Biomimicry: videos and articles to support lessons
A collection of links to videos that help to explain the concept of biomimicry.
The Biomimicry Institute
"Through biomimicry education and entrepreneurship, we’re helping people create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet."
How Does Nature Cool?
In this video from The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, Sherry Ritter describes how the red kangaroo stays cool in temperatures of up to 45°C. The kangaroo licks its wrists, where there are a large number of blood vessels close to the surface, and this cools through evaporation. Sherry asks whether we could learn from this cooling technique to develop more effective evaporative cooling systems.
How Does Nature Sense?
Adelheid Fischer, Biomimicry Fellow and Coordinator of InnovationSpace at Arizona State University, explains how she finds inspiration in the star-nosed mole. The mole does not use its unusual nose for smell, but as a touch sensing organ. The mole can also smell under water by sending out bubbles to catch odour molecules, and then breathing them back in to smell the environment. Adelheid asks what we can learn from the sensory apparatus of the mole and its unique methods of navigation.
Biomimicry
This Catalyst article investigates biomimetics and discovers how scientists are finding ways of copying ideas from nature to improve products
Biomimicry
This resource looks at how biomimicry enables engineers to take ideas from the natural world to develop new products and designs. The specific example of gecko tape is used to illustrate this. Students play a game of pairs where they need to match technology with the animal or plant which inspired its development. They then work in groups to design a future technology and annotating their sketch to explain how it has been inspired by nature. The resource also looks at the careers available in the RAF.
Michael Pawlyn: Using Nature's Genius in Architecture
In this talk, courtesy of TED, Michael Pawlyn describes how we could transform architecture and save resources and energy using biomimicry. He explains that in order to make progress with the sustainability revolution, there are three really big changes we need to bring about. Firstly, radical increases in resource efficiency. Secondly, shifting from a linear, wasteful, polluting way of using resources to a closed-loop model. And thirdly, changing from a fossil fuel economy to a solar economy.
Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral
In this talk, courtesy of TED, architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station. One is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, which is a celebration of growth and light.
The team re-designed a bus for Transport of London which would allow people to get on and off when they wanted. The brief was that the bus should use 40 percent less energy and so they improved everything from the fabric to the format and structure and aesthetics, including a hybrid drive.
Zygote Quarterly
Zygote Quarterly is a magazine that showcases biology inspired design and art. Free to download with a back catalogue full of case studies and inspiring artwork.