Paleomimetics: A Conceptual Framework for a Biomimetic Design Inspired by Fossils and Evolutionary Processes

In biomimetic design, functional systems, principles, and processes observed in nature are used for the development of innovative technical systems. The research on functional features is often carried out without giving importance to the generative mechanism behind them: evolution. To deeply understand and evaluate the meaning of functional morphologies, integrative structures, and processes, it is imperative to not only describe, analyse, and test their behaviour, but also to understand the evolutionary history, constraints, and interactions that led to these features. The discipline of palaeontology and its approach can considerably improve the efficiency of biomimetic transfer by analogy of function; additionally, this discipline, as well as biology, can contribute to the development of new shapes, textures, structures, and functional models for productive and generative processes useful in the improvement of designs. Based on the available literature, the present review aims to exhibit the potential contribution that palaeontology can offer to biomimetic processes, integrating specific methodologies and knowledge in a typical biomimetic design approach, as well as laying the foundation for a biomimetic design inspired by extinct species and evolutionary processes: Paleomimetics. A state of the art, definition, method, and tools are provided, and fossil entities are presented as potential role models for technical transfer solutions

Paleomimetics: A Conceptual Framework for a Biomimetic Design Inspired by Fossils and Evolutionary Processes

In biomimetic design, functional systems, principles, and processes observed in nature are used for the development of innovative technical systems. The research on functional features is often carried out without giving importance to the generative mechanism behind them: evolution. To deeply understand and evaluate the meaning of functional morphologies, integrative structures, and processes, it is imperative to not only describe, analyse, and test their behaviour, but also to understand the evolutionary history, constraints, and interactions that led to these features. The discipline of palaeontology and its approach can considerably improve the efficiency of biomimetic transfer by analogy of function; additionally, this discipline, as well as biology, can contribute to the development of new shapes, textures, structures, and functional models for productive and generative processes useful in the improvement of designs. Based on the available literature, the present review aims to exhibit the potential contribution that palaeontology can offer to biomimetic processes, integrating specific methodologies and knowledge in a typical biomimetic design approach, as well as laying the foundation for a biomimetic design inspired by extinct species and evolutionary processes: Paleomimetics. A state of the art, definition, method, and tools are provided, and fossil entities are presented as potential role models for technical transfer solutions

Muscle-controlled physics simulations of the emu (a large running bird) resolve grounded running paradox

AbstractHumans and birds utilize very different running styles. Unlike humans, birds adopt “grounded running” at intermediate speeds – a running gait where at least one foot is always in contact with the ground. Avian grounded running is paradoxical: animals tend to minimize locomotor energy expenditure, but birds prefer grounded running despite incurring higher energy costs. Using predictive gait simulations of the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), we resolve this paradox by demonstrating that grounded running represents an energetic optimum for birds. Our virtual experiments decoupled biomechanically relevant anatomical features that cannot be isolated in a real bird. The avian body plan prevents (near) vertical leg postures while running, making the running style used by humans impossible. Under this anatomical constraint, grounded running is optimal if the muscles produce the highest forces in crouched postures, as is true in most birds. Anatomical similarities between birds and non-avian dinosaurs suggest that, as a behavior, avian grounded running first evolved within non-avian theropods.</jats:p

From fibre to function: are we accurately representing muscle architecture and performance?

The size and arrangement of fibres play a determinate role in the kinetic and energetic performance of muscles. Extrapolations between fibre architecture and performance underpin our understanding of how muscles function and how they are adapted to power specific motions within and across species. Here we provide a synopsis of how this ‘fibre to function’ paradigm has been applied to understand muscle design, performance and adaptation in animals. Our review highlights the widespread application of the fibre to function paradigm across a diverse breadth of biological disciplines but also reveals a potential and highly prevalent limitation running through past studies. Specifically, we find that quantification of muscle architectural properties is almost universally based on an extremely small number of fibre measurements. Despite the volume of research into muscle properties, across a diverse breadth of research disciplines, the fundamental assumption that a small proportion of fibre measurements can accurately represent the architectural properties of a muscle has never been quantitatively tested. Subsequently, we use a combination of medical imaging, statistical analysis, and physics‐based computer simulation to address this issue for the first time. By combining diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and deterministic fibre tractography we generated a large number of fibre measurements (>3000) rapidly for individual human lower limb muscles. Through statistical subsampling simulations of these measurements, we demonstrate that analysing a small number of fibres (n < 25) typically used in previous studies may lead to extremely large errors in the characterisation of overall muscle architectural properties such as mean fibre length and physiological cross‐sectional area. Through dynamic musculoskeletal simulations of human walking and jumping, we demonstrate that recovered errors in fibre architecture characterisation have significant implications for quantitative predictions of in‐vivo dynamics and muscle fibre function within a species. Furthermore, by applying data‐subsampling simulations to comparisons of muscle function in humans and chimpanzees, we demonstrate that error magnitudes significantly impact both qualitative and quantitative assessment of muscle specialisation, potentially generating highly erroneous conclusions about the absolute and relative adaption of muscles across species and evolutionary transitions. Our findings have profound implications for how a broad diversity of research fields quantify muscle architecture and interpret muscle function

Ancient Protein Identification and Mass Spectrometry Data Analysis

The aim of this MPhil study was to develop novel models and software tools for the analysis of mass-spectrometric data from degraded and ancient proteins. On the basis of background study in ancient collagen and relevant identification approaches, problems of fossil bone collagen identification were discussed. As a solution, the database named UniColl was designed as a repository of theoretical sequences generated from the known type I collagen sequences. The principle of UniColl was to contain a large number of collagen peptide sequences which can be theoretically produced under certain chemical and mathematical algorithm, to include all the known sequence variation in each peptide. UniColl has been established and evaluated in this work. As the result, large amounts of theoretical sequence have been generated to cover as much possible collagen sequence variations as we can get based on the known information. The practical utility and quality results of this database was tested with groups of collagen sequences identified for several unknown ancient samples

The Functional Significance of Structural Novelty in the Locomotor Apparatus of Turtles

The relationship between form and function can have profound impacts on the evolution and ecology of a lineage. Because of this relationship, variation in the morphology of a lineage has often been linked to adaptive radiations. However, form-function relationships are not linear, and variation in morphology does not necessarily predict variation in function due to the pervasive presence of mechanical equivalence in physiological systems. This possibility is often investigated through the lens of biomechanics, which uses physical principles to create a framework for comparing different systems with similar mechanical behaviors. Turtles represent an excellent system for studying how variation in structure might impact function. All extant turtles have descended from an aquatic common ancestor, and can be differentiated into two clades: cryptodires and pleurodires. These two clades can be distinguished by their pelvic girdle morphology. Cryptodires have an ancestral pelvic girdle morphology where the pelvis articulates with the sacral vertebrae at a joint, whereas pleurodires possess a derived morphology in which the pelvic girdle has been fused to the shell. My dissertation investigates the functional role of pelvic girdle fusion in pleurodire turtles by studying functional differences in the musculoskeletal system between pleurodires and cryptodires, and then by investigating how these functional differences might impact performance in water and on land. First, I evaluate differences in girdle movements between cryptodire and pleurodire turtles using X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology. Next, I examine how pelvic girdle fusion impacts muscle function and use during walking and swimming. Third, I studied the potential for this novel structure to influence swimming performance. Finally, I compare the bone loading regimes of pleurodires with cryptodires during terrestrial locomotion. Data from these studies provide insight into the functional importance of novel structures and how they can impact the ecological and evolutionary history of lineages