Every year, Access Research Network publishes a list of the 10 most significant science news stories for the year, for the intelligent design community – in consultation with theorists and writers. For 2011, here’s #3:
Through careful study and reverse-engineering of the woodpecker, scientists have developed a new shock-absorbing system. A woodpecker is known to drum the hard woody surface of a tree at a rate of 18 to 22 times per second with a deceleration of 1200 g, yet with no sign of blackout or brain damage. As a model in nature, a woodpecker was studied to find clues to develop a shock-absorbing system for micro-machined devices. Its advanced shock-absorbing mechanism, which defies common explanation, is analyzed in terms of endoskeletal structures.
In this analysis, the head structures (beak, hyoid, spongy bone, and skull bone with cerebrospinal fluid) of the golden-fronted woodpecker are explored with x-ray computed tomography images, and their shock-absorbing mechanism is analyzed with a mechanical vibration model and an empirical method. Based on these analyses, a new shock-absorbing system is designed to protect commercial micro-machined devices from unwanted high-g and high-frequency mechanical excitations. Meanwhile other scientists are conducting similar research on the woodpecker with hopes of designing a better helmet. This is yet another example of biomimetics revealing advanced design in nature that appears to elude both the inventive mind of man and the limited capabilities of natural selection.
See also:
#1 of 2011 for ID community: 50th Peer-Reviewed Pro-ID Scientific Paper Published.
#2 of 2011 for ID community: The Design of the Butterfly Continues to Inspire and Amaze.
#4 of 2011 for ID community: “Stylus” Computer Program Aims to Bridge Gap Between Real World and Artificial Evolutionary Simulation.
#5 of 2011 for ID community: Explosive Radiation of Flowering PlantsConfirmed. [Need link]
#6 of 2011 for ID community: Golden Orb-Weaver Fossil Spider Provides New Evidence for Stasis.
#7 of 2011 for ID community: Complexity in the Universe Appears Earlier Than Thought.
#8 of 2011 for ID community: An Identity Crisis for Human Ancestors.
#9 of 2011 for ID community: DNA Repair Mechanisms Reveal a Contradiction in Evolutionary Theory.
#10 of 2011 for ID community: Limits to self-organization of life identified
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