Anything you can do, nature can do better. Nature did it first. Of course such a claim appears to give nature a bit too much credit. After all, animals have been around for about 600 million years, and that’s not even counting older forms of life. Most of my readers have only been around 20 or so years, giving nature a bit of an advantage. That aside, nature does it better, faster and first.
The Internet and computers can find their source in a vast amount of complex systems that were already flourishing on planet Earth long before the properties of silicon were discovered. Current computer systems are just an imitation of nervous systems.
PVC, neoprene, nylon, silicone and a multitude of other polymers have revolutionized the way modern man goes about his or her daily life. That being so, the shell of ants, the oak tree in your backyard and the potato in your fries are all sets of simple polymers that have been optimized for their specific purpose: Strength, structure and storage.
Sonar and radar are simply replications of whale and bat behavior. E. Coli has been using biological warfare for centuries. Mustard gas is merely a modification of the chemicals contained in the anal scent glands of skunks and dogs. It is common knowledge that the inspiration for the Wright brothers’ airplane originated in their observations of pigeon flight.
If you have ever gone hiking through the woods, you probably have memories of pulling countless burrs off of your clothes. Those burrs, as frustrating as they are, were the inspiration for the creation of Velcro. Velcro may not be the most interesting of inventions, but it did play its own small part in taking man to the moon.
A new swimsuit design has recently revolutionized the world of competitive swimming. While wearing these suits, swimmers will practically glide through the water.
During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, records were smashed because of this swimsuit. The inspiration for this suit? The structure of sharkskin. With all of the thousands of brilliant scientists involved in the various fields of materials science, the real genius was an animal that has existed since the time of the dinosaurs.
Antibiotics revolutionized modern medicine. Many once-deadly conditions became treatable with a few small pills. Scientists are working around the clock to develop new drugs to fight resistant bugs, but most of these are what are called semi-synthetic antibiotics, which means they are just slightly modified versions of antibiotics already found in nature. Not to mention the drug that started it all, penicillin, was taken directly from a naturally growing fungus.
Even one of the common forms of delivery of antibiotics, intravenous injection, is not a man-made creation. There are hypodermic needles in snake fangs, bee stingers and mouths of mosquitoes. Even further back in the evolutionary tree however, it becomes clear the design for hypodermic needles can be found in the structure of viruses.
Biomimicry is an actual field of science that devotes itself to creating new objects, materials and systems based on inspiration from nature. It is essentially replication and modification of what Mother Nature has been doing for millions of years.
When we look at the world and believe we can “fix” the problems that we have created, or believe we have “conquered” nature, we are making a huge mistake. There is nothing we can do that nature hasn’t already done better. If we’re going to take steps toward solving Earth’s major environmental problems, we must look for wisdom and inspiration in the natural world.
— John Best,
biochemistry and Asian studies senior
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kenj33 1 year, 6 months ago
Yes God was a mad scientist wasn't He?...What a creation!!