Mother Nature has had a long time to work on packaging design problems. Some times her solutions turn out to be quite good. Engineers at the University of Florida have found Shark skin was a great inspiration for a new coating design for ocean-going ships. Conventionally finished ship hulls can suffer from algae and barnacle growth which increases drag and increases energy usage and maintenance costs. The UF engineers have developed a new coating based on learnings from studying shark skin that can prevent the fouling from algae and possibly barnacles. So what can you learn from mother nature that will help you eat up the competition? The answer is you never know until you try.