Pathogen-busting nanosurfaces inspired by insect wings

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Engineering and Biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Professor Prasad Yarlagadda, from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, who is taking inspiration from insect wings to design nanosurfaces that destroy any bacteria or viruses that land on them. This has major implications for the next generation of super-sterile materials, especially within the medical field.
• This resource also contains an interview with Prasad. If you or your students have a question for him, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. Prasad will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Prasad’s research, and tasks them to explore how nanomaterials are used in society.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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