Stealing from Nature

IRA FLATOW, host of National Public Radio’s Science Friday, went in for the killer question. Discussing Joanna Aizenberg’s work on nanobristles, tiny hair-like pillars that could be coaxed into exquisite shapes, he quipped, ”You have discovered something looking for a use.”

Aizenberg, a pioneer in the emerging field of biomimetics (using biological principles as a guide to developing new artificial materials and devices), returned the salvo. The interlaced bristles, which do, in fact, hold promise as an adhesive, chemical mixing tool, and elastic energy source, illustrate the successful “merger between physical sciences and biological sciences.” She and her team were looking not only for applications, she added, but “for new science that can describe biological phenomena or self-assembly phenomena.”

When even the most generous of science reporters seems to equate the merit of a discovery with its application, academic leaders take note—as has Harvard’s president. In her June speech at Trinity College, Dublin, Drew Faust cautioned that by focusing too much on science as an economic engine or as a purveyor of products “we encourage a devaluation of basic scientific research,” penalize risk, and box in ambition.

Aizenberg, who juggles two primary appointments, at the Radcliffe Institute and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), escapes conventional expectations, “stealing” (her word) ingenious designs from bottom-dwelling sea creatures to enhance optics and even dissecting the ring under her coffee cup to fashion tools.

The original Radcliffe Magazine article is not available. An alternative version of the full article can be found here.