Andrew Parker, a research fellow at the Natural History Museum in London and at the University of Sydney, is a leading proponent of biomimetics, the concept of applying designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields.
Parker’s studies of iridescence in butterflies and beetles and antireflective coatings in moth eyes have led to brighter screens for cellular phones and a novel anticounterfeiting technique. He noticed microscopic corrugations that reduced light reflection on the eye of a 45-million-year-old fly trapped in amber; they are now being built into solar panels.
Parker is part of an increasingly vigorous, global biomimetics movement. Engineers are looking at the bumps on humpback whale flukes to learn how to make better airplane wings and the fingerlike primary feathers of raptors to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. Architects are studying how termites regulate temperature, humidity, and airflow in their mounds, and Japanese medical researchers are reducing the pain injections by using hypodermic needles designed like a mosquito's proboscis.