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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
bionics

1959, from bio- + second element from electronic; also see -ics.

Wiktionary
bionics

n. 1 The design of engineering systems, especially electronic ones, based on that of biological systems. 2 biomimetics

WordNet
bionics

n. application of biological principals to the study and design of engineering systems (especially electronic systems)

Wikipedia
Bionics

Bionics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.

The word bionic was coined by Jack E. Steele in 1958, possibly originating from the technical term bion (pronounced BEE-on; from ), meaning 'unit of life' and the suffix -ic, meaning 'like' or 'in the manner of', hence 'like life'. Some dictionaries, however, explain the word as being formed as a portmanteau from biology and electronics. It was popularized by the 1970s U.S. television series The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, both based upon the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, which was itself influenced by Steele's work. All feature humans given superhuman powers by electromechanical implants.

The transfer of technology between lifeforms and manufactures is, according to proponents of bionic technology, desirable because evolutionary pressure typically forces living organisms, including fauna and flora, to become highly optimized and efficient. A classical example is the development of dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) from the observation that the surface of the lotus flower plant is practically unsticky for anything (the lotus effect)..

The term "biomimetic" is preferred when reference is made to chemical reactions. In that domain, biomimetic chemistry refers to reactions that, in nature, involve biological macromolecules (e.g. enzymes or nucleic acids) whose chemistry can be replicated in vitro using much smaller molecules.

Examples of bionics in engineering include the hulls of boats imitating the thick skin of dolphins; sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating animal echolocation.

In the field of computer science, the study of bionics has produced artificial neurons, artificial neural networks, and swarm intelligence. Evolutionary computation was also motivated by bionics ideas but it took the idea further by simulating evolution in silico and producing well-optimized solutions that had never appeared in nature.

It is estimated by Julian Vincent, professor of biomimetics at the University of Bath's Department of Mechanical Engineering, that "at present there is only a 12% overlap between biology and technology in terms of the mechanisms used".

Usage examples of "bionics".

While this approach has only dealt so far with simple problems, it seems, nonetheless, to many, to be far more promising than bionics or heuristic programming.

Perhaps, as she flicked through the financial papers, looking for a man who would marry her and carry her away to a world of timeless prosperity untouched by fashion, she noticed the features of young Nole Whard, charismatic ecology-conscious promoter of biotechnical artefacts, whose company, Bionics Inc.

He hooked two fingers of his bionics hand in the thick crosswire and then jerked hard.

You are picking up a mild shock in your leg. Not the bionics limb, Steve.

Michael Killian, a distinguished surgeon and head of the Bionics Research Laboratory in Colorado, leaned forward to rest his weight on his elbows.

Second, you people will be provided with the means to carry out your hopes for human research, involving as it does a total application of bionics and cybernetics.

So your facility, your Bionics Research Laboratory, has ridden a high crest of financial support.

Your bionics lab and, of course, your somewhat more secret lab that is buried in the mountain behind the public facade.

Steve Austin was the most perfect of all candidates for the bionics laboratory in Colorado.

And the two laboratories, bionics and cybernetics, used the code name of Slab Rock, which became the official name of the post office.

Thus a normal flow of traffic, of personnel, supplies, and equipment was carried out in completely open fashion to the bionics lab, which functioned both as a research center and a hospital.

He created the word bionics as a combination of the Greek bios, meaning life, and the suffix ics, meaning after the manner of, or resembling.

As Rudy Wells came to participate in the revolutionary field, bionics represented a remarkable step forward because it adapted biology to a new dimension.

Until bionics studies came about, biology was mostly a descriptive science.

With bionics, biology advanced to an analytical science that dealt with the specifics of the chemistry and physics involved in the biological processes.