Bionics

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(CC) Photo: Graham Karslake
A barn owl in flight — a natural model for technical flight.

Bionics is a subfield of both science and engineering, concerned with the systematic study of biological structures and processes to the end of applying these principles in technical design. Many aspects of the shape, skeleton and skin of human-made vehicles for locomotion in air or water have been improved this way, while bionics also played a role in the invention of hook-and-loop fasteners and in the construction of highly water-repellent surfaces.