Inspiration from the ocean:

A list of ten chic and creative designs

Did you ever think that a four-square fish could inspire the design of a car? And that algae mixtures can help us defeat those stubborn drug-resistant bacteria? And that swimming schools of fish could inspire the design of more efficient wind power plants? The ocean is a source of inspiration for all sorts of designs and inventions, from robotics to a variety of biomedical breakthroughs. Here's a list of ten ocean-related designs and inventions.

Boxfish Mercedes:

The Mercedes pictured here looks like a boxfish. Boxfish are hard-scaled fish that live in the tropics and swim very fast. "It has a rectangular skeleton, very similar to a car." explains Daimler, who led a team of scientists to analyze the fish's skeletal features, including its heavily armed, hard outer skin. This skin, it transpires, hides the secret of the triggerfish's swimming speed. Thanks to its small size and a built-in direct-fire diesel engine, the Mercedes can reach speeds of 113 kilometers per gallon of gasoline.

Squid Robot:

Robots are the best choice for dangerous underwater tasks like searching for minerals on the ocean floor. Designed with bionic technology to give them precise movements and faster speeds, and using less fuel, these robots are perfect for high performance. The Department of Marine and Ocean Engineering at Osaka University in Japan has designed a "squid robot" that can travel through the water by utilizing the physical properties of squid and other marine animals, and by attaching gelatinous panels to the sides of the robot. Another advantage of this design is that the robot is completely under human control, even in very unstable situations.

Nautilus:

The world of geometry seems to be dominated by so-called figures and models, including the Nautilus, which is known for its "golden mean spiral". The Nautilus has been found countless times in nature, and its spiral extension follows the golden ratio. This ratio not only creates visual coherence, but also enhances the solidity of the overall structure. If you look closely at any kind of rotating staircase, you will find a spiral similar to that of a shell, which is no accident.

Coral Reef Village:

The architect Vincent Carberry, who proposed the idea of mimicking the similarity of a coral reef village, has been working on the idea for some time now. Carberry, an architect, came up with the idea of mimicking flora and fauna like dragonflies and water lilies. The undersea creatures triggered her inspiration, resulting in the coral reef village pictured here. This modular housing concept aims to improve housing conditions in crisis-stricken Haiti. The construction of the housing units, one on top of the other, is based on the organic composition of the coral reef.

Designing buildings with the help of undersea mammal bones:

How did the building frame pictured above come together with the help of marine mammal bones? A "radiolarian" project at the University of Kassel in Germany answers this question. The project investigated the stability of mammalian bone structures and their aesthetic value as 3D modeling software. The designers put their observations to practical use, utilizing solid hexagonal cells to build the mesh device pictured here.