Biomimicry

Biomimicry – Bionic – Biomimetics Humans have been learning from nature For a long time but only recently gave this practice a name. Biomimetics – Otto Schmitt coined the term in writing about his efforts to design a trigger based on the nerve cell of a squid in the 50’s. Bionics – 1958 – goal to understand nature’s principles and use them as stimuli for innovation (then came the Bionic Man ‘74)

Biomimicry-defined as a focus on how organisms in nature have solved a problem that we are trying to solve and then mimicking or learning from that process. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature takes inspiration Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus defines biomimicry as a “new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems" Biomimicry

Biomimicry - Nature is a model of sustainability Nature is a model of sustainability. For almost 4 billion years organisms have been evolving here on earth. If an organism survived, it has likely developed unique adaptions to meet challenging environments. For example – Think of an animal that moves slowly, how does it protect itself?

Share your example Porcupine Blue tail lizard Snail Turtle Puffer fish Armadillo Opossium Oysters

What do you see here?

 Da Vinci’s Flying machine sketched after dissecting a bat. Biomimicry- Flying Machine

Project Ornithopter The Project Ornithopter aircraft accelerates, by flapping, on level pavement to lift-off speed in a test. Credit: Project Ornithopter

Mercedes-Benz bionic car Who would have thought that a box shape would be aerodynamic and stable?

Not only did they copy the body shape, they mimicked the materials in the body. The trunkfish has hexagonal shaped plates on it’s side to make it ridged and strong.The concept car uses plastic plates for light weigh and strength. This car is reported to be 30% lighter and safer plus gets 55 miles per gallon.

 Tejas Sundaresan and Jaehyeong Lee at NCSSM were curious about how one could get water in the dessert. ExploraVision National Winners John Petranka

Inspiration from Beetle Inspiration ResourcefuResourceful Self Cleaning plants

Lab – Make your own Water Collecting DeviceDevice Additions lab ideas- spacing between lines Thickness of lines other hydrophobic materials such as RainX

Velcro – Inspired by Cockleburr velvet hook. George de Mestral, actually observed these burrs stuck to his dog when he was out one day, and this inspired him to invent Velcro. Velcro comes from a contraction of two French words: from velours for velvet comes ‘vel’ and ‘cro’ comes from crochet, which means hook, so Velcro might translate as velvet hook.

Activity – Hitch Hiker I am sure all of you have experienced walking in the woods and getting seed burrs stuck to your clothes.

Beggar’s Lice or Stick-tight Desmodium cuspidatum, Fabaceae

Beggar-ticks (Bidens pilosa, Asteraceae)

 Lots of interest today is how to reduce CO 2 from the air. Brent Constantz of Stanford University was inspired to make concrete from the CO 2 after thinking about how coral is produced  He formed Calera, a company in Monterrey Bay to take the waste CO 2 to make a new type of cement. The plant takes waste CO 2 gas from a local power plant and mixes it with seawater to form carbonate, which combined with calcium in the seawater and makes calcium carbonate. Making Use of waste CO 2

 Silk is 5 times stronger that steel and much more flexible. Scientists have inserted spider gene in goats and the goat produces the spider silk protein that can be used to make silk fibers. Spider Silk or goat Milk

How can a mussel make a glue that sticks to rocks in water. Not only that but is strong enough to with stand the pounding of waves. Think about this! Do you know of any glue you can apply under water?  ‘ Sea Shells Chemistry Scientist have figured out how to mimick the ‘glue’

INCH WORM

INCH Worm

John Petranka Bullet train had a problem of noise and vibrations when going through tunnels at high speeds. Engineer were inspired by birds entering the water without making a splash to change the front end of the train.

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