The fly's eye and the money market

Well, take the case of Australia’s Professor Allan Snyder, who won the prestigious Marconi International Fellowship in 2001 based on his study of flies' eyes. According to the Marconi citation:

Snyder's key contributions laid the foundations for three totally different areas of science: optical fiber telecommunications, visual photoreceptor optics and futuristic light-guiding-light technologies. His design of a range of devices essential to the operation of the telecommunications network has enabled millions of miles of fiber optic cable to be laid around the globe.

Alan Snyder’s work shows that ideas based on how nature solves problems can make a profound difference to the lives of billions of people and to the global economy.  Where would the money markets of the world be without optic fibre - and the flies' eyes that inspired it?

There is compelling evidence that the effort by Australia in both spheres - bio-discovery and its application to physics, information technology and electronics - has fallen away in recent times. This is something we need urgently to redress.

Insect sensors and robots may not be everyone’s idea of a delightful new technology - but they are likely to play a key role in the next generation of all-terrain vehicles, the surveillance devices that keep us safe in war and terror, the medical sensors that measure our health, the food sensors that will make the next generation of wines more delectable than the last, the systems that will watch over our crops, our oceans and our environment. Can Australia afford not to be at the very forefront of this potent new knowledge?