Researchers are developing life-imitating robots that mimic the movements and structure of real creatures. These biomimetic creations could be used to find land mines, repair machinery in hard-to-reach spots and even diagnose and treat diseases.

An overview of some of the U.S. Military's efforts to learn from the natural world by developing new techniques based on animal behavior, or exploit it directly by enlisting animals directly in warfighting efforts.

Researchers have created an insect-sized robot that is capable of infiltrating roach colonies and changing their behavior.

Researchers have developed a robot that looks and acts enough like a cockroach that it is capable of infiltrating a group of them and altering their behaviour. The researchers see other uses for their technology in controlling sheep and poultry.

Researchers have developed unmanned surveillance aircraft modelled after birds that can blend into their surroundings and fly in flocklike formations.

Adding a model of brain circuits to a computer model of a singing bird has allowed scientists to figure out how birds compose their songs. The feat hints that we might one day be able to map some of the complex circuitry in an animal's brain just by listening to its calls -- or map a human's brain using a computer model tuned to "talk" human-like gibberish.

Tiny machines that fly like insects will soon be a reality. That is the confident prediction of scientists who have just studied the remarkable aerobatics of the butterfly.

Researchers are tapping millions of years of biological evolutionary experience to develop the next generation of materials. This research, known as biomimetics, aims to incorporate properties unique to nature into manufactured devices.