Admittedly the prospect of pregnancy only applies to half of humanity, but the other half should find the process equally astounding. The real star of the show, however, is the developing baby, who was once viewed as a passive object being built by the mother's body. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A new life is started the moment a human sperm cell unites with a human egg. Sounds simple, doesn't it? A person can decide for himself, but he will need to follow along very closely to catch all of the details and carefully piece them together, just as he would follow a skillful mystery.

Scientists are discovering engineering details of the biological structures that enable some animals to jump exceedingly far for their sizes. Froghoppers are insects that can jump 100 times their body length, and it turns out that sheer muscular strength is not nearly sufficient to account for this feat.

Computerized tomography (CT) scans use computing power to compile two-dimensional X-ray images into a three-dimensional view, and researchers are optimistic that a new form of high-resolution CT scanning at the molecular level will give “scientists precious new information about how Mother Nature forms shells, bones, and other hard structures.”¹ They hope to learn how to mimic the st

In another instance of scientists borrowing design elements from natural systems (a process known as biomimicry), researchers have developed a chemical catalyst modeled after peroxidase enzymes. Peroxidase is a complex protein that converts certain chemicals from harmful to benign and is found in almost all living cells.