雅思阅读材料之科技篇：科技与自然_雅思英语阅读

雅思阅读材料之科技篇：科技与自然

　　This process is entirely the wrong way round, says Dr Vincent. To be effective, biomimetics should be providing examples of suitable technologies from biology which fulfil the requirements of a particular engineering problem, he explains. That is why he and his colleagues, with funding from Britains Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, have spent the past three years building a database of biological tricks which engineers will be able to access to find natural solutions to their design problems. A search of the database with the keyword propulsion, for example, produces a range of propulsion mechanisms used by jellyfish, frogs and crustaceans.

　　The database can also be queried using a technique developed in Russia, known as the theory of inventive problem solving, or TRIZ. In essence, this is a set of rules that breaks down a problem into smaller parts, and those parts into particular functions that must be performed by components of the solution. Usually these functions are compared against a database of engineering patents, but Dr Vincents team have substituted their database of biological patents instead. These are not patents in the conventional sense, of course, since the information will be available for use by anyone. By calling biomimetic tricks biological patents, the researchers are just emphasising that nature is, in effect, the patent holder.

　　One way to use the system is to characterise an engineering problem in the form of a list of desirable features that the solution ought to have, and another list of undesirable features that it ought to avoid. The database is then searched for any biological patents that meet those criteria. So, for example, searching for a means of defying gravity might produce a number of possible solutions taken from different flying creatures but described in engineering terms. If you want flight, you dont copy a bird, but you do copy the use of wings and aerofoils, says Dr Vincent.