New ways of scientific publishing and accessing human knowledge inspired by transdisciplinary approaches

Abstract

Inspired by interdisciplinary work touching biology and microtribology, the authors propose a new, dynamic way of publishing research results, the establishment of a tree of knowledge and the localisation of scientific articles on this tree. The current two-dimensional standard of scientific publications is outdated. Over-information in almost any field is a problem. Therefore, it is suggested that, to succeed and be read, modern publications should be dynamic and use all types of multimedia. Such ways of presenting and managing research results would be accessible by people with different kinds of backgrounds and levels of education, and allow for full use of the ever-increasing number of scientific and technical publications. This approach would dramatically change and revolutionise the way we are doing science, and contribute to overcoming the three gaps between the world of ideas, inventors, innovators and investors as introduced by Gebeshuber, Gruber and Drack in 2009 for accelerated scientific and technological breakthroughs to improve the human condition. Inspiration for the development of above methods was the fact that generally tribologists and biologists do not see many overlaps of their professions. However, both deal with materials, structures and processes. Tribology is omnipresent in biology and many biological systems have impressive tribological properties. Tribologists can therefore get valuable input and inspiration from living systems. The aim of biomimetics is knowledge transfer from biology to technology and successful biomimetics in tribology needs collaboration between biologists and tribologists. Literature search shows that the number of papers regarding biotribology is steadily increasing. However, at the moment, most scientific papers of the other respective field are hard to access and hard to understand, in terms of concepts and specific wording, hindering successful collaboration and resulting in long times that are needed to speak and understand the other's language. For example, there is a plenitude of biology papers that deal with friction, adhesion, wear and lubrication that were written solely for a biology readership and that have high potential to serve as inspiration for tribology if they were available in a language or in an environment accessible for tribologists. The three needs that can be identified regarding successful biomimetics for microtribologists (i.e. joint language, joint way of publishing results, and joint seminars, workshops and conferences) are developed further into a general concept concerning the future of scientific publications and ordering as well as accessing the knowledge of our time.

Keywords

BIOTRIBOLOGY BIOMIMETICS PUBLICATIONS ORGANISING KNOWLEDGE

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Scherge

and Gorb

: ‘Biological micro- and nanotribology — Nature's solutions’; 2001, Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer Verlag.

Dai

Z. T.

, Tong

and Ren:

L. J.

‘Researches and developments of biomimetics in tribology’, Chin. Sci. Bull. English Edn, 2006, 51, (22), 2681–2689.

Morina

, Liskiewicz

and Neville

: ‘Designing new lubricant additives using biomimetics’, in ‘Design and nature III, WIT transactions on ecology and the environment 87’, 157–166; 2006, New Forest, WIT Press.

Dowson

and Neville:

‘Bio-tribology and bio-mimetics in the operating environment’, Proc. IMechE Part J, 2006, 220, (J3), 109–123.

Neville

(Guest ed.): ‘Special issue on Biomimetics in Engineering. Proc. IMechE Part C, 2007, 221, (C10), i—i, 1141–1230.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Drack

and Scherge:

‘Tribology in biology’, Tribol Mater., Surf Interf, 2008, 2, (4), 200–212.

Singh

R. A.

and Yoon

E.-S.

: ‘Biomimetics in tribology — recent developments’, J. Korean Phys. Soc., 2008, 52, (3), 656–668.

Arvind

S. R.

, Yoon

E.-S.

and Jackson

R. L.

: ‘Biomimetics: the science of imitating nature’, Tribol Lubricat. Technol., 2009, 65, (2), 40–47.

Furey

M. J.

and Burkhardt:

B. M.

‘Biotribology: friction, wear and lubrication of natural synovial joints’, Lubric. Set, 1997, 9, (3), 221–322.

10.

Tees

D. F.

and Goetz:

D. J.

‘Leukocyte adhesion: an exquisite balance of hydrodynamic and molecular forces’, News Physiol Sci., 2003, 18, 186–190.

11.

Orsello

C. E.

, Lauffenburger

D. A.

and Hammer:

D. A.

‘Molecular properties in cell adhesion: a physical and engineering perspective’, Trends Biotechnol, 2001, 19, (8), 310–316.

12.

Autumn

, Liang

Y. A.

, Hsieh

S. T.

, Zesch

, Chan

W. P.

, Kenny

T. W.

, Fearing

and Full:

R. J.

‘Adhesive force of a single gecko-foot hair’, Nature, 2000, 405, 681–685.

13.

Sakhalkar

H. S.

, Dalal

M. K.

, Salem

A. K.

, Ansari

, Fu

, Kiani

M. F.

, Kurjiaka

D. T.

, Hanes

, Shakesheff

K. M.

and Goetz:

D. J.

‘Leukocyte—inspired biodegradable particles that selectively and avidly adhere to inflamed endothelium in vitro and in vivo’, Proc. Natl Acad Sci. USA, 2003, 100, 15895–15900.

14.

Northen

M. T.

and Turner:

K. L.

‘A batch fabricated biomimetic dry adhesive’, Nanotechnology, 2005, 16, (8), 1159–1166.

15.

Shah

G. J.

and Sitti

: ‘Modeling and design of biomimetic adhesives inspired by gecko foot-hairs’, Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on ‘Robotics and biomimetics’, Shenyang, China, August 2004, IEEE, 873–878.

16.

Gorb

E. V.

and Gorb:

S. N.

‘Attachment ability of the beetle Chrysolina fastuosa on various plant surfaces’, Entomol. Experiment. Appl, 2002, 105, (1), 13–28.

17.

Gorb

, Haas

, Henrich

, Enders

, Barbakadze

and Gorb

: ‘Composite structure of the crystalline epicuticular wax layer of the slippery zone in the pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata and its effect on insect attachment’, J. Experiment. Biol., 2005, 208, 4651–4662.

18.

Koch

, Dommisse

, Barthlott

and Gorb:

S. N.

‘The use of plant waxes as templates for micro- and nanopatterning of surfaces’, Acta Biomater., 2007, 3, 905–909.

19.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Stachelberger

and Drack:

‘Diatom bionanotribology — biological surfaces in relative motion: their design, friction, adhesion, lubrication and wear’, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., 2005, 5, (1), 79–87.

20.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Pauschitz

and Franek

: ‘Biotribological model systems for emerging nano-scale technologies’, Proc. Emerging Technologies — Nanoelectronics, Singapore, Jan 2006, IEEE, 396–400.

21.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Stachelberger

, Ganji

B. A.

, Fu

D. C.

, Yunas

and Majlis:

B. Y.

‘Exploring the innovational potential of biomimetics for novel 3D MEMS’, Adv. Mater. Res., 2009, 74, 265–268.

22.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Stachelberger

and Majlis:

B. Y.

‘Exploring the innovation potential of biomimetics for novel 3D micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS)’, Proc. 6th Plant Biomechanics Conf., Cayenne, French Guyana, November 2009, Ecologie des Forets de Guyane, 374–381.

23.

Barthlott

and Neinhuis:

‘Purity of the sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological surfaces’, Planta, 1997, 202, (11), 1–8.

24.

Neinhuis

and Barthlott:

‘Characterization and distribution of water-repellent, self-cleaning plant surfaces’, Ann. Botany, 1997, 79, (6), 667–677.

25.

Barthlott

: ‘Self-cleaning surfaces of objects and process for producing same’ Patent EP 0772514 Bl, 1998.

26.

Barthlott

and Neinhuis

: ‘Method for producing self-cleaning detachable surfaces’, Patent WO 00/58410, 2000.

27.

Scherge

and Gorb:

S. N.

‘Microtribology of biological materials’, Tribol Lett., 2000, 8, (1), 1–7.

28.

Scherge

and Gorb:

‘Using biological principles to design MEMS’, J. Micromech. Microeng., 2000, 10, (3), 359–364.

29.

Diderot

and d'Alembert

J. R.

: ‘Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the sciences, arts, and crafts’, 1751.

30.

Biomimicry innovation method: Biomimicry Guild, Helena, MT, USA, available at: http://www.biomimicryguild.com/guild_servi-ces_methods.html, 2008.

31.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Majlis

B. Y.

and Stachelberger

: ‘Biomimetics in tribology’, in ‘Bionik/biomimetics: material, structure, process (working title)’, (ed. Bruckner

et al); 2010, Springer Publishing, to be published.

32.

Sandweiss

: ‘Essay: the future of scientific publishing’, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009, 102, (19), 190001(2p).

33.

Nowotny

, Scott

and Gibbons: ‘Re-thinking science

: knowledge and the public in an age of uncertainty’; 2001, Cambridge, Polity Press.

34.

Klein

J. T.

, Grossenbacher-Mansuy

, Häberli

, Bill

, Scholz

R. W.

and Welti

(ed.): ‘Transdisciplinarity: joint problem solving among science, technology, and society — an effective way for managing complexity’; 2004, Basel, Birkhäuser.

35.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, and Quist

A. P.

: ‘Transdisciplinarity’, in ‘Encyclopedia of nanoscience and society’ (ed. Guston

and Golson

J. G.

); 2010, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, to be published.

36.

Tributsch

: ‘How life learned to live’; 1984, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

37.

Vogel

: ‘Life's devices: the physical world of animals and plants’, 1988; Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

38.

Vogel

: ‘Life in moving fluids: the physical biology of flow’; 1996, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

39.

Vogel

: ‘Cats’ paws and catapults: mechanical worlds of nature and people’; 1998, New York, WW Norton & Co.

40.

Nachtigall

: ‘Das groBe Buch der Bionik’; 2003, München, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt.

41.

Vogel

: ‘Comparative biomechanics: life's physical world’; 2003, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

42.

Vogel

: ‘Nature's flyers: birds, insects, and the biomechanics of flight’; 2004, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press.

43.

Gebeshuber

I. C.

, Gruber

and Drack:

‘A gaze into the crystal ball — biomimetics in the year 2059’, Proc. IMechE Part C, J. Mech. Eng. Sci., 2009, 223, (C12), 2899–2918.

44.

Hamilton

D. P.

: ‘Publishing by — and for? — the numbers: new evidence raises the possibility that a majority of scientific papers make negligible contributions to knowledge’, Science, 1990, 250, 1331–1332.

45.

Hamilton

D. P.

: ‘Research papers: who's uncited now?’, Science, 1991, 251, 25.

46.

Pendlebury

D. A.

: ‘Science, citation, and funding (Letter to the Editor)’, Science, 1991, 251, 1410–1411.