Niklas Karl J, Walker Ian D
School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA.
Biomimetics (Basel). 2021 Mar 18;6(1):21. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics6010021.
The discipline called biomimetics attempts to create synthetic systems that model the behavior and functions of biological systems. At a very basic level, this approach incorporates a philosophy grounded in modeling either the behavior or properties of organic systems based on inferences of structure-function relationships. This approach has achieved extraordinary scientific accomplishments, both in fabricating new materials and structures. However, it is also prone to misstep because (1) many organic structures are multifunctional that have reconciled conflicting individual functional demands (rather than maximize the performance of any one task) over evolutionary time, and (2) some structures are ancillary or entirely superfluous to the functions their associated systems perform. The important point is that we must typically infer function from structure, and that is not always easy to do even when behavioral characteristics are available (e.g., the delivery of venom by the fangs of a snake, or cytoplasmic toxins by the leaf hairs of the stinging nettle). Here, we discuss both of these potential pitfalls by comparing and contrasting how engineered and organic systems are operationally analyzed. We also address the challenges that emerge when an organic system is modeled and suggest a few methods to evaluate the validity of models in general.
所谓的仿生学学科试图创建能够模拟生物系统行为和功能的合成系统。在非常基础的层面上，这种方法融入了一种理念，即基于对结构 - 功能关系的推断，对有机系统的行为或特性进行建模。这种方法在制造新材料和结构方面都取得了非凡的科学成就。然而，它也容易出错，原因如下：（1）许多有机结构具有多功能性，在进化过程中协调了相互冲突的个体功能需求（而不是最大化任何一项任务的性能）；（2）一些结构对于其相关系统所执行的功能而言是辅助性的或完全多余的。重要的一点是，我们通常必须从结构推断功能，而即便有行为特征（例如，蛇通过毒牙输送毒液，或者荨麻通过叶毛输送细胞质毒素），这也并非总是容易做到的。在此，我们通过比较和对比工程系统与有机系统的操作分析方式，来探讨这两个潜在的陷阱。我们还阐述了对有机系统进行建模时出现的挑战，并总体上提出了一些评估模型有效性的方法。
