European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Bio mimicry is the cutting Edge of new Pentagon research by Thomas j. Sheehan the associated press the Pentagon is trying to find out what makes Reindeer Antlers and sea shells so Tough but Light. The answer could mean better Protection for soldiers and pilots As Well As stronger cars medical implants and Bowling balls. Quot we need very lightweight thin High strength materials Quot said Wilbur c. Simmons with the army research office near Durham n.c., which commissioned the $2 million study. Researchers at three universities Are involved in the five year project. Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will study Antlers the University of Washington will examine sea shells and Princeton University will do both. Researchers will study the Ceramic Type properties that provide a sea Shell s hardness and the organic properties that enable Antlers to absorb such shocks As the collision of two male Reindeer charging each other. They will also try to understand Why they re Light. Quot if you re going to have an application of say Armor you Don t want to carry All that weight around your body or on a Lank or planes Quot said Lhnn Aksay who is directing the research at in both cases the idea is to look at structures and learn lessons from the Way nature designed them and see if we can design similar structures through synthetics Quot he said. Reindeer Antlers May hold the key to new lightweight military Armor. Studying items from nature is Quot the cutting Edge of research in materials Quot said Frank n. Kelley Dean of the polymer science and engineering school at the University of Akron. 1 at Akron researchers Are trying to determine Why a spider web is stronger than Nylon. The goal is to learn what tends special properties to natural materials for example Why do Trees Bend but not break at Case Western Reserve researchers Hope to duplicate the toughness and fast growing property of Antlers through Quot Bio mimicry Quot a the manufacture of a synthetic material based on a principle found in nature. Antlers interest scientists because the velvet covered incredibly. Sturdy and grow yearly said Eric Baer director of the research at Case Western Reserve. At their Peak Antlers can grow an Inch a Day. Antlers Are stronger than Bone possibly because of Complex layers of protein and minerals scientists believe. Their makeup May give clues to creating materials that could Lead to sturdier medical implants Bowling balls that never and automobile panels that resist chips and Dinep from gravel. And the Pentagon is interested in anything that offers better Protection against High velocity objects. Baer has been promised a free Supply of Antlers from the Herd of five Greenland Reindeer at the Cleveland metro Parks zoo Reindeer both Bucks and does shed Antlers yearly. Alan Sironen Reindeer keeper at the zoo said he has gained respect for both the strength of Reindeer and the toughness of their Antlers. He has seen Reindeer lift 15-foot, 10-Inch diameter tree trunks and push aside huge piles of Brush with their Antlers. A european Avalanche control technology helps make California slopes safer by the associated press dotting a Ridge of the Sierra Nevada above Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada the Peculiar Snail shaped tubes Are hard to spot. But their controlled Gas explosion can be heard for Miles shaking the Earth and dislodging dangerously Loose Snow in a High tech Battle against killer avalanches. Used for a generation in Europe the French designed Calex exploder was first installed three years ago in North America above a treacherous stretch of . Highway 50, the site of frequent avalanches. Now nine camouflage painted explorers assembled and serviced by helicopters guard the Steep slopes in Northern California where cornices of unstable Snow sometimes build up 30 feet High. Each 20-foot tube resembles an upside Down Quot a Quot leaning Forward on a pair of supports and attached to a Concrete pad. Canisters of propane and oxygen Are installed in nearby shelters and linked by pipelines to the explorers. When Loose Snow accumulates a member of the state s Avalanche be control Crew a sitting snugly in an Quot Iles away it terminal a sends pressurized Gas into office Miles away at a computer the tube and ignites it with a spark ordered by a keyboard command. Quot we used to fire rounds from a 75mm-Recoiltess Rifle Quot said Dave Johnson 48, an Avalanche specialist with the state department of transportation. They would set their sights on the Snow and shoot he said. The explorers Are More effective and much Salerno injuries have been reported either from the blasts or the cascading Snow he said. Quot we re not using High explosive Quot Johnson explained. Quot with the exploder you be got percussion up and percussion Down. You really can move a lot of despite its explosive Force the device remains intact As the thrust of the blast moves through the open Mouth of the tube and throws up a Fountain of Snow More than 200 feet in diameter. Each unit is detonated about 30 times during the Winter. Johnson and the four other state Avalanche Crew members work out of an office in a transportation maintenance Yard surrounded by maps computer equipment and with statistics on Snow trends at hand. The Crew regularly goes into the Field to Check the slopes digging Snow pits through the ice Down to Bare Earth to Check compaction adhesion and stability. When they see danger signs such As a buildup of powdery unstable drifts they fire the wondering heat and hot peppers even ants need rest by the new York times q j Why do people in hot climates eat hot peppers a i there is not an absolute correlation Between the amount of hot foods eaten and the warmth of the climate says Michael Nee a botanist who is a tropical collections specialist at tie new York botanical Garden in the Bronx. In Honduras for example hot Pepper is not a major part of the cuisine Salt is in nearby Mexico or in Thailand. Nee suggests that a regional fondness for Pepper May simply arise because meat and other foods tend to go bad quickly in a hot climate so that people tend to use spices and spicy condiments to cover an off taste. This was one traditional explanation for relatively Chilly Northern Europe s Hist to retrieve the spices of the Orient in the Days before refrigeration. As for direct physiological effects that might be beneficial in a hot climate a it s hard to say Quot says or. Arthur d. Heller clinical assistant professor of Medicine at Cornell medical College. Heller who is a gastroenterologist in the division of nutrition says that one effect of both peppers and Peppercorns was the stimulation of gastric juices saliva and mucus flow. This could improve an appetite depressed by the heat. Some medical authorities have suggested that hot spices might act As an Antibiotic but such claims have not been scientifically substantiated Heller says. The Active hot ingredient in peppers a substance called capsaicin can also stimulate the circulation and raise body temperature so that sweating occurs this might make people feel cooler As the sweat evaporates he says. Do ants Ever sleep some insects spend the Winter in a torpid state and at least some insects including some ants exhibit sleep like behaviour Day to Day according to the ants by Bert Helldobler and Edward o. Wilson Harvard University press 1990. Workers of a nocturnal australian Carpenter ant species Camp Notus Perth Ana were on observed lying on their sides in _ the pupal position during the Day they write. The ants could be 7 a awakened Quot by gentle probing by w to forceps and they moved around sluggishly before starting i the typical Swift movements of a worker ant. However they May not have been sleeping but just lying Down on the Job. At any Given moment Only a very Small fraction of the yorkers in the typical ant Colony Are at work foraging researchers say. Inside the nest most of the workers Are standing still grooming themselves or just walking around apparently aimlessly. Researchers suggest that some of the Idle ants Are Erther excess workers awaiting new orces Ava Ilab a for a nest wide work to do or an invasion or just a heavy the stars and 5tripes tuesday March 9,1993
