When Nissan Motor Company embarked on its daunting mission to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries involving its vehicles by half by 2015 compared to 1995, consumers had no idea the firm would be getting serious help from an unlikely source: the bumble bee.

Engineers at the Japanese company have designed a micro-robotic system—based on the bee’s 300-degree vision and compound eye structure—that will enable its cars to dodge obstacles and avoid collisions by using special sensors equipped in the vehicles’ robotic circuitry.

The I6 Green Challenge Will Fund Six Teams To Move New Green Technologies From The Lab To The Marketplace.

Food for thoughts: Your next smartphone could be manufactured by goats...

Rainwater Harvesting System at Yale University: Stormwater from roof and the ground collects in tank at upper right, which empties into pond, where it is cleansed and diverted into larger harvesting tank. The water in harvesting tank is pumped to another tank for use inside and back into the pond. Illustration: Gregory Nemec.

Researchers have long envied spiders' ability to manufacture silk that is light-weighted while as strong and tough as steel or Kevlar. Indeed, finer than human hair, five times stronger by weight than steel, and three times tougher than the top quality man-made fiber Kevlar, spider dragline silk is an ideal material for numerous applications. Suggested industrial applications have ranged from parachute cords and protective clothing to composite materials in aircrafts. Also, many biomedical applications are envisioned due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Unfortunately, natural dragline silk cannot be conveniently obtained by farming spiders because they are highly territorial and aggressive.