Photo: ACS
The problem of global warming, whether we are causing it or not, is definitely a reality and it has been making its presence felt in recent years. Considering the fact that scientists say that the Earth has gone through numerous cycles of ice ages and massive ice melts.
The accurate part of our recorded history stretches back a few thousand years, which is less then a fraction of a second in ‘Earth years’. This means that the melting of the ice caps is ultimately inevitable, predictable and normal. This is why we need to think ahead and find ways to efficiently travel over water, before we are confronted with the situation.
One breakthrough comes from the American Chemical Society (ACS) who, after successfully building a robot with 10 legs that was capable of walking on water, have now gone one step further. What better thing to do than copy nature, as it has refined its designs over millions of years - so it’s a good starting point.
Qinmin Pan and his fellow scientists at ACS have replicated a very small, yet very special insect - the water strider. As its name suggests, it merely strides on the surface of the water without sinking, and it moves by jumping forward, rather than simply walking or running. The ACS robot is also capable of jumping across the water with ease, propelling itself forward at 5.76 km/h (3.6 mph) with each jump advancing 13.5 cm (5.5 in).
While the ACS website article talks about its use as a water quality tester or military spy, we say the system could be adapted and adopted for much larger craft to carry humans along at great speed and with minimal drag, because if you copy nature’s designs, you also get all of the benefits. When the ice caps will finally melt and areas that are now ‘lowlands’ will be flooded, we may not have to use cumbersome and rather old-fashioned boats, and we will efficiently jump across the water’s surface to reach our destination. It doesn’t have to be all war and destruction, if we think positively!
One breakthrough comes from the American Chemical Society (ACS) who, after successfully building a robot with 10 legs that was capable of walking on water, have now gone one step further. What better thing to do than copy nature, as it has refined its designs over millions of years - so it’s a good starting point.
Qinmin Pan and his fellow scientists at ACS have replicated a very small, yet very special insect - the water strider. As its name suggests, it merely strides on the surface of the water without sinking, and it moves by jumping forward, rather than simply walking or running. The ACS robot is also capable of jumping across the water with ease, propelling itself forward at 5.76 km/h (3.6 mph) with each jump advancing 13.5 cm (5.5 in).
While the ACS website article talks about its use as a water quality tester or military spy, we say the system could be adapted and adopted for much larger craft to carry humans along at great speed and with minimal drag, because if you copy nature’s designs, you also get all of the benefits. When the ice caps will finally melt and areas that are now ‘lowlands’ will be flooded, we may not have to use cumbersome and rather old-fashioned boats, and we will efficiently jump across the water’s surface to reach our destination. It doesn’t have to be all war and destruction, if we think positively!
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