Praio: Protocells for sustainable, low-cost chemical production

Inspired by how warm-blooded animals cool themselves through sweat evaporation, researchers at MIT developed a temperature-sensitive hydrogel layer that passively releases water when surfaces overheat. The hydrogel acts as an artificial sweating skin — dissipating heat through evaporation with more than twice the cooling efficiency of natural convection, without any energy input or moving parts.

• ✿Inspired by: Warm-blooded mammals (eccrine sweating thermoregulation)
• ▣Company: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Reverse osmosis water filtration systems inspired by aquaporin water channel proteins that enable selective, efficient water transport across membranes.

• ✿Inspired by: Aquaporin water channel proteins (found in all organisms)
• ⚡︎Function: Mimics aquaporin protein function for efficient water filtration.
• ▣Company: Aquaporin A/S
• ◉Where: Denmark

Sapwood xylem filters bacteria at 99.9%. Costs nearly nothing.

• ✿Inspired by: Vascular Plants, Sapwood (Xylem Tissue)
• ⚡︎Function: Sapwood xylem vessels contain interconnected tubules 0.1-1 micrometre in diameter. Water molecules (0.3 nm) pass freely whilst bacteria (...
• ▣Company: MIT
• ◉Where: Denmark