🕹️China builds smarter naval drone swarms, urine turned into green concrete, 200 million-year-old 'dinosaur tree'

From the mesmerizing formations of birds in flight to the synchronized movements of fish schools, nature often relies on collective motion to maximize efficiency and energy conservation.

Manta rays are among the most proficient swimmers; their unique body shapes and wide flippers enable them to glide through the water with effortless grace.

Scientists from Northwestern Polytechnical University and its Ningbo Institute in China are drawing inspiration from manta rays to enhance underwater vehicle performance.

The research focuses on how various group formations of these rays affect swimming efficiency; insights they believe could guide the development of advanced, coordinated aquatic robots. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

🕹️China builds smarter naval drone swarms with manta ray-inspired propulsion

Utilizing photographs of real-life manta ray groupings, the researchers designed simulations for three manta rays in the following formations: linear tandem, one with a single ray leading two in a V-like triangle, and an inverted triangle with one trailing behind the pair.

They found the tandem configuration was distinctively advantageous, but only for the manta ray in the middle position. This swimmer received a propulsion boost from the flow created by the front ray, considerably enhancing its maneuverability.

On the other hand, the two arrangements limit efficiency if set against the metric of an individual swimming solo.

🪨 German researchers turn urine into green concrete similar to sandstone

Scientists in Germany have successfully turned urine into bio-concrete, as part of a project aiming to revolutionize sustainable construction by creating building materials from waste.

The research team, led by Lucio Blandini, head of the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart, utilized microbial biomineralization, a biotechnological process where bacteria convert urea found in urine into calcium carbonate crystals.

These large circular crystals with radial striations with smooth surfaces bind sand particles together, resulting in a robust and environmentally friendly bio-concrete chemically similar to natural sandstone.

🌴200 million-year-old 'dinosaur tree' from Jurassic breeds successfully

In a new effort to save critically endangered plant life, conservationists diffused the first set of bred “dinosaur trees” worldwide.

Wollemi pines (Wollemia nobilis) shared the same Earth as the dinosaurs that roamed millions of years ago. Alongside their ferocious neighbors, they, too, went extinct about 70 to 90 million years ago. But that turned out not to be true.

After its surprising and groundbreaking rediscovery in Australia, they quickly found themselves on the IUCN’s Red List as a critically endangered species in the 1990s.

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