Blood carries oxygen in varied conditions: human

1 of 1 Human Heart / Student of M.. / License

The blood of humans distributes oxygen through the body via hemoglobin with adjustable oxygen affinity.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Get, store, or distribute resources >
	Distribute >
	Gases

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Organic and inorganic chemical manufacturing requiring oxygen. Oxygen delivery mechanisms for patients needing high oxygen concentrations or workers operating in low oxygen environments.

> Visit strategy page

[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Nature has evolved in ways that, at the molecular scale, make inventive and elegant uses of chemistry. To take an example more or less at random, the use of allosteric effects by haemoglobin to fine-tune the protein's affinity for oxygen in different environments is exquisite. Imagine trying to design from first principles a system with haemoglobin's oxygen-sensitive oxygen affinity—there is not at all an obvious solution, and the engineer's answer would be likely to involve a cumbersome system of sensors and switches." (Ball 2002:15)

About the inspiring organism

human
Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758
[man]

IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern

Some organism data provided by: ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Organic and inorganic chemical manufacturing requiring oxygen. Oxygen delivery mechanisms for patients needing high oxygen concentrations or workers operating in low oxygen environments.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Organic and inorganic chemical manufacturing, medicine, health

CloudSolar - Solar Heating

References

Philip Ball. 2002. Natural strategies for the molecular engineer. Nanotechnology. 13(5): R15-R28.

Blood carries oxygen in varied conditions: human

Content tools

Curator of this page

Comments