evident, opening possibilities for innova-
tive NDT/E methods with applications
in industries such as infrastructure,
aerospace, and environmental moni-
toring. Applications in hard-to-access
inspection areas, advanced processes
for detecting undetectable discontinu-
ities, data management with reduced
dimensionality and size, and increased
autonomy are just a few areas where
bioinspiration can significantly impact
NDT/E technologies.
AUTHOR
Ehsan Dehghan-Niri: Intelligent Structures
and Non-destructive Evaluation laboratory, The
School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks,
Arizona State University nde@asu.edu
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our bioinspired NDT research was supported
by the US National Science Foundation CAREER
Award under Grant No. 2320815. We would like
to extend our sincere appreciation to the Duke
Lemur Center (DLC) for their support through
the DBI-SABI award (Grant No. 2314898).
Additionally, we express our gratitude to the
dedicated research team at DLC, including
Dr. Erin Ehmke, Ms. Julie McKinney, Ms. Gabbi
Hirschkorn, and Ms. Alexis Sharp, for their
invaluable assistance in setting up this noninva-
sive behavioral study.
Although it is uncommon to acknowledge
animals in scientific publications, I would like to
take this opportunity to recognize two specific
aye-ayes from the DLC, Merlin and Medusa.
While I never had the chance to meet Merlin,
an article written by Dr. Erin Ehmke about him,
following his passing, sparked my interest in
bioinspired NDT. Merlin contributed to several
research projects at DLC, and even after his
death, his CT scan helped us better understand
the external auditory system of aye-ayes and
its impact on acoustic field measurements.
Medusa, a younger aye-aye at DLC, recently
assisted our team in collecting thermal images
of the tapping process, and we are grateful for
her contribution to our research.
CITATION
Materials Evaluation 83 (4): 28-33
https://doi.org/10.32548/2025.me-04490
©2025 American Society for Nondestructive
Testing
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