This week’s list of top data news highlights covers November 11, 2023 to November 17, 2023 and includes articles on trying on high fashion in augmented reality and training AI systems to classify bird sounds.

1. Forecasting the Weather
Google DeepMind has created an AI system that can create weather forecasts faster, more accurately, and with less computing resources than current models. The team trained the system on nearly 40 years worth of historical weather data.

2. Editing Genes
Researchers at Verve Therapeutics, a U.S.-based biotechnology company, have created a gene-editing treatment for cholesterol. It uses CRISPR editing techniques to disable certain liver gene cells which will help lower bad cholesterol.

3. Packing Online Orders
Amazon has unveiled a robot that can identify the shape of online orders and pack them in an appropriately-sized box. By using the robot, the company can prepare orders for shipment more efficiently and reduce unnecessary packaging materials.

4. Enhancing Work Meetings
Microsoft has updated its Teams application to include two new AI-powered features, including one that can remove clutter from users’ video backgrounds or generate decorations for them, and another that can isolate users’ voices from background noise during calls.

5. Inspecting Plumbing
The Louisville Water Company is using two robots to inspect large underground water pipes in Louisville, Kentucky. The first robot uses a camera and ultrasonic sensors to determine the conditions of pipes and pinpoint potential repairs while the second uses acoustic sensors to identify leaks or air pockets.

6. Composing Music
Google DeepMind has partnered with YouTube to launch a generative AI system for creating music. They have also developed two new tools built on Lyria, including one that can create music in the style of select popular artists for YouTube Shorts and another that can generate instrumental music from a hummed tune, simple keyboard tune, or another vocal line.

7. Editing Videos
Meta has launched two new AI-powered video editing tools. The first can generate four-second videos from a caption or photo and the second can edit videos according to users’ text prompts.

8. Filtering Sounds
Adobe is developing a tool that uses an AI system to separate sounds in an audio recording. Users can upload a recording and select sounds to filter out or edit, such as applause, speech, traffic, and more.

9. Classifying Birds
Researchers at the University of Moncton in Canada have created an AI system that can generate realistic bird songs to train future AI systems to recognize bird songs in the wild. The team used over 23,000 recordings of 264 bird species around the world. In tests, the team found that adding generated bird songs to AI systems for bird identification improved classification by 12 percent.

10. Exploring High Fashion
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has partnered with Snapchat to add mirrors at the de Young Museum. Visitors can use the mirrors to virtually try on three evening outfits from the museum’s high fashion exhibit in augmented reality.

Image credit: Flickr user Phan Ly

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HOVER has received the prestigious 2023 Pro Tool Innovation Award within the Networking and Technology category.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — HOVER, the technology company building the largest, most comprehensive spatial data model used to connect the homeowner and construction professional in order to transform the home improvement process, has received the prestigious 2023 Pro Tool Innovation Award within the Networking and Technology category. In its eleventh year, the Pro Tool Innovation Awards brought to light an impressive assortment of pioneering power tools, hand tools, technology solutions, and tool accessories.

According to PTIA’s panel of judges, composed of contractors, construction business owners, tradespeople, and media professionals, HOVER solves several challenges for contractors. They state the following:

“Visualizing what the final results will be is a challenge for every home contractor and client relationship. HOVER can help bridge that gap with its design functions, and give your clients more confidence that they’re getting the home of their dream before the groundwork even starts. When it’s time to crunch numbers, HOVER can help you build your estimates more quickly and even order materials once the contract is signed. There are even applications for homeowners, such as help with insurance claims and brainstorming future upgrades. When it comes to exterior design, HOVER is a high-tech solution in a high-tech world.”

“We are thrilled to be recognized by the Pro Tool Innovation committee. This recognition validates our commitment to helping construction professionals provide the best experience to homeowners – enabling transparent, interactive, and collaborative experiences that transform home improvement,” said Kevin Sturm, Head of Product and Customer Marketing at HOVER.

“Innovation comes in many forms. Pro Tool Innovation Award Winners push boundaries. They typically introduce features no one has ever seen, create new battery-powered solutions, redefine what compact tools can do, or even design products at a lower price than you would otherwise expect for the performance they deliver,” said Kenny Koehler, Editor-in-Chief. “The work of teams and individuals who dare to think outside the box can be seen all over the Pro Tool Innovation Awards.”

The awarded products stood out for their innovative features, superior power delivery, revolutionary ergonomics, technological advancements, improvements in jobsite safety, or exceptional value. The 2023 Pro Tool Innovation Award winners are a testament to the companies and products that propel the construction, landscaping, automotive, and manufacturing industries forward. These industry-leading products merit recognition for their role in driving progress within their respective fields.

This year, 99 different manufacturers and brands submitted over 465 products in dozens of categories for a chance to take home a 2023 Pro Tool Innovation Award.

In a statement reflecting on the 11th annual Pro Tool Innovation Awards, Executive Director Clint DeBoer expressed admiration for the ongoing innovation in the industry.

“This marks our 11th year of hosting the PTIA Awards, and each year we witness an increasing level of innovation from both large and small companies.” DeBoer added, “Every Pro Tool Innovation Award celebrates a product developed by people who really believe that the standard we’re used to is no longer good enough.”

For further information about HOVER, please contact:
Noelie LeBlanc
[email protected]
225 Bush St
San Francisco, CA 94104
Ph: 805-276-8340

About HOVER

HOVER, the technology company building the largest, most comprehensive spatial data model to unlock interactive and engaging digital experiences for home improvement. Used by contractors, insurance adjusters and homeowners alike, HOVER drives efficiencies with a mobile app that measures, designs, and estimates costs all in one place; smartphone photos or blueprints of unbuilt structures transform into beautifully rendered, fully-measured 3D models of any home. Known for industry-leading measurements, 3D visualizations, and precise project estimates, HOVER offers contractors easy-to-use tools and customizable automation for any exterior trade, job type or team – all in one place. For more information, visit hover.to.

About the Pro Tool Innovation Awards

The annual Pro Tool Innovation Awards (PTIA) began in 2013 and are judged by a panel of professional tradesmen and trade media representatives in the electrical, plumbing, MRO, and concrete fields as well as landscaping professionals, general contractors, mechanics, and builders. The Pro Tool Innovation Awards seek to discover and recognize the most innovative tools, accessories, and products across a wide variety of industries and categories. Learn more at protoolinnovationawards.com

Media Contact
Noelie LeBlanc, HOVER, 805-276-8340, [email protected], https://hover.to; The Key PR, The Key PR, 415-377-3158, [email protected]

SOURCE HOVER

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By David Landis–

The dictionary definition of the word “anomaly” is “something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified.” That’s an apt description for the culinary inventiveness on display at Anomaly SF, a new must-visit destination restaurant from young Chef Mike Lanham (an alumnus of Spruce and Commis) and his youthful team in lower Presidio Heights.

PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

This innovation doesn’t come cheap. While the advertised fixed price is $132/person, by the time you add in a wine pairing, and, of course, a caviar tasting, the bill climbs to about $300/person including tax and tip. But it’s worth it. Anomaly SF may be one of the best new high-end restaurants not just in the Bay Area, but in the country—and is well on its way to earning a coveted Michelin star.

Chef Mike Lanham
PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

Chef Mike perfected his execution at numerous pop-ups, the most recent of which was at The Mansion on Sutter. The experience starts when you walk in the door. You’re welcomed into the chic, intimate two-room space with a glass of bubbly rosé crémant before you even sit down (now, that’s my kind of restaurant!). The sophisticated surroundings feel more like New York than San Francisco, which is a good thing: modern, contemporary, and inviting. If you sit in the second room, it’s open directly to the kitchen where you can see the camaraderie of kitchen staff, working together like a well-oiled machine. It’s also fun that customers at Anomaly dress up for the special occasion that this kind of night on the town is.

Dining at Anomaly is like participating in a quiet, well-choreographed dance set: everything has its place and time, and courses arrive with artistry and aplomb. Delightfully, the chef delivers and describes every morsel personally. Even though it’s an advertised eleven courses (with a few desserts and some supplements, if you choose), you don’t leave feeling overstuffed since portions are apportioned properly. Plus, unlike some top-notch restaurants in town, the inventive food actually tastes heavenly!

Halibut Supplement
PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

As you sit, your server brings you a fresh hot towel, with the accompanying jazz playlist adding just the right touch. The first bites, served on blown-glass plates, are a French toast with crème fraiche and Kaluga caviar, which provides a contrasting salty offset to the sweetness of the confection. Following that, the chef serves a palate cleanser of compressed watermelon with curry avocado and sesame seeds. The next course, a signature, is “An egg … sort of,” which translates to a smoked, whipped potato with an egg yolk “jam” and puffed rice. It’s a tantalizing combination that awakens the tastebuds. How to top that? With a Dirty Girl carrot soup spiced by cumin and peanut, capped with lime snow! A smoky, spongy cheese bread is the intermezzo—subtly sparing with the smoke.

Another plus? Unlike some other fancy schmancy restaurants, when you order the wine pairing, they keep the wine flowing—well worth the price. For the next course, the sommelier serves a Yamahai (a wilder, gamier version) sake from the south of Japan, which is both earthy and fermented. The sake accompanies Early Girl tomatoes, which unfortunately weren’t quite in season yet, with basil and tomato essence. A second tomato dish features ripe, fabulous small Sun Gold tomatoes, topped with cypress seed with seaweed, croutons, and sour cream aioli. The dish is a smart one; the surprising clash of tastes complement each other well.

PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

For the next course, the wine is a Savignin (not Sauvignon) from France—dry and clean, with a hint of butterscotch. This pairs with a delicious corn custard punctuated by tarragon, crème fraiche, buck tamarind, and caviar, and sports a surprising but tasty burnt sugar top! A brut style cider from Normandy adjoins a perfectly-cooked halibut in a champagne, cream, and scallion sauce with compressed celtuce (a kind of celery lettuce).

For the next course, the chef was kind enough to accommodate my eggplant allergy with “not ratatouille,” a bit saltier than usual red pepper and zucchini mousse with morel mushrooms and crispy cabbage, paired with a Bandol Syrah from France. For the next main, the chef served juicy pork ribs with daikon, plum, and pork skin crisps; the accompanying Syrah from Pismo Beach brought out all the natural sweetness. 

Asparagus
PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

A parade of desserts followed: a mango coconut white chocolate and finger lime concoction that looks like an egg—and tastes divine; a tonga bean custard with black sesame cake topped with raspberry; an olive oil cake in a floating presentation; and finally, fruit gels and chocolates, to boot! A Commandaria sweet dessert wine from Cyprus brought the meal to a grand finale.

One pet peeve: Anomaly SF does something that quite a few restaurants in San Francisco have started doing. I understand why, but I’m not a fan of it. You have to reserve through Tock, and you have to pre-pay the full amount (plus tax and a 20% tip) up front. On top of that, according to Tock, the reservation is “final and non-refundable. You can always transfer your reservation to another person.” Tock, unlike SevenRooms, doesn’t allow Anomaly’s customers to identify allergies on the reservation, and asks then that you also send a separate email to the restaurant—which, in my case, bounced back. I find this whole policy a bit annoying, especially at a high-priced restaurant like Anomaly. What if you wake up with COVID-19 in the morning and need to cancel or want to go another time? Also, does the restaurant really want to encourage people who are sick to attend? I humbly suggest that restaurants use judgment in accommodating those of us diners who don’t take advantage and may have real reasons for cancelling. (And please fix the email/allergy notice situation.)

That aside, Anomaly proves that culinary innovation can still taste great, and that fancy can be glamorous, but doesn’t have to be fussy. Go now, before that Michelin star makes reservations impossible to snag!

PHOTO BY ANDREA BARTLEY

Bits and Bites

I hadn’t been to the Marin French Cheese Company in years, but recently tasted a sampling of their marvelous cheeses (including my favorite, the Golden Gate washed rind triple crème cheese). The company offers sandwiches, salads, wine, beer, cider, and all of the Marin French cheeses. As they say, “the historic creamery is more than just a place to pick up a wheel of cheese. Nestled in between Marin and Sonoma, Marin French Cheese is a destination for cheese lovers and foodies to relax, picnic, and feast on the way up the coast or towards wine country”—or you can just enjoy the grounds for the day and head back to the city easily. Earlier this month, the company joined Robert Ferry Gourmet for a sampling of Marin French Cheese Company’s cheeses, paired with popcorn, nuts, dried fruit, and more.

Erika Hazel, The Bizerkeley Vegan, recently hosted the third annual Bizerkeley Food Festival at Sports Basement Berkeley. The largest vegan food festival in the Bay Area featured more than 75 new and returning vendors from all over the country, with free samples, $5 food offerings, live entertainment, games, prizes, and giveaways. Complimentary swag was available and proceeds from the festival benefited the Herd And Flock Animal Sanctuary. 

Pastry chef Serena Chow Fisher, who along with her husband David Fisher, earned a Michelin star for their now-closed Bernal Heights restaurant, Marlena, has partnered with Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group to launch a new ice cream brand, Jack & Remi. Named after Serena and David’s beloved dogs, the line “will blend playfulness with sophisticated technique.” The imaginative flavors include: sourdough toast & jam, pistachio ice cream with rhubarb jam, shiso mint chip, strawberry szn (with white chocolate), FUVanilla, and 4XChocolate. The ice cream will be available at select Bay Area restaurants. Follow them on Instagram (@scoopjackandremi) and visit their website for where to find these delicious scoops.

The team behind The Snug recently opened Little Shucker—a playful neighborhood spot for fresh oysters and low-ABV beverages. Located in the heart of the Fillmore Street corridor in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, Little Shucker’s all-day menu features “a selection of seafood classics and raw bar offerings with a modern California twist.”

Kendall Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens welcomes back their limited garden dinner series with featured dinners September 9 (Asian fusion featuring Liberty Farms duck); and October 7 (with Chef Kim Alter, spotlighting Snake River Farms).

The Culinary Institute of America at Copia is adding a new late-night destination to the Napa community: The Haven, the Culinary Institute of America’s first cocktail-focused bar across all of its campuses. Using The Grove’s kitchen elevator, guests will arrive at the second-floor entrance, greeted by a retro floor-to-ceiling cocktail-inspired mural to set the tone. The Haven’s balcony is the place to relax in open air and take in the views of the CIA at Copia’s beautiful gardens and Napa skyline. The Haven will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 8 pm until midnight.

San Rafael is getting its first downtown hotel destination with the recently opened AC Hotel® San Rafael by Marriott. Located at 1201 Fifth Avenue on the corner of 5th Avenue and B Street, the hotel features 140 guest rooms, indoor and outdoor meeting space, and several food and beverage outlets, including the city’s first rooftop bar, Above Fifth.

Seattle-based Piroshky Piroshky’s Eastern European bakery is coming to the Bay Area September 12–14. You can pre-order pies by visiting their website.

Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz, the duo behind beloved pop-up Istanbul Modern, have just opened their first restaurant as chef-owners, Dalida, in the Presidio. The full-service restaurant showcases the hospitality, fresh ingredients, memorable flavors, and rich culture of the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Paseo in Mill Valley is celebrating its 75th anniversary and on Wine Wednesdays, customers can select from the restaurant’s wine cellar for half price specials. The restaurant serves New American cuisine from Chef Sylvain Montassier using seasonal, naturally harvested, and locally sourced ingredients from the area’s best artisans, growers, and producers. Montassier, a French native, has almost 30 years of professional experience that stretches from France and England to San Francisco and Chicago. He graduated from the Culinary School of Saumur and subsequently staged at two and three Michelin star restaurants in Europe.

Local distillery Hotaling and Company (formerly Anchor Distilling), makers of Junipero Gin, is celebrating 30 years this year. Congratulations!

And, Jonathan Vargas and Ramsey Garcia, who run the popular Fable restaurant in the Castro, applied for an on-site beer and wine license for the new Boa’s restaurant in the Outer Richmond at 3951 Balboa Street, which according to the SF Standard, aims to be a new brunch spot.

Anomaly SF: https://anomalysf.com/
Marin French Cheese Company: https://marinfrenchcheese.com/
Bizerkeley Food Festival: https://tinyurl.com/w85xnwue
Jack and Remi ice cream: www.scoopjackandremi.com
Little Shucker: http://www.littleshucker.com/
Kendall Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens: https://www.kj.com/visit
The Culinary Institute of America at Copia: https://www.ciaatcopia.com/
The Haven: https://tinyurl.com/3tsmnjuv
AC Hotel San Rafael by Marriott and Above Fifth: https://tinyurl.com/c4zheks4
Dalida: https://www.dalidasf.com/
Paseo: https://paseobistro.com/
Fable: https://www.fablesf.com/
Hotaling and Company: https://www.hotalingandco.com/

David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. Follow him on Instagram @GayGourmetSF or email him at: davidlandissf@gmail.com Or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com

The Gay Gourmet
Published on September 7, 2023

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Credit: Seth Taube

San Francisco is well known for its eclectic culture and vibrant artistic spirit. Not only did the city inspire iconic songs like “The Dock of the Bay” and “Lights,” it also catapulted the careers of legends like Carlos Santana, Grateful Dead, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. However, the city’s music scene has inspired people to seek success beyond music, including financial legend Seth Taube.

At the North American level, Seth Taube is best known for his work as a philanthropist, entrepreneur, investor, and finance professional. However, those familiar with the San Francisco music scene may know him better for his musical talent and passion. Having started playing the violin 44 years ago, Taube has honed his skills throughout his life and developed a deep appreciation for music. This was one of his reasons for becoming a resident of the San Francisco area.

“Choosing San Francisco was a conscious decision to immerse yourself in a community that inspires passion, fosters growth and sets the stage for exceptional achievement,” said Taube. “The local music scene embodies a perfect blend of innovation, diversity and artistic energy that I just can’t get enough of.”

Anyone who knows Taube will immediately understand his fascination with San Francisco, as he often speaks about how music and technological innovation can help deal with some of the pressing existential threats humanity faces. By forming several multi-million dollar companies and providing capital to over 500 other companies, San Francisco’s tech scene also happened to align with Taube’s vision of a better future.

“San Francisco has always been a place where innovation and collaboration are at the heart of every endeavor, be it artistic or entrepreneurial, making it the perfect playground for someone like me,” Taube explains. “Moving here not only allowed me to meet and play with some of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met, but also the opportunity to mentor entrepreneurs who could change the world in the near future.”

Taube regularly collaborates with several chamber music and bluegrass groups, two genres he always admired as a child because they were compatible with his favorite instrument, the violin. As part of the local music community, Taube has also focused many of his philanthropic efforts on helping young musicians develop their talent.

Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane once said, “San Francisco is 49 square miles and surrounded by reality,” describing it as an oasis for those who seek to transcend the constraints of everyday life. Now, as uncertainty mounts by the hour, visionaries like Taube see it as a glimmer of hope and a catalyst for positive change.

“I firmly believe in the transformative power of music. Not only is it closer than ever to a universal language, but it also has the ability to touch hearts, evoke emotion and bring people together,” Taube concludes. “Music is about taking something relatively simple and making something incredible out of it, and that’s what philanthropy, entrepreneurship and life should be about. The people here understand that.”

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RBIs, At-Bats, Strikeouts, No-Hitters … If there’s one sport that is inherently data-driven, it’s baseball. This will load the game. And it can play a huge role in the journey to victories by helping teams shape everything from recruiting players to increasing field speed and reducing injuries.

But data also helps the San Francisco Giants outside of the field to make even more competitions. So betting on innovation has helped the team win big.

Make innovation a culture, not a function

Leaving data in the dugout can be a novice – especially when you’re competing with other sports, streaming services, and entirely new ways of consuming entertainment. The ability to slice and dice high quality data helps the Giants bend against change. CIO Bill Schlough says, “The shift is happening on the macro level – how fans generally consume broadcasts and entertainment – down to the specifics of how fans interact with the game.”

He notes that technology wasn’t always something many in the industry talked about or thought about. “Those days are long gone,” notes Schlough. “We have always viewed technology as a strategic enabler that can give us a competitive advantage instead of just leaving the lights on.”

“From a macro perspective, innovation affects everything from our technology infrastructure, our communications infrastructure that allows fans to stay connected, to our business analytics and how we sell tickets and drive revenue.” -Bill Schlough, CIO

But embracing technology also means having a winning lineup off the field. When Schlough first joined the Giants in 1999, no other team or league had a CIO. “The concept of technology as a strategic enabler in sport was unique,” ​​he says. Dan Quill, Senior Director, Software Engineering, added, “I was maybe the second or third software engineer in the industry, but that growth has been tremendous,” as many teams now have 10 to 20 developers.

Establish a data-driven technology trifecta

Schlough says, “Our IT team paved the way for us to find creative ways to evolve our technology and use it to achieve our goals,” including prioritizing the following three areas:

1. Develop the customer experience

“Historically we were very much geared towards season tickets, and we were an outlier there. For many years, fans committed to an entire season of 81 home games, sharing or selling tickets to games they couldn’t play. Now we’re seeing changes in fan behavior and we’re trying to adapt to them. “

The team collects data on fan behavior to reveal ticket purchase patterns. Inform data as they:

• Customize ticket packages. “Whether it’s packaged food, various entertainment experiences or promotional items, we try to adapt as a company. It’s a big focus for us. ”Data also provides a wealth of insight, such as how long in advance tickets are bought and why.
• Develop incentives such as creative theme nights. To encourage fans to come physically to the park, in addition to watching TV, the team also uses data to organize themed evenings and special events that appeal to current and new fans. “Nobody has carried out more special, micro-goal-oriented events than we have, from Star Wars Night to Stitch n ‘Pitch Knitting Night to our Chinese Astrology Night. “
• Stay in touch with the fans. “We are very focused on our community. Our reach is one of the best in the industry and with everything that happens it has really been worth it. “

2. Gain a competitive advantage

“The other side is tied to the health and wellbeing of the players – keeping them healthy, which is not trivial in sports,” says Quill. This means data will be used to improve the health, performance, training, recovery, and longevity of players, including the use of:

• Biometrics and biomechanics. “Biomechanics is purely a competitive advantage,” he says. AI-assisted analysis of high-definition video reveals what pitches and throws are doing with a player’s arm and uses data to analyze movements. “With several recordings per second, you get very detailed information about how the body is moving,” he says. “Our current data set has 17 points on the body for analysis, and we expect we can grow to 25 over time. It really helps to spot bad mechanics to help coaches address them and avoid injuries. “
• Gameplay Analysis. For the Moneyball fans out there, you know exactly how analytics affects coaching, recruiting, and gameplay. Quill adds, “Data drives our baseball analysis and other various systems to help our players perform better. Here technology is something that can give us an advantage as opposed to costs that can be minimized. “

This is proof that modern innovation doesn’t just benefit IT. It helps the coaches and the players thrive, and they have the best record in franchise history to back it up.

3. Increase sales and increase business

The company uses the cloud, advanced analytics and Pure Storage® arrays to stay agile as an IT organization. Pure enables them to start servers whenever they need them and helps business units pursue initiatives with true agility. This includes new applications and services, such as an advanced tool to help salespeople manage seat sales, especially in luxury seating areas.

An example of business development data? The 415 section at the ballpark encourages the engagement of a subgroup of loyal fans. “This section of the ballpark is dedicated to the hardcore fans. This gives them their own unique ballpark experience, where they can be a bit more rowdy and boisterous, maybe even harass the other team – all without sitting next to your grandmother. “

Find partners who share your values

In a geographic area defined by top tech giants, it makes sense for the Giants to be inspired by tech-savvy fans, sponsors, and owners to be innovators themselves. The team saw Pure Storage as a natural addition and a co-organization that has brought innovations with it from the start.

Pure has revolutionized the way the IT team works. IT Director Jackson Wan says simplicity and effortlessness are key. “Pure is one of those technology stacks that when you don’t hear about it, do their job and we never hear about it,” he says. “It was rock solid and gave us the flexibility and agility to easily add VMs when we need them.”

The team has some exciting new initiatives and applications under development to stay ready for curve balls and open up new opportunities in the blink of an eye. Data will play an increasingly important role and Pure is ready to help you bring it home.

Author: Carey Wodehouse

Carey Wodehouse is an IT / development content writer at Upwork who aims to make the complex world of web development a little easier. Based in Richmond, VA, Carey has worked for clients ranging from online retailers and global market research firms to financial companies. … Show complete profile >

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British architect Michael Pawlyn thinks of nature as a “catalog of products,” all of which, he explains in a TED Talk, “have benefited from a 3.8-billion-year research and development period.”

“Given that level of investment,” he goes on to say, “it makes sense to use it.”

While new technology can sometimes feel strange, almost other-worldly at first, the future of innovation actually involves researchers better understanding the natural world around us. And inventors are catching on, with more and more embracing biomimicry, or the process of designing products to function as animals and plants do after evolution’s fine-tuning. From mantis shrimp to bee spit, engineers are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to inspiration.

Here are five recent discoveries in the natural world that might someday lead to new inventions.

Mantis shrimp have a super tough armor made of an impact-resistant microstructure.

Mantis shrimp are feisty little devils that don’t back down from a fight—even with their own kind. Remarkably, two mantis shrimp can duke it out and remain unscathed afterward. That’s because the tough tiny fighters are covered in super-strong armor down their backs. The armor, called telsons, look and act sort of like shields, overlapping as they cascade down the crustacean’s tail.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside studied the structure and mechanics of these telsons and found that the key to their toughness seems to be the spiral-shaped scaffolding underneath each shield. In a recent study in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the engineers and their colleagues explain that the helicoidal structure prevents cracks from growing and softens the impact of a tough hit. A similarly twisted architecture is known to exist in the shrimp’s claw, used to deliver blows to any threats to its territory. The shrimp have clearly evolved the perfect armor.

Someday, we might see this sort of impact-resistant microstructure, which the researchers patented in 2016, in sporting equipment, body armor for the police and military, drones, wind turbine blades, aerospace materials, cars, military vehicles, airplanes, helicopters, bicycles and marine vessels. Basically, David Kisailus, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at University of California, Riverside, and study author, explains in an email to Smithsonian magazine, “Anywhere reduced weight is critical but toughness and strength are required.”

Kisailus thinks, in the near term, the finding will have the biggest impact on sporting goods, because the time to market for products like helmets and shin guards is shorter than it is with something like commercial airplanes. The researchers have made a prototype helmet for construction use as well as for football. But, Kisailus adds, “in the longer term, I think the bigger, more global impact will be in transportation, since the reduced weight with higher strength will reduce fuel consumption and emissions.”

Dandelion seeds reveal newly discovered form of natural flight.

A form of flight that had not been seen before was revealed in a study of dandelions.

(Cathal Cummins)

The way dandelion seeds effortlessly drift in the wind, catching glistening sunlight as they fall to the ground, has a certain simplistic beauty to it that would be hard to top. But, as researchers found last fall, the invisible path its delicate bristled parachute leaves behind is even more wondrous—and studying it could lead to really cool advancements in drone flight and air pollution monitoring.

Researchers knew that the mechanism that carried the seeds so effortlessly was its delicate crown of ivory fibers, which sort of resemble a chimney sweep’s broom. They just weren’t sure exactly how this parachute-like fuzz worked given that the bundle of dandelion seeds is mostly made up of empty space. So scientists at the University of Edinburgh created a wind tunnel to put the seeds to the test and in doing so, they discovered a “new class of fluid behavior,” reports James Gorman for the New York Times. The air flows through the filaments and leaves a swirling trail of air behind, or what’s called a separated vortex ring. The ring increases a seed’s drag, creating a flight four times more efficient than that of a conventional parachute.

The researchers, who explained the finding in a study published in Nature, hope it inspires engineers to invent tiny self-propelling drones that would require little to no energy consumption to fly.

“A dandelion-inspired man-made bundle of bristles could be used to float around in the air, carrying something like cameras or sensors, instead of the seeds,” says Naomi Nakayama, a biologist at the University of Edinburgh and study author, in an email to Smithsonian. “Just as the dandelion, they could stay afloat for a long time, being able to monitor and record the air quality, wind direction or speed, and perhaps some human activities, without people noticing they are around because they are so tiny.”

Mako sharks are speedy because of their flexible scales.

This is a photograph of shortfin mako shark scales, which each measure about 0.2 millimeters in length. The front row of scales has been manually bristled to their maximum angle of about 50 degrees.

(Phil Motta at the University of South Florida)

Mako sharks are freaky fast, which is why they’re sometimes called the cheetahs of the sea. They can reach up to 70 to 80 miles per hour. But how do they get so fast? The answer lies with tiny scales on their flank and fins. But exactly how their slick skin helps their speed is of special interest to aeronautical engineers, with funding from Boeing and the U.S. Army, who want to design new material to reduce drag and increase the agility of aircraft, according to an American Physical Society press release.

The flexible scales on mako sharks’ flank and fins are just one-fifth of a millimeter long. If you were to pet the shark like a cat, from head to tail (Editor’s Note: We don’t advise this.), its scales would feel smooth. But if you ran your hand in the opposite direction, the skin would feel more like sandpaper, with the scales bending backward to a maximum 50-degree angle depending on body location, with the most flexible scales behind the gills. According to the press release, the scales’ flexibility keeps the flow moving forward close to the skin, preventing what’s called “flow separation.”

Flow separation is also enemy number one when it comes to aircraft. The concept is easily demonstrated by sticking your hand out of a moving car window with your palm facing the wind. Your palm is under more pressure than the back of your hand, and so your hand gets pushed backwards. This happens because the air flow separates around the sides of your hand creating the low-pressure region or wake behind your hand. Flow separation can still happen on a more streamlined body like the shark, however. That’s where the scales come in: they help control flow, thereby reducing the drag and letting the animal swim faster and with greater maneuverability.

“We speculate that at some point we could engineer a tape that could be applied strategically on aircraft surfaces, such as helicopter rotor blades, wings or certain locations on the fuselage where flow separation is occurring and causing an increase in drag or decrease in performance or maneuverability,” says Amy Lang, an aeronautical engineer at the University of Alabama, who presented the work at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, in an email to Smithsonian.

Lang received a patent in 2014 that she says was “based on early concepts we had about how the shark skin functions and how we could apply that to an engineered surface.” She and her team are making 3D printed models of mako shark skin and hope to obtain more results from testing them in wind and water tunnels within the next year. “We hope in our collaborations with industry to file an updated patent as a man-made surface is developed for real applications,” she adds.

Bees combine spit and flower oil to make an adhesive.

Honeybees fly from flower to flower collecting pollen and storing it on their body to take back to the hive. But what if a surprise summer rain shower interferes? Never fear, bees have a solution for that: a sticky slurry of their spit and oils from flowers that turns pollen into water-resistant pellets. The science behind this gooey combination may even inspire high-tech glues that stick when you want them to but also release when necessary.

“We wanted to know, if the pollen can stay so firmly attached to the bee’s hind legs, how do the bees manage to remove it when they return to the hive,” said Carson Meredith, an engineer at Georgia Tech and lead author on a study published in Nature Communications in March, in a press release.

It essentially works like this: Bee spit is a little sticky to begin with because of the nectar they drink. The spit covers pollen when the bees collect it. Then the oils from the flowers coat the spitty pollen ball. This layering technique is the perfect concoction to repel unanticipated humidity.

“It works similarly to a layer of cooking oil covering a pool of syrup,” Meredith said in the release. “The oil separates the syrup from the air and slows down drying considerably.”

Speed is also a key factor it seems. That comes down to what’s called a rate-sensitive response, meaning “the faster the force attempting to remove it, the more it would resist,” according to a press release. So when the bees use coordinated, slow movements with their hind legs to remove the pollen balls, they come off easily. But if a free-falling raindrop collides with one of the balls, it adheres more intensely.

The applications for an adhesive like this vary widely. Meredith explains in an email to Smithsonian magazine that a bioinspired adhesive would thrive in areas where strength isn’t the top priority, but “where adhesion needs to be tailorable, tunable, responsive to stimuli, or coupled with other properties like edibility, biocompatibility or humidity resistance.”

He is working with both medical and cosmetic companies. (If you’ve ever found yourself removing stubborn waterproof make-up, you understand the demand for a solution.) “In these fields one often wants adhesion that can hold surfaces together under certain circumstances, but then can be released on demand or when a certain condition (rate, force, humidity) is exceeded,” he explains. “This includes the ability to transfer small particles from one place to another, as in applying make-up, or delivering a drug to a certain tissue in the body.”

That’s not all: those pollen pellets are naturally edible, so it could be used in food as well, perhaps for “decorative items on a cake or dessert, or adhering particulates that contain food additives for taste, nutrients, preservatives, color, etc.,” explains Meredith.

Cats are expert groomers because of hollow papillae on their tongues.

(Elke Schroeder/EyeEm/Getty Images)

Cats spend a pretty significant amount of their time licking themselves. It turns out their tongue has evolved for peak grooming efficiency—and might actually help us make better hairbrushes, or even inspire advances in soft robotics and new kinds of cleaning tech.

A cat’s classically sandpaper-y tongue is covered in angled spikes called papillae, which are made of keratin, or the same hard stuff of our fingernails. That’s the part of the tongue that researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology were interested in studying to find out exactly how it distributes moisture throughout a cat’s fur so easily.

It turns out papillae aren’t actually spiky, or cone-shaped as past research posited. Rather, as the Georgia Institute of Technology engineers describe in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they’re scoop-shaped with two hollow ends. This shape creates surface tension that locks saliva droplets in until it’s time for a cleaning, the team found. And those tongues can hold a lot of fluid. When the team put cat tongues—donated post-mortem—to the test, they found that each papilla can hold about 4.1 microliters of water, but across the tongue that’s enough to distribute about a fifth of a cup of water through the animal’s fur in a day, according to National Geographic.

The papillae also attack a knot from four different directions—perfect for efficient detangling. The researchers even created a tongue-inspired grooming (TIGR) brush using 3D models of cat tongues. They’ve applied for a patent for the brush, which could be used to apply medication or distribute leave-in shampoos and conditioners in pet fur to reduce allergens.

And the team envisions other applications. “The unique spine shape could be implemented into soft robotics to aid in grip—previous studies have shown that micro-hooks excel in gripping to porous, rigid surfaces,” says Alexis Noel, a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and study author, in an email. There may even be a novel way to apply mascara, she adds.

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