Biomimicry : Everything you need to know

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems.

 

 

History

Humans have always looked to nature for inspiration to solve problems. One of the early examples of biomimicry was the study of birds to enable human flight. Although never successful in creating a "flying machine", Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was a keen observer of the anatomy and flight of birds, and made numerous notes and sketches on his observations as well as sketches of various "flying machines". 

The Wright Brothers, who finally did succeed in creating and flying the first aeroplane in 1903, also derived inspiration for their aeroplane from observations of pigeons in flight.

 

 

The first level of biomimicry is the mimicking of natural form. For instance, you may mimic the hooks and barbules of an owl’s feather to create a fabric that opens anywhere along its surface. Or you can imitate the frayed edges that grant the owl its silent flight. Copying feather design is just the beginning because it may or may not yield something that’s actually suitable for the wider system.

Deeper biomimicry adds a second level, which is the mimicking of the natural process, or how it is made.  The owl feather self-assembles at body temperature without toxins or high pressures, by way of nature’s chemistry. The unfurling field of green chemistry attempts to mimic these benign recipes.

At the third level is the mimicking of natural ecosystems. The owl feather is gracefully nested—it’s part of an owl that is part of a forest that is part of a biome that is part of a sustaining biosphere. In the same way, our owl-inspired fabric must be part of a larger economy that works to restore rather than deplete the earth and its people. If you make a bio-inspired fabric using green chemistry, but you have workers weaving it in a sweatshop, loading it onto pollution-spewing trucks, and shipping it long distances, you’ve missed the point.

 

 

Examples

Although we use an object we may not think of what might have determined its design. The Wright Brothers studied birds in an effort to build a more efficient flying machine. More recently, the Kingfisher’s heavy straight bill served to influence the design of the Japanese bullet train. By examining the Kingfisher’s bill engineers were able to reduce the sonic boom effect while increasing the speed of the fastest train in the world, the Maglev Bullet Train.

Likewise, the owl’s trailing edge fringe has provided clues to producing silent and more efficient onshore wind turbines. The owl is equipped to hunt in silence as a result of its wing structure. New materials which are capable of imitating the surface of an owl’s wings are being used in an effort to produce more energy while at the same time reducing noise.

Researchers, for example, studied the termite's ability to maintain virtually constant temperature and humidity in their termite mounds in Africa despite outside temperatures that vary from 1.5 °C to 40 °C (35 °F to 104 °F). Researchers initially scanned a termite mound and created 3-D images of the mound structure, which revealed construction that can influence human building design. The Eastgate Centre, a mid-rise office complex in Harare, Zimbabwe, (highlighted in this Biomimicry Institute case-study) stays cool without air conditioning and uses only 10% of the energy of a conventional building its size.

Modelling echolocation in bats in darkness has led to a cane for the visually impaired. Research at the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom, led to the UltraCane, a product formerly manufactured, marketed and sold by Sound Foresight Ltd.

 

 

If we can mimic at all three levels—natural form, natural process, and natural system—we’ll begin to do what all well-adapted organisms have learned to do, which is to create conditions conducive to life. Creating conditions conducive to life is not optional; it’s a rite of passage for any organism that manages to fit in here over the long haul.

 

If we want to keep coming home to this place, we’ll need to learn from our predecessors how to filter air, clean water, build soil—how to keep the habitat lush and livable.