[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole]
Planes can fly but are not as nimble as a sparrow.
[/QUOTE]
True. And as soon as scientists figure out an aircraft that is as nimble as a sparrow, a dragonfly will land on the microphone at their first press conference. And they will despair.
[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole]
Planes can fly but are not as nimble as a sparrow.
[/QUOTE]
Indeed - and there are birds that make sparrows look sluggish. It may also be worth noting that in terms of varying their geometry, the best aircraft are ridiculously far behind birds.
I understand some municipalities use bluegill to detect toxins in the public water supply. The fish respond to respiratory stress more quicky and accurately than our finest sensors. The price is right, too.
[QUOTE=Lumpy]
The gecko’s ability to cling to any object is so far unparalleled. Though maybe not too long from now they’ll have a synthetic material that duplicates the pads of a gecko’s toes.
[/QUOTE]
In development; I read about it a few years ago.
Love. Compassion. Curiosity. Humor. Envy. Empathy.
Efficiency is a big issue. Bacteria can synthesise proteins far faster–and on a much greater scale–than we can in the lab, for example.
Insect immune systems are pretty impressive. We don’t have anything that will give us the amazing arthropod ability to fend off various parasites and pathogens.
I’m pretty sure we can’t turn flower nector into honey using technology, so the bees have us there.
I don’t think we’ve managed to create a material matching the light weight, strength and elasticity of spider silk yet.
Walking, sure we can do it, but our robots suck at it.
Which technological capabilities don’t have a biological counterpart?
I’d say:
The ability to manipulate nuclear energy
Supersonic flight (not even botflies)
Space travel
I think the converse is rather easy. Almost all machines don’t have a biological counterpart because if there was one, we wouldnt use a machine. Walk through any modern industrial plant and try imagining animals doing any of that stuff. They can’t lift as much, crush as strong, handle hot metals, everything.
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Dogs (and maybe cats if they gave a fuck) can instantly identify their owner and other members of the family no matter what they are wearing, in dark or light, and out of large groups of people almost instantly and keep track of where they are with total ease. Show me a device that can do that.
[/QUOTE]
I dunno about that. I got out of my car once, at home, wearing a ball cap which I rarely do. All three dogs were barking hysterically, which is not their usual greeting (Being hounds they bell instead). After puzzling over it a moment I took off the cap and they shut up. I swear one looked a little sheepish.
Maybe I got dud dogs.
[QUOTE=DesertDog]
All three dogs were barking hysterically, which is not their usual greeting (Being hounds they bell instead).
[/QUOTE]
Sorry for going off topic, but could you explain this? What does it mean for a hound to “bell?”
Is that the “rowwr rowwr rowwr” sound that they make when they get excited?
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
Tell me how flocks of birds change direction,
[/QUOTE]
See my Staff Report:
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
In development; I read about it a few years ago.
[/QUOTE]
Machines still suck at dealing with changes. Sure, a robot can build a car - if all the parts come down the line in the predefined order, alignment, etc. But if you want to have the robot build a different car, a human still has to load a different program, make sure the correct parts are in place, and so on. If the old parts are still there but the robot has the new program, there will be problems.
Also, they still haven’t made a machine that can repair itself.
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Show me a device that can do that.
[/QUOTE]
RFID
No form of technology seems to be able to determine the effects of administration of chemicals or drugs, especially when the administration of multiple chemicals/drugs create synergistic effects. That’s why we can not give up on animal testing now (at least, in cases where the testing is important - I don’t think anyone would say exposing rabbit eyes to hundreds of times normal human exposure of shampoo is really useful.) We just don’t have the technology to tell us what would happen.
[QUOTE=rabbit]
The demo had a guy “looking” through walls of plastic and metal and being able to “see” the shape of whatever was behind them. Quite neat actually.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Napier]
Love. Compassion. Curiosity. Humor. Envy. Empathy.
[/QUOTE]
You do understand that eventually the machines will develop these, just as they’re about to wipe out humanity and we’ll all live happily ever after. Either that or exploit them as a human weakness 