10/9/14 - Week 7


 <Analogical thinking.>


Example of effective analogical thinking


1) How people thought of making paper by using wood 



Before paper was created, people wrote on things like animal 

skins, papyrus, palm tree and plant barks. 

So how did the invention of paper came about? 

Back then people used paper like materials like papyrus,

palm tree, parchment and vellum. 

However these were derived from raw materials which were 

expensive or in limited supply. 

It also required a lot of work to produce 

something satisfactory.However a man named Cai

 lun created paper using mulberry,bast fibre along with

 fishnets and hemp waste. 

All these materials were readily available and could be 

produced in any quantity in moderate cost.

 It was said that the making of paper was 

inspired by the wasps and bees. 


2) The japan shinkansen bullet train that was inspired by the 

kingfisher. 



High speed trains can cause headaches because  1  "as they 

drive through, air pressure builds up in waves and, when the 

noise emerges, can produce a shotgun-like thunderclap 

heard for a quarter mile."  Thus a Japanese bird-watching 

engineer Eiji Nakatsu took it's 

inspiration from a kingfisher. 

A kingfisher is a bird that despite plunging itself into the 

water at a high speed does not make a single noise. He 

redesigned the front of the train and created 50- foot long 

steel kingfisher beak for the train which solved the noise 

pollution problem caused by high speed trains. 



3) how boats got inspired by sharks



2 "sharks stay remarkably clear of algae and other fellow 

travelers. That’s largely a function of their unique skin,

 covered with microscopic patterns called dentricles, which

 help reduce drag." Inspired by the shark's fin, 

NASA scientist copied the patterns to create drag-reducing 

pattern called riblets this was coated on the hull of a sailboat

 to reduced drag,as well as help planes and windmills to 

reduced drag and conserved energy. 





Credits :

http://www.buckhorncommunitycentre.com/activities/activities-for-adults-seniors/art-classes/
http://www.neatorama.com/2006/09/18/making-paper-the-traditional-chinese-way/
http://www.aboutbookbinding.com/Paper/PaperMaking-32.html
1 - http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-08-18/14-smart-inventions-inspired-by-nature-biomimicry.html#slide4
http://www.gojapango.com/travel/bullet_train_pictures.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shinkansen_tokyo.jpg
http://www.abbotsweld.co.uk/classes-2/kingfisher
http://travelandtell.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/volunteer-to-travel-the-world-by-sailboat/
2  http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-08-18/14-smart-inventions-inspired-by-nature-biomimicry.html#slide5
http://emmers712.blogspot.sg/2013/08/sailing-into-sailing.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150383/Airbus-announces-plans-add-2-inches-aeroplane-seats.html