Nature has always inspired engineers, architects, technological researchers, and scientists across the world. Birds have inspired our flight technology. Prairie ecosystems have encouraged mankind to develop more sustainable and efficient agriculture systems. Spiral flows in flowers have inspired efficient water mixing systems. Bur seeds have inspired velcro. The list goes on and on!
Now, a scientific report has come out in which MIT engineers show how the mobula ray’s unique filter-feeding technique and its specialized structures could inspire more efficient industrial water filters.
Before delving deeper into the discovery, let us briefly look at Mobula Rays.
What are Mobula Rays?
Also called flying rays for their acrobatic leaping, Mobula Rays are creatures with large, flat, diamond-shaped bodies and long fins that allow them to glide through the water – and also through the air. These fishes regularly gather together to leap out of the sea and launch themselves into the air, often jumping around two meters out of the water before flopping back down with a splash.
As the Natural History Museum points out, Mobula Rays filter-feed, meaning they strain plankton out of the water using their mouths, and that shoals of them often gather together in huge numbers. But how could they be an inspiration in designing 3D-printed water filtration solutions? We shall discuss this in the next segment.
Click here to learn about how robotics can take a cue from nature.
Following Mobula Rays for Water Filtration
The Mobula Ray filtering apparatus resembles industrial cross-flow filters but operates under a different parameter regime. To bridge the gap between industrial cross-flow and Mobula filtration, the researchers established a universal framework for the permeability–selectivity trade-off in a leaky channel.
Researchers claim to have successfully demonstrated that the geometry of Mobula filters has evolved to strike a balance to accommodate breathing and feeding and derive design principles that extend beyond traditional filtration regimes. The result is the creation of Mobula-inspired filtration devices.
While all these might sound like complex exercises in the field of biomimicry, it is simpler to follow the mechanism if we look at Mobula Rays a bit more closely. Mobula rays feed themselves by swimming open-mouthed through plankton-rich regions of the ocean and filtering plankton particles into their gullet as water streams into their mouths and out through their gills.
The floor of the mobula ray’s mouth is lined on either side with parallel, comb-like structures, called plates, that siphon water into the ray’s gills. It is these plates that hold the key to the present research we are discussing here.
The team of MIT researchers has shown that the dimensions of these plates may allow for incoming plankton to bounce all the way across the plates and further into the ray’s cavity rather than out through the gills. Moreover, the Mobula Ray’s gills can absorb oxygen from the outflowing water to help simultaneously breathe while feeding.
According to study author Anette “Peko” Hosoi, the Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT:
“We (the researchers) show that the mobula ray has evolved the geometry of these plates to be the perfect size to balance feeding and breathing.”
The researchers devised a water filter in accordance with the mobula ray’s plankton-filtering features. Subsequently, they looked into how water could flow through the filter when fitted with 3D-printed plate-like structures. Results obtained from these exercises were drawn up into a blueprint for designers to use in optimizing industrial cross-flow filters, which are broadly similar in configuration to that of the mobula ray.
According to lead author and MIT postdoc Xinyu Mao:
“We want to expand the design space of traditional cross-flow filtration with new knowledge from the manta ray.”
While explaining the nature of the expansion, the researcher said:
“People can choose a parameter regime of the mobula ray so they could potentially improve overall filter performance.”
In their own mobula ray-inspired filter design, the research team created a simple filter. The design, known as a ‘leaky channel,’ resembles a pipe with holes along its sides. To elaborate more on the nature of the ‘channel,’ it consisted of two flat acrylic plates with a slight gap between them, allowing fluid to flow through. At one end of the channel, the researchers placed 3D-printed structures that mimicked the grooved plates inside the mobula ray’s mouth.
They tested the setup by pumping water through the channel at varying speeds. They added colored dye to achieve an effective visualization of the flow. When the flow rate increased, the water created vortices at the mouth of each groove, preventing particles from passing through and pushing the particles down the channels instead.
What mobula rays typically do is swim at the right speed to generate vortices that trap even the smallest plankton particles, allowing the rest of the water to flow out through its gills. This insight becomes the key to an ideal blueprint for optimizing industrial cross-flow filters, offering practical guidance for improving filter design.
1. Ford (F +1.21%)
One of the most revered automotive brands in the world – Ford – drew inspiration from bees to design a lightweight yet strong honeycomb cargo shelf for its all-new Ecosport SUV. The Ford EcoSport had its adjustable cargo floorboard made of high-strength 100 percent recycled paper honeycomb, helping compact SUV customers to do more with less.
Constructed from all-natural paper and water-based glue, the six-pound honeycomb floorboard was both eco-friendly and strong enough to handle nearly 700 pounds of cargo. Originally derived from honeybees, the biomimicking technology was first introduced in household door manufacturing 50 years ago.
While speaking about the nature-inspired design in their cars, Mike Maxzzella, Ford EcoSport assistant chief engineer, said:
“The hexagonal design of honeycomb is a testament to nature’s ingenuity. Not only is it strong, it’s super light. Customers can slide the shelf into multiple different slots, like an oven rack, and even store it on the back of the seats. It helps make EcoSport super-flexible in everyday use.”
The EcoSport shelf weighed only six pounds. Yet, it was rated to handle close to 700 pounds across a 38.5-inch by 25.25-inch surface. In other words, this slip of a shelf could hold innumerable combinations of heavy items, like five bags of concrete mix (94 pounds each), four large bags of topsoil (40 pounds each), and eight individual gallons of water (just little more than eight pounds each).
Ford has always been a company that has always reached out to nature’s function to understand how its products could be made better, efficient, and robust. Almost a decade back, in 2015, the company started exploring Biomimicry in an organized way. It had announced a research partnership with Procter and Gamble to create novel adhesives with assistance from the Biomimicry Institute, a nonprofit organization that advocated for the adoption of nature-inspired solutions.
While speaking about the importance of such partnerships, Beth Rattner, executive director of the Biomimicry Institute, had the following to say:
“I think it’s critical that someone like Ford say, ‘We’re putting our efforts into this not just because we think it’s better, more sustainability design, but so people will pay more attention to the natural organism in the process.’”
In 2015, the company attempted to derive new adhesives by studying the toe pads of the Tokay gecko, which allow the lizard to race across ceilings and glass windows. Ford saw it as an opportunity to boost recycling rates for its vehicles by as much as 10% as a gecko toe-inspired adhesive could allow the car manufacturer to better separate the mishmash of plastics and foams left after a car is stripped of its metal insides.
According to Debbie Mielewski, the then-senior technical leader for plastics and sustainability research at Ford:
“If we could separate it, if we could identify different streams within it, we would stand a much better chance of being able to utilize them for higher-end applications.”
Ford Motor Company (F +1.21%)
While Ford continues to draw inspiration from nature, it continues to perform well financially and revenue-wise. The company registered a revenue of $46.20B in the quarter ending September 30, 2024, with 5.47% growth, bringing the company’s revenue in the last twelve months to $182.74B, up 4.89% year-over-year. In the year 2023, Ford Motor Company had an annual revenue of $176.19B with 11.47% growth.
2. The Procter and Gamble Company (PG +0.49%)
Another major corporate entity that is at the forefront of learning better product formulation principles from nature is Procter and Gamble. In 2024, Procter and Gamble formed a partnership with Basecamp Research, a mapper of genetic biodiversity for AI-based protein design, to expedite the development of high-performance cleaning enzymes for cold water conditions.
The partnership was keen to learn from organisms adapted to cold environments to design novel enzymes with improved cold wash performance using AI. While speaking about the purpose of the partnership and the value P&G wants to derive from it, Dr Philip Souter OBE, senior director of laundry Research and Development at P&G, had the following to say:
“We are pleased to be partnering with Basecamp Research on this initiative, working together to develop new solutions by combining their unique view of nature and AI capability with our extensive innovation mastery to deliver a superior consumer experience.”
P&G had specific plans to leverage the capabilities of Basecamp Research in understanding the genetic biodiversity of millions of organisms in cold environments and use it to increase effectiveness at lower wash temperatures to reduce the need for hot water — which is better for the environment and heating bills.
Procter and Gamble was also inspired by Biomimicry 3.8’s research that drew insights from snakes and leeches to design better detergents. Biomimicry 3.8 is the world’s premier consulting and professional training company focusing on nature-positive design and innovation.
One of Biomimicry 3.8’s research looked at improving the stain-removing effectiveness of laundry products. By focusing on deep patterns in the biological world, Biomimicry 3.8 identified 30 unique biological strategies with the potential to solve the vexing challenge of removing blood stains from fabric. The research looked into the way snakes and leeches function as they are among the many organisms that can digest blood and are considered one of the toughest stain makers.
These organisms, alongside many more, offered valuable design lessons for a solution with the potential to limit the use of chlorine, wastewater, and energy in removing stains. Owing to this research, P&G’s R&D department shifted its entire research efforts. Principal scientist Yousef Aouad said the work gave the team a bloodstain model with a conceptual understanding of sequential steps to get rid of bloodstains.
“But most importantly, the model now also explains in hindsight: Why is it that our current enzymes fall short of doing their job on bloodstains?”
– Yousef Aouad
The Procter & Gamble Company (PG +0.49%)
Learning from nature and consistently drawing inspiration from it meant more and more growth in the company’s offerings and diversity in its product range. The company’s revenue witnessed a steady growth in its net sales. It grew from US$71 billion in 2020 to US$84 billion in 2024. The operating income also surged from US$15.7 billion to US$18.5 billion.
Click here to learn how leafhoppers can teach us to manipulate light.
The Future of Nature-Inspired Designs
Companies are becoming increasingly interested in drawing inspiration from nature since their designs are sustainable, eco-friendly, capable of optimizing available resources, and flexible enough to adapt to diverse climate conditions.
One of the most recent and highly popular emulations of nature in design and engineering was when Mercedes Benz developed the Bionic Car, drawing inspiration from the great structural strength and low mass of the boxfish. The car was reported to reduce drag while exhibiting significant levels of rigidity, low weight, and significantly lower fuel consumption than traditional cars.
In Japan, the design of Bullet Trains was inspired by the Kingfisher. Masters in traveling between the mediums of air and water, with a very little splash, these trains inspired the Shinkansen bullet train design with a long beak-shaped nose. The design significantly reduced the amount of noise the train made, and also used 15 percent less electricity, and traveled 10 percent faster than before.
Almost two decades ago, another group of MIT researchers produced a new material that could capture and control tiny amounts of water. The design was inspired by dime-sized beetles. The material combined a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surface with superhydrophilic (water-attracting) bumps that trapped water droplets and controlled water flow.
Potential applications for the new material included harvesting water, making a lab on a chip (for diagnostics and DNA screening), and creating microfluidic devices and cooling devices.
The history of Biomimicry is as old as the human civilization itself. Examples of this are not only in engineering but also in architecture. In architecture, biomimicry expresses itself in the design of more sustainable and efficient buildings that are in harmony with nature. Often called Biomimetic architectures, these buildings draw inspiration from nature to become energy-efficient, bioclimatic, sustainable, adaptive, resilient, and sustainable.
However, to make biomimicry a more efficient process, the tools must become more effective. According to designers, although there is no shortage of biomimicry tools to choose from, most biomimetic tools help designers generate concepts and map these concepts from the field of biomimetics to potential applications, but these tools offer little actionable advice on translating biological concepts into manufacturable prototypes.
However, there has been a noticeable increase in investments made in technology that helps us adopt nature-based designs to our everyday applications. According to estimates, the global biomimetic technology market could grow from US$6.8 billion in 2017 to US$18.5 billion in 2028.
In the earlier days, the purpose of technology and machines was to make our lives simple by automating tasks that were repetitive and iterant. Nowadays, technology has to be sustainability-oriented so that it uses available resources judiciously and leaves the least possible impact on our planet in terms of carbon emissions.
Nature-inspired designs could be a great way to make technology more efficient that way. This feature of nature-inspired design would help garner more attention and investment in the days to come.
Click here for a list of top technologies with scary potential.
