In the field of wildlife preservation, organisms rely on natural defenses to protect against environmental factors. Similarly, textiles serve as our shield against external elements in daily life. Our research aims to develop multifunctional textiles with antimicrobial and self-cleaning properties while maintaining the original fabric's integrity. We focus on common organic textiles, enhancing them with metal oxides through low-temperature Vapor Phase Infiltration. We infiltrate cotton and polyethylene fabrics with ZnO. These textiles exhibit self-cleaning features and demonstrate photocatalytic abilities when exposed to sunlight. They are also effective against Gram+ and Gram- bacteria. Additionally, we investigate the durability of the infiltration during laundering.

Mangroves root in saltwater and provide cool shelters that sustain an incredible ecosystem. Here, we demonstrate a mangrove-inspired approach to cooling in hot climates. Light-induced evaporation of saltwater occurs through a capillary wick composed of drop-cast microparticles. Saltwater evaporation rates are significantly higher than expected and are accelerated via light illumination. Our results point to significant potential for this interface-driven approach in solar non-thermal desalination and water separation technologies, as well as heat cooling shelters in dry climates.

Natural processes seek to advance structures and materials. Hybridizing materials, that is, merging organic and inorganic elements, provides opportunities for such advancement. Our vapor phase processes enhance mechanical and electronic properties of polymeric materials through hybridization. This results in improved properties and new functionalities, among those even self-healing properties for semiconducting thin films.

The study of biology, from single cells and tissues to complex organisms, has led to many new ideas in science and technology. Engineered biomimicry, comprising bioreplication, bioimitation, and bioinspiration, takes concepts, learns from nature, and applies them in different fields of science and technologies, ranging from new materials and novel devices to complex systems and processes. Eco-manufacturing is essential for humanity to achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Materials and energy are the two most critical manufacturing cost factors, accounting for the most pressing environmental impacts in their extraction, processing, and use. In nature, biological systems produce structures using materials and energy from the surrounding environment. Perhaps the simplest case is plants' production of O2 from CO2 through photosynthesis. More complex natural production resulting in direct market value includes wood production by trees and silk by silkworms. This talk will focus on transforming molecules via bio-inspired processes into bio-inspired materials, devices, and structures at the industrial scale.

Intelligence, understood as cognitive process, can be described both through a symbolic approach, which couples itself well with the adoption of technological elements such as the digital world, and through a continuum approach, more familiar with biology. Current experiments performed with functional liquids will be discussed, with a reference to holonomic machines and to the achievement of liquid state analogue memories, artificial neural networks and reservoir computers, where the continuum approach is more appropriate. Recent results about the first liquid state, electrically programmable, in memory computing system will be discussed, highlighting novelties, opportunities and drawbacks of using liquid reservoirs for calculus. In particular their massively parallel structure, resilience towards fluid loss, electrostatic discharges and mechanical vibrations, and most importantly their endurance suggest several advantages. Pavlovian learning in colloids and related effects will also be discussed.

This study presents a biomimetic approach for developing scalable 3D printable models of a California sea lion pelvis using DICOM images derived from CT and MRI scans. The images were processed using Simpleware ScanIP software to create accurate and detailed representations of the targeted anatomy. The resulting models were then modified and optimized for 3D printing. The motivation behind this research is to provide a realistic and cost-effective alternative to traditional training methods for veterinary blood collection. The proposed work has the potential to enhance veterinary education and training, improving the quality of care provided to animal patients

In nature, nanopores are often responsible for broadband light scattering phenomena. For example, some snakes develop white, reflecting ventral scales to avoid overheating caused by highly radiative soil and rocks. Female Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa caerulea) are covered with blue hairs on their head, thorax, and parts of the abdomen serving for intraspecific recognition. We report on the optical properties of nanopores, resulting in structural whiteness in snake ventral scales and vivid blue hues in Carpenter bees due to both pigmentary and structural color. In my presentation, I review our recent studies on natural broadband reflecting structures reflecting light due to nanopores.

Scientific and technological advances have a profound impact on the defense capabilities of worldwide nations. These advances were relatively slow at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, but dramatically increased in the 20th century. In this line, biomimetics, a field of constant growth and relevance within the technoscientific community, has the potential create a remarkable impact in the broad fields of security and defense. Some applications of biomimetics, a discipline which can generate novel approaches to address both current and future challenges in these fields, will be suggested.