Ok, so I wanted an excuse to post a video of robotic penguins swimming and flying (below) through the air. The video was just too cool, but hear me out!

Festo, the company behind the robotic swimming and flying penguins, has recently unveiled their newest engineering marvel as part of the Bionic Learning Network. What really got me thinking was the BLN mission statement:

Maximum performance with minimum energy consumption: Nature shows the way to energy-efficient movement processes in tomorrow’s production and provides impulses for astounding new practical applications.

The key is in the first line: “Maximum performance with minimum energy consumption.”  Really, it’s the point behind the entire green movement!  And here we’re learning it from penguins.

Right now, I believe we are looking for that “next big thing.”  Will shifting to hybrid cars and CFL’s save the world?  Maybe, maybe not.  It might just be that looking to the earth and nature could hold the answers to preserving them after all.

As technologies have evolved in recent years, we look more and more to nature for ideas and guides towards greater efficiencies and progress.  I suppose it just gets me thinking, “What else could we learn from nature and animals to kick-start the next big leap in scientific progress?”

How else are scientists using the earth and nature to improve technologies and efficiencies? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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