How natural selection helps design antennas, cancer treatments and adhesives

By: Owen D. Jones, Vanderbilt University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: May 26, 2026

Words: 1,425

Last Updated: 2 months ago

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By Owen D. Jones, Vanderbilt University

NASA had a big – and little – problem. For a small satellite, the agency needed a tiny antenna, with very specific communication capabilities and very strict limits on size and weight. The agency gave the problem to a design team adept at simulating the way natural selection engineers solutions.

Design using natural selection is based on a simple but powerful idea with broad applications across the world: When variation …

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