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Do you remember your mom taking you to a doctor's office? The doctor decided to give you some medicine. She rolled up your sleeves and gave you a shot in the upper arm. That hurt, didn't it? What if a shot given in the arm didn't hurt? Well, maybe in the future, it won't. Some scientists have been studying how the lowly mosquito is able to bite us without us knowing. When they figure out the secrets, the doctor's shot might become a painless procedure. This is what "biomimetics" is about.

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People who study biomimetics look to solve human problems by copying how nature does it. It might sound complicated, but it is much easier once you understand. Let's look at some examples of biomimetics we see today or will see in the near future.

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Termites are simple creatures, but when they work together, they can build incredible natural structures. Some termite mounds can reach 7 meters in height. They even go 3 meters underground. There is another amazing fact about termite mounds: even though the temperature outside can vary from 40 degrees Celsius during the day to 1 degree Celsius at night, it is always about 30 degrees Celsius inside. Termite mounds are built in a way that hot air rises out and cool air comes in through the bottom. Inspired by termite mounds, Mike Pearce, an African architect, constructed a building in Zimbabwe and another in Australia using the same passive cooling techniques. These buildings were 10% cheaper to build because less money was spent on air moving equipment, and this design reduced cooling energy costs by 35%. Now that's a cool idea!

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If you look at an airplane's wings, you can sometimes see that the tips are turned upwards. These are called "winglets" and they may look neat, but they have measurable benefits. When engineers studied birds, they observed that birds' wings have tips that turned up in flight. They found that the tips smooth the flow of air, which helps them conserve energy when flying. The engineers thought that if it worked for birds, why not for airplanes? The end result is that the airplane winglets help keep planes smaller, saving about 10% in fuel costs. This is beneficial not just for the environment but for passengers' wallets, too.

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Sea urchins may be eaten in some parts of the world, but they can also damage parts of the sea environment with their bony mouths. A sea urchin mouth looks a lot like a five-fingered claw you might see while trying to pick up prizes at the arcade. This design is surprisingly efficient at grabbing and grinding. The efficiency of this natural design is now being tested for incorporation into missions in space. When small robots are sent to another planet to collect soil samples, the standard method is to use something inefficient like a small shovel. By copying the design of a sea urchin mouth, scientists believe it will be easier to collect samples. Amazingly, a design developed naturally in the deep sea may soon be seen in deep space.