As the name implies, biomimicry is the discipline of designing products by mimicking phenomena that already exist in biology and nature. The best-known example of this approach is Velcro, which was ...

When the Wright brothers were figuring out how to build an airplane, they took inspiration from some of the fliers of the natural world - birds. Nature has had a long time to perfect its ways, so why ...

Explaining biomimicry—much less getting people to buy into the concept, framework or philosophy—can be difficult. On the one hand, it is intuitive and simplistic. On the other, it is radical compared ...

Biomedical engineers often turn to nature for inspiration, a method known as biomimicry. In her presentation at the recent BIOMEDigital conference, Donna Bibber shared a few examples of how biomimicry ...

Whoever said "nature is the best teacher" wasn't kidding. A surprising number of everyday innovations, from Velcro to bullet trains to lotus-effect paint, exist because someone paid attention to how ...

"Perhaps I will ask students to study bees and try to come up with a way to build a mechanical method of duplicating their flight. I will be preparing for the class over the summer," she said. She has ...

Have you ever noticed that removing a burr from your clothes is like peeling off Velcro, or that water “balls-up” and slides down waterproof surfaces similar to rain dripping from a leaf? These are ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Jonathon Keats is a writer and artist who critiques museum exhibits. This article is more than 5 years old. When bullet trains ...

Designers and engineers have often looked to the environment and how Mother Nature has accomplished phenomenal design solutions for inspiration over the ages. Perhaps all that is new about this ...

Innovation doesn’t always mean creating something entirely new. Some of the most remarkable breakthroughs come from observing what already exists in nature. From color-shifting chameleons to ...

As the name implies, biomimicry is the discipline of designing products by mimicking phenomena that already exist in biology and nature. The best-known example of this approach is Velcro, which was ...