because DARPA provides the funding, scientists who take on the challenge of creating insect cybs are ostensibly working toward the ultimate service of the government and army. But so far, the synthesis of insect and machine has benefited science more than the military. Insect cybs are not only pushing engineers to build devices — like Cornell’s GPS system — that are smaller, lighter and more efficient than anything they’ve made before, they could give scientists access to entirely novel information. 109 ?It’s very difficult to measure a living anism’s internal processes without somehow restraining it and disturbing its natural behaviors. But the more scientists learn about safely fusing living animals and technology, the better they bee at monitoring the many important biological processes that happen inside those animals, without keeping them caged up or tethered in labs. ? Bionic bugs could soon provide biologists with an unprecedented ability to study insects in their natural environment. Imagine breeding cyb moths and beetles outfitted with tiny selfsufficient GPS monitors and chemical sensors — then releasing them to the skies and forests. 110 ? ―We want to monitor body temperature, metabolic rate, flight speed — we want to map where they are going, map their life history. A lot of this is really unknown,‖ said VandenBrooks, coauthor of the Berkeley study. ―Animal tracking devices and how long they last are an important issue,‖ said Cornell’s Reissman. ―Making better, longer lasting devices would be very advantageous to understanding biological systems.‖ 111 ? Focusing on the nervous systems of insects has also proven beneficial to scientists. It might seem trivial to study the brains and behaviors of bugs, but nerves — the individual cells of the nervous system — are so plicated that researchers need to tightly concentrate their efforts to make progress. ? ―It’s a very valuable way to approach and study neuroscience,‖ the University of Utah’s Harrison said. ―It turns out biology is really, really plex. A housefly has a quarter million neurons in its brain — and that’s just a housefly!‖ 112 ? ―It’s such a scifi approach that some people see no feasibility or use for this research,‖ said Reissman, ―but the truth is that each of these research areas needs advancing. We’re going to keep seeing good science e out of this.‖ 113 不會漏氣的仿蜂巢輪胎 ? 我們的身邊日夜都陪伴著大量昆蟲和蜘蛛綱動物，它們形態(tài)不一，體型各異，但由于長相恐怖，我們幾乎不會將它們作為思考的對象。按照政府提出的要求，輪胎需要具備較高的承重能力，可抵御臨時爆炸裝置襲擊并且能夠在遇襲后仍以每小時 50英里 (約合每小時 80公里 )的速度行駛。 115 世界上一些嚴重缺水的地區(qū)，只有富有革新性的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造才能真正確保飲用水的潔凈與安全。這款水壺采用不銹鋼圓頂造型，早晨時的溫度低于空氣，所形成的露水會滑落至一個收集道。水劇場是專為金絲雀群島的拉斯帕爾馬斯開發(fā)區(qū)設計的，它同樣從甲蟲身上獲取靈感。這座供養(yǎng)動植物的農場能夠利用充足的陽光和高空的空氣流動。雖然聽起來沒什么大不了的，但對于研制光學計算機芯片的科學家來說，這卻是解決一個困擾了他們多年的問題的關鍵。蟻堆底部的孔負責吸入空氣，頂部的孔則負責將空氣排出。蝴蝶翅膀上的微小鱗片能夠反射光線，上面覆蓋著透明的膜。 Mirasol顯示屏利用環(huán)境中的自然光線而不是人造照明。更令人感到欣喜的是，與此前采取的方式相比，仿蝴蝶翅膀太陽能收集器的成本效益更高。 ? 123 ? 一年一度的“火人節(jié)”從來就不缺少富有藝術氣息和奇形怪異的汽車。如果這樣一個怪異的家伙出現在街道上，一定會成為最大焦點。這款單人駕駛的代步工具名為“機械蜘蛛”，有8條腿，利用液壓行進。錯列的窗戶色彩鮮艷，能夠起到遮陽和通風的作用。研究人員利用從蝴蝶翅膀上獲得的靈感，提高染料敏化太陽能電池收集陽光的能力。 Mirasol顯示屏能夠產生類似的效果，它采用兩個玻璃面板和微型鏡子，能夠將顏色反射到屏幕上。很顯然，這是一種具有可持續(xù)性和成本效益的方式。 119 ? 如何讓津巴布韋的中高層建筑在不使用空調或者不用支付大筆電費情況下保持涼爽呢？答案是模仿自冷卻的白蟻堆。除了農場外，這座建筑的內部還建造了住宅和辦公室。 117 ? 令人吃驚的垂直概念農場是文森特 116 ? 這一設計與甲蟲靈感水壺類似，但個頭卻是它的 1000