Biomimetics Has Something For Everyone
First, there’s nothing new under the sun. Also, it’s all been done before. Furthermore, no matter how great something is, there’s always something out there cleverer or better equipped. Which begs the question: Why is humanity constantly reinventing wheels when we should be reverse-engineering Nature’s great works?
(If you were expecting, “Why bother?” this isn’t the blog you’re looking for.)
The truth is that scientists copy-cat Nature’s designs as a matter of course. Indeed, biomimetics is an unbeatable resource for anyone with a problem to solve. Self-cleaning, water-repellant paints were inspired by the humble lotus. Wind turbines stalled in low wind and suffered inefficiencies under ‘ideal’ conditions before they were remodeled after humpback whale flippers. Olympic swimmers now train in swimsuits designed with sharkskin in mind. Even Velcro, that space age classic, mimics the way burrs cling to dog fur.
Whatever the human endeavor, Nature has a design for that. Yet the question remains: If biomimicry is so great, why don’t we use it for everything? The short answer is ‘demand’. Specifically, there aren’t enough people clamoring for brilliant redesigns of everyday objects. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but market forces drive human innovation; industry only invests in progress when it’s profitable.
Of course, as climate change awareness spreads, more demand emerges for fuel-efficient cars and energy-efficient refrigerators, but that’s an example of necessity-driven change rather than informed choice or good planning. By the time people need something, its arrival is already too late. The challenge is to raise their expectations of industry.
But what will it take to make everyone demand winter coats that work as well as polar bear fur? Or that we repaint every building with photosynthetic solar skins that are pigmented to optimize light absorption? Or that we at least outfit skyscrapers with leaf-like solar panels that follow the sun across the sky? What will make everyone clamor for grooved roofs that channel water like thorny devils? And passive heating and ventilation for their homes and offices?
As it turns out, it doesn’t take much. Great stories can make people demand better things than they have, even before they need them. The clever and beautiful things storytellers imagine today can be the objects of marketplace obsession tomorrow, if only they introduce people to the concept and give them something good enough to look forward to.
A subject very dear to my heart and my mind, given my research focus! The fact that we usually do things most efficiently and elegantly when we riff on nature’s patterns is true even at the molecular level. A condensed passage from my book about this:
“When the process of artificial gene splicing first arrived on the scene, people were petrified by scenarios which prophesied the imminent emergence of monster bacteria that would swallow cities and spit out goo and matchsticks. Al Vellucci, ex-mayor of Cambridge, prohibited recombinant DNA research in the city, causing a major exodus of Harvard and MIT scientific faculty. Fortunately, reasonable guidelines eventually prevailed — instituted and enforced, I should add, by the scientists themselves the moment they started doing the experiments.
Just when the dust was settling, two teams at MIT and Cold Spring Harbor discovered endogenous (natural) gene splicing. It turns out that splicing and recombination are happening constantly within the cells of all organisms — and much more rapidly and intricately than we can do them in the lab.
The genetic material within our cells is never static. It constantly shifts to respond to environmental challenges. Whole chunks of DNA get reorganized whenever the immune system meets another antagonist. Genes use alternative splicing to vary their output according to external stimuli. Gametes mix and match their chromosomes when they meet, so that you end with your mother’s eyes but your father’s dimples.
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These processes are so vital to the correct functioning of our cells that if genes had obeyed Mayor Vellucci’s fatwa, there would be no life left in Cambridge except E. coli and its cousins.”
That’s right. Birds do it, bees do it, even infectious diseases do it! Except where nature has trial and error, we have SCIENCE! Which is a lot more fun at parties than survival of the fittest…
I’m looking forward to living in a cactus house. Everything about cactus pleases me. Spines that provide shade and snag breezes to cool down while providing excellent security. Photosynthetic self-cleaning, smart skin that knows how to conserve energy and water. Flexible internal structure allows swaying in strong wind and a surface area that expands and contracts to compensate for external conditions. And just think of the looks on the neighbors’ faces! Priceless.
I think this one Freefall comic states it best: http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00305.htm
living organisms have undergone several million years more testing than our designs have.
Exactemundo!
I don’t know why, I but I just love bummed-out robots.
Thanks for the link!
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