This morning I ran a practical class for students at the end of a course
on mechanical design in organisms. I set them some problems, then
divided them into groups and set them to produce solutions using TRIZ
(qv. on the www). The students had to be kicked out of the lab in the
end. They thought it was magic and came up with lots of interesting
ideas. They had 20 minutes of introduction to the concepts. How would
you do? Try them!!
The problems:
1 At present the only shark which can re-invade fresh water is the
Nicaraguan Bull Shark. Predators are therefore smaller and somewhat
slower in the rivers than in the sea. Reduced availability of food (due
to man’s overfishing) drives shark back into fresh water. How can the
fresh-water fish respond?
2 In Swift’s "Gulliver’s Travels" the Houhenhyhms are horses which are
gentle, wise, and can talk. They are the top animal. They could evolve
further and walk on two legs rather than four (shades of Orwell’s
"Animal Farm"). What adaptations might they develop, both in order to
achieve bipedalism, and as a consequence of it?
3 The continents are drifting apart at an ever increasing rate, and
islands are disappearing. How do migrating birds cope?
4 A species of caterpillar feeds on the leaves of a shrub. As a defence
mechanism the shrub starts to develop a glassy-smooth and hardened
bark. What might the caterpillar do in order to continue feeding on the
plant?
5 A single species of animal of about the size and longevity of Man
dominates the world. It hasn’t developed any mechanised form of
transport but has managed to become a single interbreeding population.
How did it do that?
6 A gene escapes from a GM plant into grass, where it raises the amount
of silica from 10% to 50%. How do grazing animals cope with this?
Answers to be posted on the mailbase, please!
Julian
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|