Could the study of a Namibian beetle, which can use the ridges on its back to collect water from fog, lead scientists to a natural solution that could help replenish the world's limited supply of water? Professor Ashok Goel, the director of Georgia Tech's Design & Intelligence Laboratory and the co-director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Design, studies how these biological processes found in nature can offer scientists and engineers a viable solution to many of the complex problems facing our society today. To help explain biological concepts in a way that is useful and applicable to engineers and their projects, Goel and his team are developing an interactive, online repository—the Design by Analogy to Nature Engine (DANE)—that will serve as a dynamic and editable resource for both academics and industry.
