The shape and function ...
In realtà, una delle cose più difficili non è trovare la risposta in natura, ma probabilmente è capire la domanda che genera quella risposta. Il primo approccio, Perhaps the most obvious, is to look at the form it has a natural object, such as sensor bell cricket, which is seen in the figure, is a motion sensor (the small cones in the background are chemical sensors: photo taken at the confocal microscope and Emma Johnson, a researcher at the University of Reading).
The shape depends on the function? Yes, sure, but certainly a complex and still unclear. To complicate things, it takes the fact that the same form can be many functions, including different. The pineapple fiber, shown in a previous post, has a shape quite similar, inclusive of a large central gap. However, the two species have nothing in common. This suggests that the form can be misleading. Slowly, you begin to connect the shapes of plants with stress, especially mechanical, the plant suffers (it is a part of the study of morphogenesis).
Even though little is known about why many features of animal species, just as the sensors of insects, are "designed" that way. Speaking of design, the "concept" that the nature of development is still very cryptic, but one thing is certain, often works best because of the merits of the geometry is adopted instinctively, or rather a result of evolution.