Biomimicry is an approach of developing man-made solutions by learning from and emulating traits or patterns found in living things. In order to survive and reproduce, the plants, animals and microbes on our planet are in a constant state of change and adaption. As a result, nature has evolved to produce amazingly efficient and effective solutions to challenging problems. In that regard, evolution is the consummate agile engineering process: try, fail, adapt…repeat until the problem is solved. This process has been going on for over 3.5 billion years. Modern man, on the other hand, has only been around for about 200,000 years—which is just 0.0057% of that total time. As we attempt to find solutions to the technological, biological, and environmental problems we face, it is prudent for us to explore and learn from the living things around us. Yet the approach of leveraging biomimicry to propel science and technology is a relatively recent practice.

One of the first well-known inventions developed through biomimicry is Velcro. In 1941 George de Mestral, a Swiss amateur-mountaineer and inventor, went for a hike with his dog. The man and his companion both returned home covered with burrs. Burrs are plant seed-sacs designed by nature to cling to animal fur in order to disperse to new fertile areas. To understand how the burrs achieved this feat, de Mestral removed several burrs and examined them under a microscope. What he discovered is that burrs are covered with minute hooks perfectly shaped to adhere to fur and the tiny loops in the fabric of his pants and socks.

(Source: http://therecord.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341c465d53ef0120a610eb2c970b-popup)

Microscopic view of a burr

Janine M. Benyus, a writer, consultant, and conservationist authored a book published in 1997 titled “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature”. In 1998 she co-founded the Biomimicry Guild and Innovation Consultancy. She later performed TED talks in 2005 and 2009 on this topic. Though Benuys is by no means the only researcher to use and promote biomimicry, her writings and lectures are attributed with the broad adoption of this strategy to identifying and developing solutions.

Source: https://tedcdnpi-a.akamaihd.net/r/tedcdnpe-a.akamaihd.net/images/ted/1426_253x190.jpg?

Janine M. Benyus

Humans have long recognized geckos as amazing creatures. In addition to being very effective at selling car insurance, geckos have the unique ability to climb nearly any surface. They can even cling upside-down on glass. It took nearly 150 years of research for scientists to figure out how geckos accomplish this astonishing exploit. Initial theories of suction cup shaped surfaces, sticky compounds, and electrostatic forces were proved to be incorrect.

Source: https://kidssearch.com/picsearch/images/gecko-pic-1181×1181-812d7f7.png

Source: http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/379141/530wm/Z7620033-Gecko_foot_hairs%2C_SEM-SPL.jpg

It took powerful microscopes to discover the answer: geckos have microscopic hairs, or setae, on the bottom of their feet. Each hair splits hundreds of times into microscopic bristles. It ends up that the secret to a gecko’s ability to cling to any surface is mechanical. The trick is a combination of the bristles and the angle at which the gecko moves its feet. Researchers found that simply pushing the setae onto the surface and dragging them forward a tiny bit makes them stick. Increasing the angle at which a hair touches a surface then allows the hair to pop off. In effect, a gecko peels off its feet just as you would peel off adhesive tape—but no glue involved. Once the mechanism was identified, it didn’t take researchers at The University of Massachusetts Amherst long to develop a product, known as GeckSkin, that mimics a gecko’s feet. Using a similar technique, Researchers at the Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford University recently developed small, 3.5 ounce, ant-like robots that can pull thousands times their own weight. Six of these tiny robots together are able to pull a car weighing 3,900 pounds.

Though humans have been successful at developing forms of transportation that are relatively efficient at traveling on land, our mastery of moving through the medium of water has been only moderately successful—at least in comparison to the animals that call our planet’s oceans and waterways home. There are ten kinds of fish that are able to swim at speeds faster than 35mph. The fastest of which, the sailfish is able to swim at speeds of up to 68mph. The world’s fastest submarines can travel at around 40mph. That may sound respectable. But the amount of energy required by submarines, on a per-pound of thrust basis, is thousands of times greater than that of a fish. After years of research, scientists are starting to understand how marine creatures manipulate currents and eddies to propel themselves. Robotic robots are being developed that leverage these strategies and swim like real fish. Biomimicry of fish has also produced new car designs as well as improved design of wind turbine blades—the later based on the tubercles (bumps) found on the fins of humpbacked whales.

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AzMTPduxBTQ/Vd67kZS09GI/AAAAAAAAAEY/kesV5_7f04U/s640/i1.PNG

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ic50csW1nBPk.jpg

The texture of sharkskin, iridescent color of butterfly wings, and illumination of fireflies have all inspired new products. Nature has created some amazingly elegant and efficient solutions. We have much to learn from nature. When posed with a challenge, researchers and engineers need to become more accustomed to asking themselves, “how would nature solve this?”