Animal Superpower Challenge
Categories
Biology, Engineering, Physics
Among the most fascinating aspects of biology are the superlative and unusual traits animals have evolved to adapt to their ecological niches. From the ultra-sensitive vision of nocturnal bees to the astonishing sticky feet of geckos, these “superpowers” have tremendous potential to teach us about general principles, and to lead to unexpected applications.
The Projects
Browse the participating projects
Gila monster genomics: conservation, venom, and treatments for Type-II diabetes
The Gila monster, with its distinctive black and orange pattern, is one of Arizona’s most iconic animals...
The Development of Non-iridescent Structurally Colored Material Inspired by Tarantula Hairs.
Many vibrant colors in nature are produced by nanostructures rather than pigments. But their application...
How Can We Use the Snapping Shrimp’s Hunting Ability in Everyday Engineering Applications?
Alpheus heterochaelis, better known as the Pistol Shrimp, possesses an over-sized claw that creates a cavitation...
How the dragon glides: the biomechanics of a flying lizard
Gliding animals are not paper planes - and yet many studies have modeled them so. Flying lizards are agile...
Little hungry warriors: Examining trade-offs between fighting and feeding in hummingbirds
Flying at incredible speeds, often upside down and backwards, hummingbirds truly have superpowers! These...
Building a bat: Effects of synchronizing wing beat and sonar emission on the respiratory tract
Many flying bats carry out two energetically expensive behaviors: wing beat and sonar emission. To economize...
The cost of being super-fly: The effects of Vespa Amino Acid Mixture on cellular repair mechanisms
The aim of this project is to discover how Vespa Amino Acid Mixture (VAAM), a metabolic accelerant, impacts...
The Red Devil squid: Oxygen deprived, cold, and under pressure
At night the Red Devil (Humboldt) squid rises to the ocean’s surface to feed, but come morning, it begins...
More About This Challenge
The sciency details
Challenge Aims
Krogh’s principle:
“For a large number of problems there will be some animal of choice, or a few such animals, on which it can be most conveniently studied.”
– August Krogh
We invite proposals for projects that investigate, or are inspired by, animal abilities with extreme performance and/or extraordinary design. Or colloquially, Animal Superpowers. These may come from (but are not limited to) the following fields:
* Sensory systems and signaling
* Locomotion
* Biomimetics
* Bioenergetics
* Adaptations to extreme environments
* Regeneration
* Predation and anti-predator strategies
* Navigation
* Hibernation
Project Eligilibity
Researchers must be based at a US institution, or if international, receive approval ahead of time to submit. Projects submitted before the deadline will be eligible for the grant.
Challenge Grants
Experiment is an online community for making science go faster. Create a research project, get funding, and share your discovery with the world.
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