The resemblance to biology doesn't end there. One avenue of Morphing Project research is to examine how nature does the things that it does well. Scientists hope they can learn lessons from this tutelage to improve their own designs. Nature does some things that we can't even get close to doing. Birds are so much more maneuverable than our airplanes are today.
Birds can hover, they can fly backwards and sideways.
Bone is very light because of its porous interior, but it's also very strong. LaRC scientists can make structures similar to bone by injecting polymer microspheres into composite shells of the desired shape, then heating the spheres to make them fuse together like tiny soap bubbles. Inspired by biological systems in which damage triggers an autonomic healing response, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a synthetic material that can heal itself when cracked or broken.