As regular readers know, I am fond of looking to the natural world for hints of where the future might be headed. To this end, I’d like to bring to your attention this wonderful article about the Hercules Beetle. Amazingly, the Hercules Beetle can carry up to 850 its own weight.
Alas, this post is not about mankind developing a device capable of lifting 850-times its weight (although I must admit that that would be pretty cool.) Rather, the Hercules Beetle has another interesting feature—its outer shell turns from green to black in humid environments. The reason this is important is because today there is no shortage of products—especially food stuffs—which can be damaged by humidity. One way to ensure that these products have not been compromised would be to create a new type of packaging that demonstrates the same property. Alternatively, sensors could be designed on the same basis and employed in food processing plants to monitor the moisture level.
My guess is that it is only a matter of a few years before “smart” packaging and sensors are a commercial reality
Looking for more bits of inspiration from the animal kingdom? Check out these past posts:
A Little More Bio-inspiration
Follow the Ants
To Survive … Change Diets
Swarm Intelligence Gets Even Smarter
Biomimickry at its Best
Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, robotics, RFID, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
