1. Copycat!

2. Nature has Some Amazing Nanoscience Feats
…or Should We Say ‘Feets’.
Studying the water strider’s
nanogroovy setules on its toes has
inspired scientists to design
miniature aquatic devices and non-
wetting materials.
Water strider leg hairs and grooves on one hair.

3. Help, my pads
Eight-Legged Note Pads
are stuck!
• The strength of the suction in a spider’s foot is due
to all of the small van der Waals forces at the
nanoscale pulling at the same time.
• So, why isn’t it stuck in one place? It lifts its leg so
that the setules lift successively, not all at once.
• This suggests to scientists that, in the future, super-
strong Post-it® notes, modeled after the
nanoscience of spider toes, will need to be pulled
off very slowly, a little at a time.
My pads are
stuck, too!
Hairy spider toes Setules on hairs

4. And..
Using nanoscience and the van der Waals
force, future Post-it® notes won’t just be
strong, they’ll even stick if they got wet
or greasy.
Imagine astronauts using the same idea for spacesuits
that help them stick to the walls
of a spacecraft,just like a spider
on the ceiling."
I hope they
invent that
suit soon!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/iop-smb041504.php

5. Clean as a…
• Gecko feet can stick to
Gecko?
seemingly smooth
surfaces thanks to
nanoscale setules on
their feet; and the setules
are self cleaning.
• This bonding capability is
inspiring scientists to
develop a synthetic
adhesive that is both dry
and self-cleaning.
SEM image of the polymer fibrillar adhesive fabricated at the NanoRobotics
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/gecko1.html Laboratory, CMU

6. A Material Stronger than Steel
and More Elastic than Nylon?
For 450 million years, spiders have made silk, protein-
based nanomaterials that self-assemble into fibers and
sheets.
•If we figure out how to copy this nanscience feat,
scientists would like to use the material to create an
elevator to space.
•Does that sound like a good idea to you?
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3522

7. Color in Butterfly Wings
Butterfly wing scales in increasing magnitude
Butterfly wings are layers of nanoparticles seperated by
layers of air. The thickness of the layers changes the
colors that we see.
http://www.ntcresearch.org/pdf-rpts/AnRp05/M03-MD14-A5.pdf
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/butterfly.html
http://jbe.jlu.edu.cn/free/v1/i4/207.pdf

8. How Do We Mimic
Wing Colors?
The layered nanostructure of the butterfly
wing inspires scientists to develop textiles
by assembling nanoparticles into layers
from the ‘bottom up’.

9. Living LED’s
Butterflies figured out how to
emit light 30 million years ago.
Fluorescent patches on the wings of this
Fluorescent patches on the wings of this
African swallowtail butterflies work in a very
African swallowtail butterflies work in a very
similar way to high emission light emitting
similar way to high emission light emitting
diodes (LEDs).
diodes (LEDs).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4443854.stm

10. Butterfly Nanostructure Inspiration
Depending on what you need, these nanoparticles might be
made into flourescent proteins, DNA, viruses, or dyes. The
ideas are endless!
These flourescent nanoscale polymer fibers might be used to
reflect visible, UV and IR radiation for cooling or transmit certain
wavelengths of light for warming.
If made into optical chemical or stress sensing nanofibers, they
can be added into other materials and structures.
They can also used for bar coding or other functions.
http://www.ntcresearch.org/pdf-rpts/AnRp05/M03-MD14-A5.pdf

11. Look,
Wings are Colorful
Mom,
I’m dry! and Hydrophobic!
Water droplet
Notice the butterfly’s wing
in the picture isn’t getting
wet?
The butterfly can thank its
lucky stars or, better yet, its
nanoscales.
More information can be found on the web at http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/bubbles/bubbles.htm .
Activities can be found at http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceExAddPenniesToFullGlassMO68.htm or
http://www.iit.edu/~smile/ph9205.html
http://jbe.jlu.edu.cn/free/v1/i4/207.pdf

12. As the Saying Goes…
“Like Water Off of a Duck’s Back…
Or a Butterfly’s Wing!
This picture shows water
droplets on a wood surface
treated with "Lotus Spray“,
The white bar on this The white bar on this a nanotechnology product
picture of a butterfly wing nanoscopic view of a modeled after the butterfly
is 1mm long. butterfly wing is 1 µm. wing and lotus leaf, which
has made the surface
extremely water-repellant
http://jbe.jlu.edu.cn/free/v1/i4/207.pdf
(superhydrophobic).
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/11/5/1/0611102

13. …and Dirt Off of a Butterfly’s Wing!”
Besides repelling water
(hydrophobic), the
nanoscales make butterfly
wings self-cleaning.
Water droplet
http://www.nanotechnic-germany.com/lotuseffect.htm
http://jbe.jlu.edu.cn/free/v1/i4/207.pdf

14. How These Surfaces Work
Because of the nanostructures on This magnified image shows the
a butterfly wing or other nanostructures on a wing surface. Because of
hydrophobic surface, a waterdrop the waxiness of the surface, the waterdrop
forms into a ball, rolling from the rolls – rather than slides – down the surface
with little friction. The drop collects dirt and
surface and taking the dirt with it.
bacteria on its way, and in effect cleans itself.
Nanostructures, (tiny waxy "spikes“), on the
surface prevent a water droplet from reaching
Bu the underlying material. It rolls off the waxy
t te
rfl tips which are very small compared to the
y
wi
n g
or
water droplet. The force of the rolling water is
su
pe greater than the force of attraction between
r-h
yd the surface and dirt or bacteria which allows it
ro
p ho to be washed away.
bi
c
su
rfa
ce
= water
= dirt

15. Science Copies Self-Cleaning Nanoproperties!
Scientists are copying this process Since I can’t
take a bath, it’s
with self cleaning hydrophobic a good thing I’m
self-cleaning!
micro-dots.
An excellent video demonstrates how
this works at
http://www.nanogreensciences.com/index.html
http://www.ntcresearch.org/projectapp/index.cfm?project=C04-CL06&topic=progress

16. Wouldn’t It Be Nice If…?
…more materials could be
self-cleaning?
water repellant?
Can you think of some?

17. Nanoscience Uses for
Bioluminescence
•Biological imaging
Detection of cancers •Red is particularly useful
because it can transmit
through skin better than
green light.
Measuring rate
of cell
multiplication
Pathogen detection
Tracing tumor
growth
Food testing. Bacteria contain ATP that
accelerates the firefly’s
bioluminescence reaction. This makes
Drug screening
it especially good for quickly detecting
bacterial contamination in food.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/84/8414biolum.html

18. Squid Lights
Remember those squid
belly nanoplatelets that
reflect the light of
bioluminescent bacteria?
Those Squid platelets inspire
nanotechnologists to include
such protein-based reflectors in
optical nanodevices.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/critterchemistry.html

19. Toucan Beaks
•The nanostructure of
toucan beaks inspires
automotive panels that could
protect passengers in crashes.
• And inspires construction of
ultralight aircraft
components.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/critterchemistry.html

20. Thirsty?
Living in the desert the thirsty Namib
beetle collects dew to drink using
nanodots on its back.
So What can Thirsty People Do?
Thirsty people in Chile and Haiti
go to ridgetops to collect fog on
large sheets on ridgetops.
But as we learn about
nanoscience in nature…
http://biomechanics.bio.uci.edu/_html/nh_biomech/namib/beetle.htm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/04/clean_water_fro.php

21. We have Nanotechnology Solutions!
You’re
Scientists are modeling welcome!
water harvesting surfaces
after the Namib beetle’s
nanotechnique.
The Namib Beetle’s design is also a model for other
nanotechnology:
1. controlled drug release coatings,
2. open-air microchannel
devices, and
3. lab-on-chip devices.
Patterned Superhydrophobic Surfaces: Toward a
Synthetic Mimic of the Namib Desert Beetle Lei
Zhai, Michael C. Berg, Fevzi Ç. Cebeci, Yushan Kim, John M. Milwid,
Michael F. Rubner, and Robert E. Cohen Nano Lett.; 2006; 6(6) pp 1213
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/04/clean_water_fro.php - 1217;
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/biomimicry_nami.php http://pubs3.acs.org/acs/journals/doilookup?in_doi=10.1021/nl060644

22. `
Don’t You Want to Mimic My Nanopowers?
Ok, hippo sweat is
-a sunscreen,
-hydrophilic
-and antibacterial.
It sounds like promising nanoscience. But, personally, I’m
having a little trouble getting excited about smearing
something called hipposudoric acid on my body!
Can you think of interesting ways to use this
nanoscience or to make it sound more appealing?
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8222/8222notw9.html

23. Nanoscience Biomimicry
We’ve looked at ways scientists are attempting to mimic the
wonders of nanoscience in nature:
•sticky “feet”
•strong spider silk
•self-cleaning light reflecting butterfly wings
•optical nanoscience
•water collecting beetle backs
•tough and light toucan beaks
•and the list could go on and on.

24. Your SuperPower Idea
These ideas have been copied
and modified by science fiction
and cartoonists for decades.
Now it is your turn to delve into
the world of superheros and SuperHipp
supervillains. o to the
rescue!
Take a nanoscience idea from nature.
Create a superbeing or supertool that has a special
power based on this nanoscience idea.
Develop a visual aid and presentation to share
with the class.
http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/software/3dstudiomax/romanlasers_tutorial/index.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4443854.stm

25. Superpower or Nanopower Copycats?
Spiderman uses the
nanoscience of spider silk. Is
this the only way that Spidey
uses nanoscience?
What other superheros could
be using some of these
nanoscience ideas to achieve
their feats?
A database of biomimicry may help you find ideas.
The following database includes some examples of
mimicry that are NOT nanoscale so be careful to
select an idea that is based in nanoscience.
http://www.biomimicry.net/case_studies.html
If you don’t feel you are ready to start on your project yet and
want more clarification or help. Click here for five more slides.