Artificial Insect Eyes
2006/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Taking as a reference the eye of insects, bioengineers from Berkeley University have made an artificial eye. Therefore, it looks like the eye of insects and in operation, as it is able to see it in all directions.
Insects, such as the compass and fly, have eyes composed of many eyes or omatidia. Because in the laboratory they have created eyes formed by thousands of lenses. These lenses have a light channel. They are very similar in size, shape and function to the omatidia of insects; the way of ordering the lenses is similar to that of the honeycomb of the bees, forming a semisphere.
The bioengineers of the University of Berkeley explained in the journal Science that the objective has been to produce these eyes in a simple and economical way. Thanks to this, they will have many applications, such as medicine and surgery chambers and catheters.
