The Built World-Nature Inspired Natural World and Built Environment

We live in a built environment. What does that mean?

Where do ideas come from?

What if we got ideas from nature?

What if we learned to make tape, for example, from geckos?

What if we learned to keep things clean from leaves?

The surface of the leaf has tiny, tiny, bumps on it, that you cant even see with the naked eye. The bumps cause water to ball up and the balls of water slide along the leaf, pulling off dirt particles as they go.

Getting ideas from nature about how to make things is called biomimicry.

Biomimicry Bio- Life Mimicry- Copy or emulate

Using biomimicry, people have learned to make… Shoes that grip like a mountain goat. T-shirts that resist sweat like a horned lizard. Vitamins based on the diet of forest apes. Fasteners that stick like burs.

Sandwich bags that biodegrade like tethers of blue mussel and zip closed like a feather

Computer screens that create color the same way as wings of a butterfly. Computers as fast as neurons. Systems interconnected like trees in an old-growth forest.

What manmade structure was inspired by nature?

Trapdoor Spider What manmade structure was inspired by the trapdoor spider?

Ant mound Infrastructure What manmade structure was inspired by ant mounds?

Ant Mound Infrastructure

Termite Mound What manmade structure was inspired by termite mounds?

Termite Mound Bio-mimicry: The Eastgate Center (Harare, Zimbabwe)

Prairie Dog Tunnel Systems What manmade structure was inspired by the prairie dog tunnel system?

Prairie Dog Tunnel Systems

Spiders (webs) What manmade structure was inspired by spider webs?

Spiders (webs)

Fox Den What manmade structure was inspired by the fox den?

Fox Den

Shark W h a t m a n m a d e s t r u c t u r e w a s i n f l u e n c e d b y t h e s h a r k ?

Drag is every swimmers worst enemy, one that yields only grudgingly to strength, conditioning and determination. The company says the three-piece system produces a 16.6 percent reduction in full body passive drag, a 5.2 percent reduction in full body active drag and a 63.4 percent reduction of force on the goggle. Michael Phelps – 2008Michael Phelps – 2008 (Video)

What creatures will inspire you? What possibilities can you imagine?

Research Pair or group children based on interest. Have them research elements of nature. Generate ideas from nature to improve on their common interest.

Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain. - Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most famous Renaissance Man. He was one of the most famous artists of all time but he was also a scientist and inventor. Da Vinci liked to experiment with his materials. His experiments were not always successful. Da Vincis inventive nature was also responsible for inventing a flying machine hundreds of years before the Wright brothers left the ground. Da Vinci was truly a creative genius. Leonardo da Vinci

Birds – Da Vincis Sketches of Early Flying Machines

The human-powered mechanical flight device, patterned after birds and bats.

Birds – Da Vincis Sketches of Early Flying Machines

Research Research Davincis other ideas for inventions. Select one of his ideas and create a plan to market or sell the idea to a group of investors.