Category: Innovation

Countersnapping

July 2, 2025 By arne hendriks Off

Observations of snapping-based prey capture strategies of the Venus flytrap and mantis shrimp have inspired research to design materials with exotic and programmable functions. At AMOLF, researchers expanded this repertoire by demonstrating countersnapping, where a combination of geometrically nonlinear building blocks cooperate to suddenly shrink…

Power Amplification

November 28, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

Several species of small animals have evolved bio-mechanical power amplification to overcome the disadvantages of being small in a world dominated by bigness. Power amplification increases power beyond regular muscular levels through an elastic medium (e.g. tendons) able to catch and store large amounts of…

Bigger Before Better

December 22, 2016 By arne hendriks Off

A common leadership philosophy in business is to get better before you get bigger.  With evolution it doesn’t work that way. Evolution doesn’t plan ahead. If it would, the human body would certainly not be getting taller in a world of dwindling resources. Evolution is…