July 4, 2008

ONDON, United Kingdom (CNN) -- Medicine has much to learn from nature. There are literally millions of medical compounds out there that could cure diseases, help improve treatment and even protect us from some types of bacteria.

Scientists have been tapping into nature's resources for inspiration on how to treat humans.

Humpback whales, sea cucumbers and Australian red algae are just a few of the species leading the way in modern medicine.

The humpback whale has unwittingly concealed a design within its heart that could help save the lives of many patients suffering from heart disease.

With a heart that can pump six bath tubs of blood around a circulation system that is 4,500 times as complex as our own and in only three heartbeats a minute, it has fascinated scientists as to how it manages this feat.

But it was while studying how the whale's heart is able to do this that scientists discovered nano-sized 'wires'. These wires allow electrical signals to stimulate the heartbeats even through masses of non-conductive blubber.

This discovery could be the key to replacing the traditional pacemaker. Instead of having to install a battery-powered pacemaker the whale 'wires' could be used to stimulate heart beats.

Whale 'wires' could save the extra bouts of surgery, which are currently needed to replace the batteries in pacemakers.

t doesn't end there. It also has the added bonus of saving money. With the world-wide market for pacemakers expected to reach $3.7 billion by 2010, this technology, which costs only a few cents to make, could replace pacemakers and save billions.

At Ohio's Cleveland West Reserve University Jeffrey Capadona has pioneered the creation of a material that could help treat Parkinson's disease, stroke and spinal chord injuries.

This time the inspiration was the humble sea cucumber, whose skin can change from a rigid to flexible state with ease.

Capadona argues that tiny electrodes implanted into the brain are sometimes used to treat Parkinson's disease, stroke and spinal chord injuries. But they can become less effective over time as the body creates scar tissue around the hard implant.

Using this new material, which was based on the skin of sea cucumber, could improve treatment as the material can become less rigid and prolong its effectiveness.

Even red algae in Australia have provided inspiration to scientists who now believe they could help control some diseases.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia, discovered that the red algae found just off the coast was free from biofilms, a congregation of bacteria that are the cause of 70 percent of all human infections.

By pinpointing the compound that protects the algae from biofilms, has led to scientists hoping to be able to control bacteria like cholera without it developing any resistance to the treatment.

Nature has done all the hard work for us it would seem. Chimpanzees, whales and virtually every other species on the planet have been learning how to survive for millions of years.

Richard Wrangham from Harvard University and his fellow researchers have discovered that by observing how chimps and other species cope with illness, they can find plants with promising medical applications to human health.

When chimps are ill they search out trees that have been found to contain a chemical compound that shows promise in treating parasites such as pinworm, hookworm, and giardia in humans.

Nick Nuttall, spokesperson for the UN Environment Programme, told CNN: "Many of the world's great pharmaceuticals have been derived from nature historically including aspirin, penicillin and the anti-breast cancer drug taxol."

"Nature has solved many of the challenges we face -- renewable energy (photosynthesis) or bacterial resistance to man-made antibiotics (certain kinds of algae) and has been testing these designs and processes for some four billion years," he added.

With such an exhaustive period of testing how can we ignore what nature has to teach us?

www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/03/medicine.biomimic/index.html