Bio-Inspired Design

Bio inspired design is studying the structure and function of biological systems as model and desingning or engineering the new materials and machines. It is widely regarded as being synonymous with biomimicry, biomimesis, biognosis and similar to biomimetics. The term biomimetics is derived from the Greek Word bios, life and the suffix mimetic, having an aptitude for mimicry

Biomimetics or biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.[1] The terms biomimetics and biomimicry come from Ancient Greek: βίος (bios), life, and μίμησις (mīmēsis), imitation, from μιμεῖσθαι (mīmeisthai), to imitate, from μῖμος (mimos), actor. A closely related field is bionics. Living organisms have evolved well-adapted structures and materials over geological time through natural selection. Biomimetics has given rise to new

Bees are more than busy; they’re nimble, too. Despite their limited brainpower, individuals can sense what job the colony needs done and set at it instinctively. A problem with complex human infrastructure, such as the electrical grid, is that its various parts don’t talk to each other. Grid components don’t monitor the whole grid. Regen Energy turns a

Humpback whales are surprisingly agile swimmers considering each beast weighs in at about 80,000 pounds. Part of their swimming prowess may come from a row of warty ridges, called tubercles, on the front edge of their fins. Frank Fish, biology professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, discovered that by adding rows of similar bumps to turbine blades

Here’s yet another invention to make you paranoid that that little flying creature above your house is no ordinary bird or bat. The RoboSwift, as implied by its name, is based upon the biology of the swift, a family of birds capable of extremely fast flight. Developed by Delft University of Technology, the RoboSwift is equipped with observation

VelcroAfter a hunting trip in the Alps in 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral’s dog was covered in burdock burrs. Mestral put one under his microscope and discovered a simple design of hooks that nimbly attached to fur and socks. After years of experimentation, he invented Velcro — and earned U.S. Patent 2,717,437 in September 1955. Benyus said

The 2003 Nobel Prize was awarded in part to Peter Agre of Johns Hopkins for his discovery, around 1990, of a membrane protein that allows water to pass through cell walls. The discovery of aquaporin solved a longtime problem in biochemistry. The Danish company Aquaporin has developed a new approach to seawater desalination that eschews the polymer-layering of