In the evolving market of product design, the optimization of surface patterns is a crucial factor in determining the functionality of future products. However, despite numerous surface designs introduced in recent years, the field remains significantly underdeveloped. The absence of systematic and well-defined methodologies for generating deterministic topologies has turned the design of surfaces into more of an art than a precise science. This deficiency is further exacerbated by a dominant design culture that attempts to tame nature rather than establish harmonious coexistence within the Man Engineered Systems Domain (MESD). The challenge lies in the lack of a holistic surface design methodology that can merge function, form, and topography to produce optimized constructs capable of efficient operation within an envelope of constraints. Bio-Locomotion Interfaces and Biologization Potential in 4-D Printing is a comprehensive solution to the challenges faced in biomimetic surface design. This groundbreaking book recognizes the underdeveloped state of the field and proposes a trans-disciplinary approach that seamlessly integrates engineering, physics, and biology. It addresses the need for a new surface design methodology, emphasizing the importance of generating bio-inspired functional surfaces in MESD. Unlike existing approaches that rely on mere bio-mimicry, this book delves into the core of design generation, emphasizing the implementation of design rules rather than the replication of natural constructions. It is the ultimate guide for scholars seeking to bridge the gap between biology and engineering and acquire the methodologies needed to deduce design rules and construct deterministic surfaces inspired by bio-analogues.

In the evolving market of product design, the optimization of surface patterns is a crucial factor in determining the functionality of future products. However, despite numerous surface designs introduced in recent years, the field remains significantly underdeveloped. The absence of systematic and well-defined methodologies for generating deterministic topologies has turned the design of surfaces into more of an art than a precise science. This deficiency is further exacerbated by a dominant design culture that attempts to tame nature rather than establish harmonious coexistence within the Man Engineered Systems Domain (MESD). The challenge lies in the lack of a holistic surface design methodology that can merge function, form, and topography to produce optimized constructs capable of efficient operation within an envelope of constraints. Bio-Locomotion Interfaces and Biologization Potential in 4-D Printing is a comprehensive solution to the challenges faced in biomimetic surface design. This groundbreaking book recognizes the underdeveloped state of the field and proposes a trans-disciplinary approach that seamlessly integrates engineering, physics, and biology. It addresses the need for a new surface design methodology, emphasizing the importance of generating bio-inspired functional surfaces in MESD. Unlike existing approaches that rely on mere bio-mimicry, this book delves into the core of design generation, emphasizing the implementation of design rules rather than the replication of natural constructions. It is the ultimate guide for scholars seeking to bridge the gap between biology and engineering and acquire the methodologies needed to deduce design rules and construct deterministic surfaces inspired by bio-analogues.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book defines the new field of "Bioeconomy" as the sustainable and innovative use of biomass and biological knowledge to provide food, feed, industrial products, bioenergy and ecological services. The chapters highlight the importance of bioeconomy-related concepts in public, scientific, and political discourse. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors outline the dimensions of the bioeconomy as a means of achieving sustainability. The authors are ideally situated to elaborate on the diverse aspects of the bioeconomy. They have acquired in-depth experience of interdisciplinary research through the university’s focus on “Bioeconomy”, its contribution to the Bioeconomy Research Program of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, and its participation in the German Bioeconomy Council. With the number of bioeconomy-related projects at European universities rising, this book will provide graduate students and researchers with background information on the bioeconomy. It will familiarize scientific readers with bioeconomy-related terms and give scientific background for economists, agronomists and natural scientists alike.

The global population is expected to rise to 9.8 billion by the year 2050 - with everyone ultimately striving for prosperity. New methods must therefore be found to achieve more efficient production. Research to date shows that the biological inventory that has evolved: its products, processes, principles and tools, can spur modern technology. The development of technological innovations based on biological concepts, with the goal of particularly innovative and sustainable value creation, today is collectively known as "biological transformation". It results in highly functional products with striking properties that can be both manufactured and utilized in a resource-saving way. In terms of taking responsibility of the good of all people, biological transformation is therefore a path that applied research will have to take. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has recognized the developmental technology potential of biological transformation and sees it as its task not only to drive the relevant research forward, but also to promote public awareness of the topic.

This book is devoted to the engineering of protein-based nanostructures and nanomaterials. One key challenge in nanobiotechnology is to be able to exploit the natural repertoire of protein structures and functions to build materials with defined properties at the nanoscale using “bottom-up” strategies. This book addresses in an integrated manner all the critical aspects that need to be understood and considered to design the next generation of nano-bio assemblies. The book covers first the fundamentals of the design and features of the protein building blocks and their self-assembly illustrating some of the most relevant examples of nanostructural design. Finally, the book contains a section dedicated to demonstrated applications of these novel bioinspired nanostructures in different fields from hybrid nanomaterials to regenerative medicine. This book provides a comprehensive updated review of this rapidly evolving field.

This book explores the socio-political implications of human heredity from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present postgenomic moment. It addresses three main phases in the politicization of heredity: the peak of radical eugenics (1900-1945), characterized by an aggressive ethos of supporting the transformation of human society via biological knowledge; the repositioning, after 1945, of biological thinking into a liberal-democratic, human rights framework; and the present postgenomic crisis in which the genome can no longer be understood as insulated from environmental signals. In Political Biology, Maurizio Meloni argues that thanks to the ascendancy of epigenetics we may be witnessing a return to soft heredity - the idea that these signals can cause changes in biology that are themselves transferable to succeeding generations. This book will be of great interest to scholars across science and technology studies, the philosophy and history of science, and political and social theory.

Thirty-five years after its initial success as a form of technologically assisted human reproduction, and five million miracle babies later, in vitro fertilization (IVF) has become a routine procedure worldwide. In Biological Relatives, Sarah Franklin explores how the normalization of IVF has changed how both technology and biology are understood. Drawing on anthropology, feminist theory, and science studies, Franklin charts the evolution of IVF from an experimental research technique into a global technological platform used for a wide variety of applications, including genetic diagnosis, livestock breeding, cloning, and stem cell research. She contends that despite its ubiquity, IVF remains a highly paradoxical technology that confirms the relative and contingent nature of biology while creating new biological relatives. Using IVF as a lens, Franklin presents a bold and lucid thesis linking technologies of gender and sex to reproductive biomedicine, contemporary bioinnovation, and the future of kinship.

Despite the longevity of animation and its significance within the history of cinema, film theorists have focused on live-action motion pictures and largely ignored hand-drawn and computer-generated movies. Thomas Lamarre contends that the history, techniques, and complex visual language of animation, particularly Japanese animation, demands serious and sustained engagement, and in The Anime Machine he lays the foundation for a new critical theory for reading Japanese animation, showing how anime fundamentally differs from other visual media. The Anime Machine defines the visual characteristics of anime and the meanings generated by those specifically “animetic” effects—the multiplanar image, the distributive field of vision, exploded projection, modulation, and other techniques of character animation—through close analysis of major films and television series, studios, animators, and directors, as well as Japanese theories of animation. Lamarre first addresses the technology of anime: the cells on which the images are drawn, the animation stand at which the animator works, the layers of drawings in a frame, the techniques of drawing and blurring lines, how characters are made to move. He then examines foundational works of anime, including the films and television series of Miyazaki Hayao and Anno Hideaki, the multimedia art of Murakami Takashi, and CLAMP’s manga and anime adaptations, to illuminate the profound connections between animators, characters, spectators, and technology. Working at the intersection of the philosophy of technology and the history of thought, Lamarre explores how anime and its related media entail material orientations and demonstrates concretely how the “animetic machine” encourages a specific approach to thinking about technology and opens new ways for understanding our place in the technologized world around us.

Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience brings together multi-disciplinary scholars from around the world to explore key social, historical and philosophical studies of neuroscience, and to analyze the socio-cultural implications of recent advances in the field. This text’s original, interdisciplinary approach explores the creative potential for engaging experimental neuroscience with social studies of neuroscience while furthering the dialogue between neuroscience and the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. Critical Neuroscience transcends traditional skepticism, introducing novel ideas about ‘how to be critical’ in and about science.

Research and innovation in the life sciences is driving rapid growth in agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, energy, and other sectors of the U.S. economy. This economic activity, conceptually referred to as the bioeconomy, presents many opportunities to create jobs, improve the quality of life, and continue to drive economic growth. While the United States has been a leader in advancements in the biological sciences, other countries are also actively investing in and expanding their capabilities in this area. Maintaining competitiveness in the bioeconomy is key to maintaining the economic health and security of the United States and other nations. Safeguarding the Bioeconomy evaluates preexisting and potential approaches for assessing the value of the bioeconomy and identifies intangible assets not sufficiently captured or that are missing from U.S. assessments. This study considers strategies for safeguarding and sustaining the economic activity driven by research and innovation in the life sciences. It also presents ideas for horizon scanning mechanisms to identify new technologies, markets, and data sources that have the potential to drive future development of the bioeconomy.