Well, you have to admit it's a better blog title than:
Halftone gel lithography for photo-patterning polymer gel sheets.
In our research on sustainabiity, we have often come across elements of the new science (well, it's not that new, but it has a new name) of biomimicry.
Biomimicry has been described as "the quest for innovation inspired by nature".
Notice the number of times that Janine Benyus, the leader of the Biomimcry Institute uses the word "project" when she discusses, in the video below, how biomimicry impacts sustainability technology.
We were inspired for this post, however, by a unique and recent discovery at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which does indeed come under the technical title, "halftone gel lithography for photo-patterning polymer gel sheets".
ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2012) — Inspired by nature's ability to shape a petal, and building on simple techniques used in photolithography and printing, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a new tool for manufacturing three-dimensional shapes easily and cheaply, to aid advances in biomedicine, robotics and tunable micro-optics.
Ryan Hayward, Christian Santangelo and colleagues describe their new method of halftone gel lithography for photo-patterning polymer gel sheets in the current issue of Science. They say the technique, among other applications, may someday help biomedical researchers to direct cells cultured in a laboratory to grow into the correct shape to form a blood vessel or a particular organ.
"We wanted to develop a strategy that would allow us to pattern growth with some of the same flexibility that nature does," Hayward explains. Many plants create curves, tubes and other shapes by varying growth in adjacent areas. While some leaf or petal cells expand, other nearby cells do not, and this contrast causes buckling into a variety of shapes, including cones or curly edges. A lily petal's curve, for example, arises from patterned areas of elongation that define a specific three-dimensional shape.
The implication to projects and to sustainabiity, is immense. This may mean that a biomedical research project will be able to direct cells cultured in a laboratory to grow into the correct shape to form a blod vessel or even an organ. And with the ability to manufacture three-dimensional shapes easily, quickly, and cheaply, the possibilities for projects - and project managers - and sustainability - are nearly endless.
UPDATE:
Almost forgot this other great application of biomimicry - Geckskin.
Read the article here. Fascinating. Think of the projects! It will literally have you climing the walls.
