A Crucible for Biological Inspiration

Integrative Biology Professor Robert Full and UC Berkeley have launched a center expressly geared to encourage partnerships among biologists and scientists of different stripes. The Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research (CiBER) will teach biologists, engineers, and others how to reach across the professional table by focusing their joint energies on biomechanics—the study of how organisms work and move in their natural habitats.

Running, Swimming, and Flying for Science

In Berkeley's CiBER laboratory, students run cockroaches over an obstacle course to observe how traveling over rough terrain alters the insects' neuromuscular signals. The lab contains state-of-the-art equipment devoted to helping students, visiting scientists, and others discover the secrets of nature's designs.

Mother Nature's Engineering

Using high-speed video, Integrative Biology Professor Mimi Koehl recorded live lobsters as they sniffed using their stick-like antennules bearing rows of odor-sensing hairs. Koehl is studying how structures such as hairy limbs help organisms survive in demanding environments. Gleaning design principles from living things is her stock in trade.

Professor Robert Full runs UC Berkeley's Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research.