Biomimicry 3.8 (2014), the leading international biomimicry
organization, defines the term as: a new science that studies nature’s models
and then uses these designs and processes to solve human problems[1].
The Biomimicry Institute defines Biomimicry an approach to innovation that
seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s
time-tested patterns and strategies[2].
Utilising the design concepts found in nature, researchers across a variety of disciplines have found ways to overcome issues or problems in areas such as traffic congestion, fog harvesting, increasing the efficiency of a washing machine spin cycle and many others.
Louv (2012) states that "utilizing both technology and nature experience will increase our intelligence, creative thinking, and productivity, giving birth to the hybrid mind". Biomimicry is the reality of this statement.
Example - Traffic Decongestant (Adamatzky et al 2010)
Slime mold leads the way to efficient road networks
Much like humans trying to get from point A to point B, the slime mold Physarum polycephalum seeks out food sources along the shortest, most efficient pathways to optimize nutrient transport to remote parts of its single-celled body. Andrew Adamatzky and Jeff Jones, computer scientists at the University of the West of England in Bristol, represented the U.K.’s major urban areas with oat flakes on sheets of agar shaped like Great Britain and observed how the slime mold foraged from its starting point in “London.” The resulting network looked very similar to the U.K.’s existing roadways, though the slime mold did suggest a couple of new routes. Adamatzky has also tested the slime mold’s ability to efficiently travel between cities in the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.
[1] Retrieved from http://biomimicry.net/
[2] Retrieved from http://biomimicry.org/
Utilising the design concepts found in nature, researchers across a variety of disciplines have found ways to overcome issues or problems in areas such as traffic congestion, fog harvesting, increasing the efficiency of a washing machine spin cycle and many others.
Louv (2012) states that "utilizing both technology and nature experience will increase our intelligence, creative thinking, and productivity, giving birth to the hybrid mind". Biomimicry is the reality of this statement.
Example - Traffic Decongestant (Adamatzky et al 2010)
Slime mold leads the way to efficient road networks
Much like humans trying to get from point A to point B, the slime mold Physarum polycephalum seeks out food sources along the shortest, most efficient pathways to optimize nutrient transport to remote parts of its single-celled body. Andrew Adamatzky and Jeff Jones, computer scientists at the University of the West of England in Bristol, represented the U.K.’s major urban areas with oat flakes on sheets of agar shaped like Great Britain and observed how the slime mold foraged from its starting point in “London.” The resulting network looked very similar to the U.K.’s existing roadways, though the slime mold did suggest a couple of new routes. Adamatzky has also tested the slime mold’s ability to efficiently travel between cities in the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.
[1] Retrieved from http://biomimicry.net/
[2] Retrieved from http://biomimicry.org/