This is where the scientists turn to the animal kingdom to improve their designs. Nature does some things that we can't even come close to doing. Birds are much more manoeuvrable than our airplanes are today. Birds can hover, they can fly backwards and sideways. This practice of learning from nature, known as biometrics, has led to the duplicating of bone.
Bone is very light, but also very strong.
The scientists on the project can make structures similar to bone by injecting polymer microspheres into composite shells of the desired shape, then heat the spheres to make them fuse together like tiny soap bubbles. When compared to the cumbersome, rigid structures we fly around in today, it seems we are in for a dramatic change. The team also sees these technologies extending far beyond the aerospace industry. All rights reserved.