A cutting-edge science book in the style of ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ and ‘Chaos’ from an exciting and accessible voice in popular science writing.

An analysis of the unlikely relationship between nature and scientific design reveals how such innovations as Velcro, solar panels, and self-cleaning surfaces were created to mimic intricate mechanisms found in the natural world.

Everything a student, naturalist, or curious observer wants to know about the biology and diversity of geckos. Q: How do geckos walk across ceilings? A: Millions of hair-like setae on each foot. Q: Where do geckos come from? A: Throughout the world. Usually where it’s warm. Q: How many species of geckos are there? A: Close to 1,500 and counting! Q: What do they eat? A: Insects mostly. Discover the biology, natural history, and diversity of geckos—the acrobatic little lizards made famous by a car insurance ad campaign. Lizard biologist and gecko expert Aaron Bauer answers deceptively simple questions with surprising and little-known facts. Readers can explore color photographs that reveal the natural wonder and beauty of the gecko form and are further informed by images of how geckos live in their natural habitats. Although written for nonexperts, Geckos also provides a carefully selected bibliography and a new list of all known species that will be of interest to herpetologists. Anyone who owns a gecko, has seen them in the wild, or has wondered about them will appreciate this gem of a book.

The new science of bio-inspiration is going to produce a plethora of products over the next decades that will transform our lives and force us to look at the world in a completely new way. This is an assessment of how cutting edge science is borrowing ideas from nature to create the inventions of tomorrow.

A cutting-edge science book in the style of Fermat s Last Theorem and Chaos from an exciting and accessible new voice in popular science writing. Bio-inspiration is a form of engineering but not in the conventional sense. Extending beyond our established and preconceived notions, scientists, architects and engineers are looking at imitating nature by manufacturing 'wet' materials such as spider silk or the surface of the gecko's foot. The amazing power of the gecko's foot has long been known it can climb a vertical glass wall and even walk upside down on the ceiling but no ideas could be harnessed from it because its mechanism could not be seen with the power of optical microscopes. Recently however the secret was solved by a team of scientists in Oregon who established that the mechanism really is dry, and that it does not involve suction, capillary action or anything else the lay person might imagine. Each foot has half a million bristles and each bristle ramifies into hundreds of finer spatula-shaped projections. The fine scale of the gecko's foot is beyond the capacity of conventional microengineering, but a team of nanotechnologists have already made a good initial approximation. The gecko's foot is just one of many examples of this new 'smart' science. We also discover, amongst other things, how George de Mestral's brush with the spiny fruits of the cocklebur inspired him to invent Velcro; how the shape of leaves opening from a bud has inspired the design of solar-powered satellites; and the parallels between cantilever bridges and the spines of large mammals such as the bison. The new 'smart' science of Bio-inspiration is going to produce a plethora of products over the next decades that will transform our lives, and force us to look at the world in a completely new way. It is science we will be reading about in our papers very soon; it is the science of tomorrow's world."

A riveting account of the unexpected relationship between nature and scientific design.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a cold-blooded, creepy-crawly gecko? Learn all about this incredible reptile in this upper-elementary title. This title offers an in-depth look at geckos, including their physical characteristics, behavior, survival, techniques, life cycle, habitat and range, and threats to the animal. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.