Airplanes and Scorpions: Which are Intelligently Designed?

Dr. Han Zhiwu of Chanchun, China is fascinated by scorpions. And rightly so. These little creatures have armor that enables them to withstand sandstorms that would strip the paint away from steel.

Apparently, their chitin covering is formed of tiny “dome-shaped granules” which seem to be designed to disturb surface airflow so that sand particles are deflected and erosion is decreased to half of what would be expected.

When the team of scientists tested steel formed like the surface of a scorpion in a lab “sand storm,” the steel’s rate of erosion was reduced by 1/5. Not as good as a scorpion, but then the steel was intelligently designed. Perhaps airplane manufacturers would like to take note and copy the “unintelligent” design of a scorpion’s armor.