A growing number of developments in biology and materials chemistry highlight the notion of bioinspiration – in which biological concepts, mechanisms, functions, and design are the starting points toward new synthetic materials and devices with advanced structures and functions [1]. There is no doubt that emerging and reemerging infectious diseases caused and transmitted by viruses have significantly impacted human health worldwide [2,3]. Clearly, the virus exhibits elegant architectures that could occasionally be cellular macromolecules with structures that are beautifully adapted to the functions of the virion [4]. Virus particles exist in many sizes and shapes, and they vary considerably in the number and nature of the molecules from which they are built. Most viruses show a characteristic size, in the range of tens to hundreds of nanometers [5]. Viruses are intracellular parasites that enter a host cell/body to deliver their genetic material to initiate infection. Usually, the first step in the life cycle of a virus is the attachment to host cells/bodies. These may include their abilities to interact with lipids, proteins, and sugar moieties on the surface of cells and tissue [6].

Oral health is of great importance to people’s general health. Dental disease is more prevalent than most people imagine. For example, caries, which can lead to partial or total loss of teeth, affect almost 100% adults and 60–90% of schoolchildren [1]. To correct the dental malfunction caused by tooth loss due to various reasons, such as caries, aging, injury, etc, dental crowns have been adopted as a common treatment.

In the past, significant research has been focused on improving the mechanical properties of lightweight structural materials due to the large demand in bioengineering, aerospace, automotive, armor, and construction applications. This primarily includes advanced structural materials, which are lightweight materials with outstanding mechanical properties such as strength and toughness. Meanwhile, various materials exist in nature that inherently have these exceptional mechanical properties [1]. There is, therefore, a great interest in understanding and analyzing the structure and mechanical behavior of these materials [2]–[7]. Evolution has brought about beautiful, optimized solutions to many problems. Nacre [8], mantis shrimp club [9], bone [10], deep sea sponge [11], bamboo [12,13], and elk antler [14] are just a few of these structural biological materials.

In recent years, there has been significant interest in the fields of bioinspired design and biomimetics [1]. Bioinspired design involves the use of scientific and engineering principles in the design of engineering components and structures that are inspired by biological systems. In contrast, biomimetics involves the design of engineering components and structures that copy biological systems. Hence, airfoils and aircraft wings are examples of bioinspired design that are inspired by bird flight but guided by the principles of lift and drag from aerodynamics. In contrast, the early idea of an airplane with flapping wings is an example of biomimetics, which is based on the simple idea of copying nature without thinking carefully about the underlying scientific principles that enable such natural systems to function in the way that they do.

Global warming is a pressing issue for both current and future generations. The various impacts of improper environmental handling have led to drought, famine, flooding, and other natural disasters. In addition, current global energy consumption is growing exponentially, and dependence on foreign oil and gas not only negatively affects the environment but also creates national dependencies that endanger social stability [1]. An alternative, environmentally friendly energy source is therefore required to preserve nature and fulfill this ever-growing need for energy. However, clean energy sources, such as solar radiation, wind, and waves, are intermittent and require energy storage platforms [2]. To this end, high energy density rechargeable batteries have recently attracted tremendous research attention as they enable efficient storage of intermittent clean energy and electrification of transportation vehicles. Similar to fossil fuels, batteries store energy as portable chemical energy, which is the most convenient form of storage.

Since the advent of the first programmable robotic arm in the early 1960s by George C. Devol, the robotics industry has seen fast growth, and nowadays robotic arms are ubiquitous in automobile assembly lines. In addition to those fixed to the ground as in the robotic arm case, autonomous mobile robots have also been designed and manufactured, and have found ample applications in many areas such as space and deep-sea exploration, thanks to synergistic progress in control, actuation, and information technology, among others. These robots are featured with high accuracy for force and position control. They are ideal for repetitive tasks that quickly bore humans. They make many fewer mistakes. Their bodies are made of hard materials, such as metals and hard plastics, while their control and actuation units use metal or semiconductors such as silicon for electronics.

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in developing novel underwater vehicles that use propulsion systems inspired by biology [1,2]. Such vehicles have the potential to uncover new mission capabilities and improve maneuverability, efficiency, and speed [3,4]. Here we will explore the physical mechanisms that govern the performance – especially swimming speed and efficiency – of propulsive techniques inspired by biology. We will also show that we can translate the understanding we have gained from biology to the design of a new generation of underwater vehicles.

Bamboo is a group of perennial grasses in the family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae [1]. One estimation classified bamboo into 75 genera and approximately 1,500 species [1]. The ordinary species of giant bamboo includes Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens (Moso), Bambusa stenostachya (Tre Gai), Guadua angustifolia (Guadua), and Dendrocalamus giganteus (Dendrocalamus). Moso is the most widely distributed bamboo for utilization [2]. This species is native to China, and was introduced to Japan in about 1736 and to Europe before 1880 [2]. The word, moso (in Japanese) or mao zhu (in Chinese), means hairy culm sheaths and this bamboo is named for the pubescent down at the bottom of its new culms.

Wetting refers to the interactions between a liquid and a solid in a given environment [1–3]. In particular, it refers to the study of how liquids spread on solids. This field of science involves principles found in fluid mechanics and materials science and is relevant to various natural phenomena and industrial applications.

Size does matter. Whether small or large in body size, all organisms obey the laws of physics and thus are subjected to forces imposed by the physical environment. These forces place constraints on the level of performance in regard to physiology (e.g., metabolic rate, heat transfer), morphological design (e.g., skeletal framework, muscle mechanics), and behavior (e.g., predator–prey interactions, flight, locomotor speed). The structural and functional consequences of a change in size are referred to as scaling [1].

Nature has developed a wide range of materials with specific properties matched to function by combining minerals and organic polymers into hierarchical structures spanning multiple length-scales. For instance, some materials, such as antler, mimic bone structure with a lower mineralization to provide toughness [1,2], whereas many fish scales have graded material properties from the hard, penetration-resistant outer layer to the adaptive lamellae in the collagen fibril subsurface [3,4]. Indeed, biological systems represent an inexhaustible source of inspiration to materials scientists by offering potential solutions for the development of new generations of structural and functional materials [5]. Nature’s key role here is in the complex hierarchical assembly of the structural architectures [6]. The concept of multiscale hierarchical structures, where the microstructure at each level is tailored to local needs, allows the adaptation and optimization of the material form and structure at each level of hierarchy to meet specific functions. Indeed, the complexity and symbiosis of structural biological materials has generated enormous interest of late, primarily because these composite biological systems exhibit mechanical properties that are invariably far superior to those of their individual constituents [7].

Defined as the interface of biology and electronics, “bionics” is the science of integrating electronic devices with biological systems to construct hybrid systems that can restore the full functionality of an impaired biological organ or provide additional features and augmented capabilities (Figure 7.1). Indeed, the main goal of designing bionic organs is to restore the original functionality or replace the anatomical defects with enhanced abilities, such that the resulted hybrid would be able to assist humans in highly complex or hazardous tasks. Despite common artificial organs with merely mechanical and electronic elements, bionic organs consist of both mechanical and cellular components coupled in order to regenerate organ architecture and function, and tissue regrowth [1].