The 17-year cicada has the longest known life cycle of any insect. In the USA large broods of this species of cicada appear on time every 17 years. When a tiny cicada nymph emerges from its egg it burrows into the ground, where it lives for 17 years. After this exact time, it waits until the ground temperature reaches 18 °C spends then emerges in huge numbers. It lives for only four to six more weeks in which time it eats, it mates and the females lay eggs so the long cycle can start again. Why 17 years? No-one knows for sure, but it is interesting to note that 17 is a prime number. Cicadas appear to be a delicacy for many predators including birds, mice, lizards and in China, people. Say the life cycle of the cicada was 12 years then any predator which had a life cycle of 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12 years would reproduce in numbers just as the cicadas were emerging. But the prime number 17 is only divisible by itself and one. No predator is aligned in life cycle so the cicada’s chances improve.
Evolution has been at work for so long and tried so many variants that it has produced some amazingly clever and unusual life and survival strategies. In that regard the methods used can look remarkably lateral.
Female Cuckoos do not make a nest, but rather they watch for another pair of birds to build a suitable nest in which to lay their eggs. When the cuckoo is ready, she will take an egg out of the chosen nest and eat it. She will lay her own in its place. The female Cuckoo can lay up to 25 eggs in a season in other birds’ nests. The host bird incubates the intruder cuckoo egg alongside its own eggs. But the cuckoo chick hatches after just 12 days and is then ruthlessly selfish. It will push other eggs or chicks out of the nest to ensure that it receives all the food from its stepparents. The cuckoo chick often grows to be much larger than they are. It then flies off.
The wood frog has a highly unusual self-freezing technique. In winter 40% of the frog’s body can turn to ice. It holds glucose in its liver, which acts as a type of antifreeze. So the frog stays alive while appearing to be frozen solid. In this state it stops breathing, its blood ceases flowing and its heart stops. When the temperature rises the frog comes back to life.
The African termite builds amazing mud structures which are water-proof and can reach 9 metres high. These mounds have many ventilation passages which improve air flow and keep the inside environment relatively cool even in very hot weather. Engineers and architects have studied termite mound design to help us build homes that can stay cool without air-conditioning.
One of the best sources of fresh ideas is the natural world. Nature solves problems in all sorts of clever ways so it can often provide an innovative solution for your business problem. Alexander Graham Bell based the design of the telephone on the workings of the human ear. The diaphragm in phone is similar to the diaphragm in the ear. When doctors wanted to design a better hypodermic needle they looked to nature for inspiration and based their innovative design on the proboscis of a mosquito. The Pringles design is copied from wet leaves which fold together in a pleasing curve. George de Mestral was a Swiss engineer who went for a walk with his dog. On his return he noticed that many plant burrs adhered strongly to his clothes and his dog’s fur. He studied the burrs under a microscope and saw that they worked with little hooks. He copied this idea in his invention of Velcro – which is now used as a fastener all over the world.
Artists have long looked to nature for inspiration – particularly in art and music. So have doctors, engineers and designers. In its myriad ways nature can point out novel ideas and clever solutions to everyday problems.
Based on a chapter in Lateral Thinking for Every Day
