PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Snakeskin can inspire to safer buildings

New research shows that it might be a good idea to look for inspiration in nature when designing load-bearing foundations for buildings.

2021-05-04
(Press-News.org) Despite human inventiveness and ingenuity, we still lag far behind the elegant and efficient solutions forged by nature over millions of years of evolution.

This also applies for buildings, where animals and plants, have developed extremely effective digging methods, for example, that are far more energy-efficient than modern tunnelling machines, and even self-repairing foundations that are unusually resistant to erosion and earthquakes (yep, we're talking about roots here).

Researchers from all over the world are therefore seeking inspiration in nature to develop the buildings of the future, and researchers from Aarhus University and University of California Davis have now in collaboration published an article in the scientific journal Acta Geotechnica about constructing foundations inspired by the scales on a snake.

"Previous studies have shown that surface geometry inspired by snakeskin can result in different shear strengths, depending on the load direction. We've taken this knowledge one step further in this research and investigated the interaction between different soil types and these snakeskin surfaces," says Assistant Professor Hans Henning Stutz from the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Aarhus University.

Modern pile foundations are usually made by driving, drilling or pushing piles into the ground to achieve sufficient bearing capacity for a building.

Today, the piles are usually prefabricated with quadratic or circular cross-sections and a load-bearing capacity that is isotropic (identical in all shear directions) due to the mainly symmetrical, smooth profile of the surface.

However, in the study, the researchers experimented with asymmetric micro-structural features on the surface, resembling the scales along the underside of a snake. These so-called ventral scales are elongated in shape, relatively smooth, and have cross-section shaped like an elongated, right-angled triangle.

"By experimenting with 'scales' measuring 0.5 mm in height and 20-60 mm in length, we've achieved - in lab conditions - a significantly increased load-bearing capacity in the media we've examined: more specifically different types of sand. The results of the project show that piles with this surface pattern give 25-50 per cent less resistance during installation compared with the pressure they can subsequently support," says Hans Henning Stutz.

According to the assistant professor, there is still a lot be gained from biology when optimising structures and durable foundations, and he believes that future construction will find much more inspiration in biology.

"Evolution has come up with some quite inspiring solutions during the ages, and there's a lot to be gained in a geotechnical perspective. I'm convinced that in the future we'll see major developments in bio-inspired and very effective solutions, especially in areas such as anchoring, tunnels, and marine constructions," he says.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The secret life of bee signals can communicate colony health

The secret life of bee signals can communicate colony health
2021-05-04
Honeybees have a complex communication system. Between buzzes and body movements, they can direct hive mates to food sources, signal danger, and prepare for swarming - all indicators of colony health. And now, researchers are listening in. Scientists based in Germany - with collaborators in China and Norway - have developed a way to monitor the electrostatic signals that bees give off. Basically, their wax-covered bodies charge up with electrostatic energy due to friction when flying, similar to how rubbing your hair can make it stand on end. That energy then gets emitted during communications. "We were thrilled by the ...

Fertility apps with hundreds of millions of users collect and share excessive information

2021-05-04
The majority of top-rated fertility apps collect and even share intimate data without the users' knowledge or permission, a collaborative study by Newcastle University and Umea University has found. Researchers are now calling for a tightening of the categorisation of these apps by platforms to protect women from intimate and deeply personal information being exploited and sold. For hundreds of millions of women fertility tracking applications offer an affordable solution when trying to conceive or manage their pregnancy. But as this technology grows in popularity, experts have revealed that most of the top-rated fertility apps collect and share sensitive ...

Using personalized medicine to avoid resistance to leukemia treatment

2021-05-04
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a very aggressive type of blood cancer. It is relatively rare but still draws a lot of attention as it mostly develops in children under the age of 20. The standard treatment for T-ALL involves heavy chemotherapy procedures, which result in favorable outcomes with an overall survival of 75% after 5 years. However, some patients do not respond to this treatment, or they only respond for a short period, after which the disease grows back. These patients therefore need alternative therapies. Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, have now identified a combination treatment, which could potentially benefit patients ...

Insights from color-blind octopus help fight human sight loss

Insights from color-blind octopus help fight human sight loss
2021-05-04
University of Bristol research into octopus vision has led to a quick and easy test that helps optometrists identify people who are at greater risk of macular degeneration, the leading cause of incurable sight loss. The basis for this breakthrough was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology and describes new technology developed by lead researcher, Professor Shelby Temple, to measure how well octopus- which are colour-blind - could detect polarized light, an aspect of light that humans can't readily see. Using this novel technology, the research team showed that octopus have the most sensitive polarization vision system of any animal tested to date. Subsequent research ...

People with disabilities faced pandemic triage biases

2021-05-04
When COVID-19 patients began filling up ICUs throughout the country in 2020, health care providers faced difficult decisions. Health care workers had to decide which patients were most likely to recover with care and which were not so resources could be prioritized. But a new paper from the University of Georgia suggests that unconscious biases in the health care system may have influenced how individuals with intellectual disabilities were categorized in emergency triage protocols. The state-level protocols, while crucial for prioritizing care during disasters, frequently ...

People with familial longevity show better cognitive aging

2021-05-04
(Boston)--If you come from a family where people routinely live well into old age, you will likely have better cognitive function (the ability to clearly think, learn and remember) than peers from families where people die younger. Researchers affiliated with the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) recently broadened that finding in a paper published in END ...

A sweet solution to hard brain implants

2021-05-04
Brain implants are used to treat neurological dysfunction, and their use for enhancing cognitive abilities is a promising field of research. Implants can be used to monitor brain activity or stimulate parts of the brain using electrical pulses. In epilepsy, for example, brain implants can determine where in the brain seizures are happening. Over time, implants trigger a foreign body response, creating inflammation and scar tissue around the implant that reduces their effectiveness. The problem is that traditional implants are much more rigid than brain tissue, which has a softness comparable to pudding. Stress between the implant and ...

Confirmation of an auroral phenomenon discovered by Finns

Confirmation of an auroral phenomenon discovered by Finns
2021-05-04
A new auroral phenomenon discovered by Finnish researchers a year ago is probably caused by areas of increased oxygen atom density occurring in an atmospheric wave channel. The speculative explanation offered by the researchers gained support from a new study. Observations made by University of Helsinki researchers increased the validity of a speculative mechanism according to which a type of aurora borealis named 'dunes' is born. In the new study, photographs of the phenomenon taken by an international group of hobbyists in Finland, Norway and Scotland were compared to concurrent satellite data. The rare type of aurora borealis was seen in the sky on 20 January 2016 and recorded in photos taken by ...

New look at a bright stellar nursery

New look at a bright stellar nursery
2021-05-04
This overlay shows radio (orange) and infrared images of a giant molecular cloud called W49A, where new stars are being formed. A team of astronomers led by Chris DePree of Agnes Scott College used the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to make new, high-resolution radio images of this cluster of still-forming, massive stars. W49A, 36,000 light-years from Earth, has been studied for many decades, and the new radio images revealed some tantalizing changes that have occurred since an earlier set of VLA observations in 1994 and 1995. The ...

Scientists have developed a new "key-hole surgery" technique to extract metals from Earth

2021-05-04
Scientists have developed a new "key-hole surgery" technique to extract metals from the earth - which could revolutionise the future of metal mining A team of international researchers, including Dr Rich Crane from the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, have developed a new method to extract metals, such as copper, from their parent ore body. The research team have provided a proof of concept for the application of an electric field to control the movement of an acid within a low permeability copper-bearing ore deposit to selectively dissolve and recover the metal in situ. This is in contrast to the conventional approach for the mining of such deposits ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

Music training can help the brain focus

Researcher develop the first hydride ion prototype battery

[Press-News.org] Snakeskin can inspire to safer buildings
New research shows that it might be a good idea to look for inspiration in nature when designing load-bearing foundations for buildings.