this is an article about biomimicry. this is the examples section. the writer has some good examples but i feel there are others that would give a clearer meaning to the term.
Researchers, for example, learn from and emulate
termites' ability to maintain virtually constant temperature and humidity in their
Sub-Saharan Africa homes despite an outside temperature that varies from 3 °C to 42 °C (35 °F to 104 °F). Project
TERMES (Termite Emulation of Regulatory Mound Environments by Simulation) scanned a termite mound and created 3-D images of the mound structure, which revealed construction that may ultimately influence human building design. The
Eastgate Centre, a mid-rise office complex in
Harare,
Zimbabwe, (highlighted in this Biomimicry Institute
case-study) stays cool without air conditioning and uses only 10% of the energy of a conventional building its size.
Modeling
echolocation in
bats in darkness has led to a cane for the visually impaired. Research at the
University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom, led to the UltraCane, a product formerly manufactured, marketed and sold by Sound Foresight Ltd.
Janine Benyus refers in her books to
spiders that create web silk as strong as the
Kevlar used in
bulletproof vests. Engineers could use such a material—if it had a long enough rate of decay—for parachute lines , suspension bridge cables, artificial ligaments for medicine, and many other purposes.
[3]Other research has proposed adhesive glue from
mussels, solar cells made like leaves, bionic cars inspired by the
boxfish, fabric that emulates
shark skin, harvesting water from fog like a
beetle, and more.
Nature’s 100 Best is a compilation of the top hundred different innovations of animals, plants, and other organisms that have been researched and studied by the Biomimicry Institute.
A display technology based on the reflective properties of certain
morpho butterflies was commercialized by Qualcomm in 2007. The technology uses
Interferometric Modulation to reflect light so only the desired color is visible to the eye in each individual pixel of the display.
Biomimicry is an innovation method that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies---new ways of living---that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul.
These are what the improvements i made are. i just added two more examples but they are something to improve the definition of biomimicry.
not only are they mimicing the behaviors of creatures in nature, but some researchers are recreating and replacing them. its common knowlege that the american bee is slowly dying. over 30% of the population has died off. to make up for this the reasearchers at the harvard university reasearch lab are creating a robo bee to take over the jobs of the bees that have died out. the robo bees would polinate flowers and would have all of the same capabilities of a bee, all the way down to being able to se the flowers the way that they do.
some researchers are mimicing what most would call a whirly bird. it will be mimicing a maple leaf seedling that spirals as it falls from the sky. it will be used to inspire one bladed flight technology. it will utilize a miniature jet engine and will probably be used for reconnaissance, taking a pictre every rotation.
