Applications – Some Influences of Engineering Ideas on Biology: Being the fifth in a series of essays on the materials of nature

Ideas from engineering have helped the understanding of biological organisms for thousands of years. However, the mechanical aspects of biological materials and structures can, if properly interpreted and analysed, lead to a deeper understanding of the biology of organisms. Such an approach, although always current in some form, is nevertheless subject to the vagaries of fashion and the availability of analytical techniques. At present we are in a period of upturn. Areas of interest are deployable structures (applications in aerospace), palaeontology (how little do we need to know in order to create a credible biosphere) and food science (we need a rational approach to the mechanics of food).