Biomimicry

Picture a train slicing smoothly through Japan’s countryside, barely disturbing the air around it.

Humans might be the most highly-evolved species on the planet, but most animals possess skills we can only dream of having. Imagine how much electricity we could save if we could see in the dark the way cats do. Imagine leaping from tree to tree like a monkey. Giraffes, which are otherwise calm and genteel, sleep only 4.6 hours a day (forget flying, how can I learn to do that?). We realized a long, long time ago--centuries, perhaps even thousands of years before the publication of Popular Scienc

Biomimicry in tech and engineering demonstrates how much we have to learn from nature and natural systems.

Did you know the Mantis Shrimp can hit its prey faster than a bullet hundreds of thousands of times? Biomimicry, the study of natural design is creating innovative solutions to the worlds biggest problems.

From antifreeze proteins in fish blood to cleaner enzymes in marine microorganisms, Earth’s colder climes are teeming with remarkable innovations that humans are now learning to replicate.

Designers are turning to biomimicry to develop better cooling technologies.

Bees and wasps build space-efficient and strong nests using hexagonal cells.

Honeybees generate heat to mold cylindrical wax cells, then surface tension pulls the cooling wax into hexagons.

The scopa of a bee uses hairs of varying length, shape, and spacing to collect pollen.