Scientific American reports on a biomimetic invention that will help bypass high-risk areas during brain during surgery:
The female wood wasps of the Siricidae family use a needle-like ovipositor to deposit eggs inside pine trees. This has two dovetailed shafts, each covered in backward-facing teeth. To bore into wood, the wasp rapidly oscillates each shaft backwards and forwards. As the shaft is pulled backwards, its sharp teeth catch in the wood’s tissue and prevent it from retreating, so with each oscillation the ovipositor takes a small step forward.
Continued at Scientific American.