Engineering a Car from a Fish

Biomimicry, human engineering based on nature’s designs, is a rapidly growing field. Mercedes-Benz even built a concept car from its research into the tropical boxfish (Ostracion cubicus). They found that there is nothing clunky about the clunky-looking fish. It has a drag coefficient of just 0.06, “startlingly close to the ideal 0.04 of a water droplet” (“Fish-inspired Car,” Popular Science, Aug. 16, 2005). “Like the droplet, the boxfish’s face is small in proportion to its overall length, and its streamlined surfaces encourage air to move over it without creating the turbulence that robs aerodynamic efficiency.” John McMasters, an aeronautics engineer with Boeing, says that lessons learned from nature will play an increasing role in new aircraft (“Flying Creatures May Help Create Aviation of Future,” USA Today, Feb. 13, 2007). The very existence of this scientific field is a powerful witness to the fact that there is nothing “blind” about “nature.” The fact that so many scientists reject “intelligent design” is not evidence against design; it is evidence of willful blindness. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

(Friday Church News Notes, July 10, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

---