The Takeaways

Why shark-inspired design keeps winning:

• Ridges, not chemicals — denticle textures cut drag and deny bacteria a foothold at the same time.
• Sharklet — its films and adhesive sheets now wrap high-touch hospital surfaces like rails and catheters.
• Banned in the pool — the LZR suit's polyurethane panels squeezed the body into a streamlined shape and trapped air for buoyancy, ruled an unfair advantage.
• Lighter footprint — denticle coatings save fuel on ships and aircraft alike.
• Borrowed, not invented — evolution did the testing, engineers just read the answer.