Biomimicry. The first time I heard this word, I was in the 6th Grade, and the reason I remember thinking back about this and asking my tuition teacher about it was that it sounded cool. In the 6th Grade, I remember vividly that my consideration span was lower than the lowest, but this held it for me, this was cool, it was cool, I told my friends about it, everyone was impressed and I was so much captivated by this that I remember writing an essay about Biomimicry in my English exam too.
It’s quite simple really, Bio means life; Mimicry means imitate. So biomimicry is the practice of imitating life. It looks towards nature to provide the inspiration and direction to solve our most acute challenges.
Human beings are a clever species. We've created cities, economies, and whole societies but at the same time and without meaning to, we've also created massive sustainability challenges for future generations and ourselves. Biomimicry may be thanks to addressing these problems by creating policies, products, and processes that are adapted to live on Earth.
Biomimicry is a powerful framework that can be used for a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and environmental literacy. Nature features a set of models, and systems that exist and evolve as required, and this has worked since the dawn of time – therefore, we all know that we will learn from, copy and repose on these systems to enhance our lives.
Earth and more specifically trees and plant matter easily achieve what we nearly grasp at achieving: regulating and absorbing carbon dioxide on a mass scale to prevent changing climate, so when we search for solutions to human-caused climate change, might it not be better to look toward nature for the solution.
Decentralizing intelligence so that general intelligence is an emergent property of all its combined systems is an approach to AI which nature is wildly successful at. The compelling narratives and fascinating natural phenomena behind biomimetic innovations provide a refreshing entry point into many of the core scientific subjects educators are already teaching.
Not only can we improve our own lives by studying nature, but we will also improve our impact on nature itself. We know that we are using up our natural resources at an alarming rate and plundering the habitats of other species; it could be improved upon if we spent more time learning from nature and empathizing with it.
As humans, we produce billions of tonnes of waste annually, and far of it takes too long to decompose. Even worse, a number of the ways during which we eliminate our waste are harmful to the earth (landfills and incineration). With the assistance of nature, we could improve these methods of waste disposal and even refund the earth by turning our waste into something useful.
Biomimicry isn’t new – we’ve been copying plants for hundreds of years. Even some Ancient Roman structures are shown to be supported by the structures of plants. Sustainable energy provision is a massive sustainability challenge. The race has been started to find economically viable and sustainable energy solutions.
Large and unwieldy humpback whales display astonishing swiftness in the water. This is mainly because of their flippers which have large irregular bumps called "tubercles." Inspired by these flippers, a corporation called WhalePower has developed turbine blades with bumps called tubercles on the vanguard. These blades assure greater efficiency in many applications from wind turbines to hydroelectric turbines to even irrigation pumps. Using these blades to catch wind could provide up to 20% increased efficiency, making this type of alternative energy competitive with other energy sources.
Biomimicry is a place where scientists look to nature for innovations. The Shinkansen bullet train is one of the fastest trains in the world, modeling the front end of the train after the beak of Kingfishers resulted in a faster yet quieter train, one that uses 15 percent less electricity while traveling 10 percent faster. By emulating nature, the bullet train designers were able to solve an important problem.
NFL helmets are also based on the woodpecker’s skull. By one estimate, biologically inspired innovations could contribute 425 Billion Dollars to the country’s GDP by 2030. It’s something to aspire to, but it already exists.
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