Have you ever wondered how motors, wheels and other machines could run without abrasing from friction and wasting of energy? Today, most of all movable parts in technical devices contain ball bearings and/or lubrication.
The sandfish in the Sahara has adapted optimally to his environment. This lizard literally swims through the sand without his skin being damaged by the grains. The solution is a skin surface structure of nano spikes which are negatively charged as is the desert sand. Particles with the same electric charge repel each other. It seems that the sandfish has invented the magnetic railway long before Japanese and German engineers did so.
Prof. Dr. Ingo Rechenberg from the Technical University in Berlin (Germany) is currently doing researches for the technical application of this biological discovery. This technology is still at the beginning, but if scientists and developers work together inspired by “blue” solutions, an industry can emerge which renders ball bearings and lubricants obsolete and besides saves energy.
