#materialogy

Peristalsis is derived from the ancient Greek peristaltikos which means contraction. Today the word is often used in medicine, referring to the rippling motion of muscles in tubular organs, which are characterized by the alternate contraction as well as relaxation of the muscles that propel the contents onward. Although its use in medicine predominated, this phenomenon became a point of departure for the technology that enables this form of spatial and social dynamics.

Look at your skin and you will quickly realize that within one continuous tissue we are constantly in negotiation between seemingly contradictory functions as we consider the skin as both barrier and filter. Indeed, the skin has significant structural properties which allow it to fulfill its multiple functions. These functions include energy capture (i.e. insect compound eye), color generation (i.e. scales of butterfly wings), heat transfer (i.e. penguin feathers), mass transfer, drag reduction (i.e. shark skin), surface adhesion (i.e. contac splitting in gecko foot), surface repulsion, sensing, actuation, and so on. The one common denominator for all of these examples is that they are all constructed of complex fiber structures. Indeed, natural structures possess a high level of seamless integration and precision with which they serve their functions. A key distinguishing trait of nature’s designs is the capability in the biological world to generate complex fiber structures of organic, or inorganic, multifunctional composites such as shells, pearls, corals, teeth, wood, silk, horn, collagen, and muscle fibers (Benyus, 1997). Combined with extra-cellular matrices, these structural biomaterials form microstructures engineered to adapt to prearranged external constraints introduced into them during growth an/or throughout their life span (Vincent 1982). Such constraints generally include combinations of structural, environmental and corporeal performance criteria (Figure 2.1).