CHAPTER 4

UNIT 4A: BIOMIMETICS

Vocabulary and Phrases

Concrete x abstract	Inspire- inspiration	apply	Kneel-knelt	Baking heat
Drenched-wet	In essence	thorny	vital	riddle
Precise-precisely	Pure-purely	device	trap	amber
Phase-stage	colleague	insight	merely	ultimately
utility	humpback	generate	nest	surveillance
Simple-simplify	replicate	vertical	fund	monitor
seed	Stick-stuck	Inherent-inherently	reproduce	gradually

BIOMIMETICS

1. Why is the example of the thorny devil given in the 1st paragraph?

a. To show how a lizard can live with very little water.

b. To show how lizards are more competitive than other animals.

c. To show an example of how human scientists can learn from animals.

d. To show that animals are good at finding water in the desert.

2. Robert Cohen believes that…

a. the biology of the world is fascinating.

b. the forms of the natural world can never be improved by scientists.

c. studying the natural world is a waste of time.

d. the best reason to study nature is to create something useful.

3. Which statement is NOT true about biomimetic robots?

a. The stickybot cannot climb up every type of surface.

b. Mark Cutkowsky mostly sees the stickybot as a military tool.

c. The robot made by Fearing is not nearly as complex as a real fly.

d. The fly and stickybot robots are not yet fully functional.

4. Which of these problems is mentioned in the article?

a. Biomimetic research is too slow for investors who want to make money quickly.

b. Cutkowsky and the U.S. military disagree about the use of the stickybot.

c. Biomimetics will probably never be a completely successful field of research.

d. Velcro is not a profitable product.

5. For each type of biomimetics research, what type of natural design is being copied?

a. improvement of windmill parts            ___________

b. cell phone brightness                          ___________

c. building design                                   ___________

d. solar panels                                       ___________

6. The word “them” on line 68 refers to ___ .

a. scientists around the world

b. Parker, Rubner, and Cohen

c. nature’s design secrets

d. biomimetics

7. The sentence from paragraph 2 can best be restated by which of the following sentences?

     “This combination of biological insight and engineering pragmatism is vital to success in biomimetics,

      and has led to several promising technologies.”

a. Biomimetics researchers promise to work together with engineers in order to develop new technologies.

b. The key to the progress that has been made in biomimetics is that scientists who understand biology cooperate with engineers.

c. The only way that new biomimetic technologies can develop into successful products is if biologists and engineers work together.

d. The fact that engineers are more practical than biologists is shown by the fact that they have managed to create many useful devices.

8. Based on the article, which of the following newspaper headlines would you expect to read in the future about b  

    biomimetics research?

a. “Car manufacturers have just developed a new aerodynamic car”

b. “MIT scientists develop desert-based water collection technique”

c. “Aristotle amazed at the gecko’s abilities”

d. “Biomimetics researchers create a perfect robotic fly”

9. For the wrong answers in question 8, explain why they wouldn’t be future newspaper headlines.

BIOMIMETICS

Answer Key:

1c 2d 3b 4a

5 a – humpback whale fins  b – butterfly and beetle bodies c – termite nests d – fly’s eye surface

6c 7c 8b

9 a and b are wrong because the events are already past (before the article was written), so they wouldn’t be a future news article, and d is wrong because the article infers that a robotic fly can never be perfect.


UNIT 4B: DREAM WEAVERS

Vocabulary and Phrases

Computer-generated	thread	Breed-bred	fiber	steel
Natural x synthetic	suspended	floating	Pop into	Bullet-proof
vest	rope	forthcoming	absorb	vibration
Water soluble	dip	Farm (v)	thereby	dangle
pioneer	apron	innovation	hood	collar
Keep track of	overnight	invisible	portable	fraction
defy	gravity	forecee