This lesson introduces students to the idea of biomimicry — or looking to nature for engineering ideas. Biomimicry involves solving human problems by mimicking natural solutions, and it works well because the solutions exist naturally. There are numerous examples of useful applications of biomimicry, and in this lesson we look at a few fun examples.

Engineers design products that are essential to our health, happiness, and safety. To meet these human needs, engineers often look to nature for examples of efficient design solutions. Throughout nature, there are many creative solutions that can inspire effective, elegant design ideas. biomimicry nanopore fish spider copying nature cell After this lesson, students should be able to: List products or devices that are based on examples from nature. Explain why engineers might want to copy ideas from nature in their designs. Can anyone tell me why a fish can swim faster than you? The bodies of fish are shaped like smooth ovals so that water can flow around them without resistance, or without getting in the way of movement (i.e., the water moving around the fish's body). Also, the fins of fish are shaped to help effectively push water and make movement faster. What about frogs? What makes them fast swimmers? Even though frogs do not have round bodies and fins like fish do, they can still swim fast because of their webbed feet and how their legs move through the water. Imagine designing tools like these so that we could move through water just as easily and quickly as fish or frogs. In fact, you do not need to imagine it, because engineers have already designed such products. Can you think of any examples? (Let students give answers, and then share some of these other examples: flippers for your feet, webbed mitts for hands, boats with streamlined hulls, swimsuits made of special low-resistance material, such as those used during the Olympics.) When engineers use examples from nature to inspire the design of new projects, we call this biomimicry. It is easy to remember this term, because "bio" means "life," and "mimic" means "to copy"; therefore, engineers copy examples from life. Aquatic animals are not the only examples that engineers can study for biomimicry design. Almost any living thing can inspire an engineering solution. Here are just a few more quick examples: The venom from some spiders can kill insects much better than any of the chemicals that people have been using. Biochemical engineers are studying spider venom to try to develop alternatives to the harmful chemical pesticides (see Figure 2). The walls of biological cells have tiny holes that help sort DNA and RNA. Bioengineers and applied physicists have recreated manmade versions of these holes called nanopores. They hope to use nanopores to sequence DNA more quickly in the future. Snakes have a capability to see things that give off infrared light, or heat. People can only see things that are in the visible range. This means that we cannot see too well at night, since there is not much visible light available. We also cannot see "through" things, like being able to look through skin into the human body. However, engineers working on military technology have developed night vision goggles that allow people to see things at night using infrared light. Biomedical engineers are also applying infrared light to "see" through the skin to detect tumors in people. Can you think of any another ways in which we could copy examples from nature to design great new products? Biomimicry is an engineering concept about looking to nature for ideas. Engineers are able to solve problems by mimicking natural solutions. One of the reasons that this technique works so well is that natural processes have evolved to work effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, biomimicked solutions are often environmentally sound, being copied from the natural environment, which is an important factor in today's world. Here are some examples of other ideas that are being explored in the idea of biomimicry: Aquatic animals are often shaped to minimize resistance, and evolutionarily, their shapes are why they survive in the water. Resistance can be thought of as matter resisting motion. For example, when you try to walk while in a swimming pool, it is hard to push against the water because the water is resisting the motion of getting out of your way. The bodies of many aquatic animals are hydro-dynamically shaped, meaning they have low resistance to water. This helps them swim through the water efficiently. Engineers can study the shape of these animals and apply what they learn to the design of efficient boats or other aquatic technologies. Most spider venoms are toxic to insects, but do not harm mammals or other vertebrates. Therefore, using the venom as a pesticide would not have the negative environmental effects of other pesticides. Genetic engineers are looking for ways to insert the genes for the spider venom into viruses that attack specific insects so only the targeted insects would get killed. Copying what spiders use to kill insects can help engineers produce pesticides that are safer and more effective. Many of the energy sources that people use, like burning coal, produce CO2, a green house gas that leads to global warming. CO2 is in great supply and would be a great resource if people could find some use for it. Plants use CO2 as they form sugars, and engineers are looking at them to try to come up with ways in which they can use CO2. Sea muscles secrete an adhesive substance that enables them to stick to almost anything in the ocean, including metals or rocks. Engineers are looking for ways to copy what muscles make to produce glue that is stronger and more water proof than anything that has been developed thus far. Muscles also make this thread-like substance that they can stick out of their shell like a foot. The amazing thing about this thread is that it changes gradually from being like nylon on one end to being like rubber on the other end. Creating substances that change gradually could help engineers produce things that are stronger. Tires, for instance, are made by attaching rubber to metal. Most problems with tires develop because the rubber rips off the metal part. If tires could be made such that they change gradually from the hard part to the rubber part, they would be much safer. The abalone shell is one of the strongest substances in the world, and it is made naturally under normal temperatures. Many of the strong materials that engineers make are produced in extremely hot temperatures, and they involve a lot of chemicals, some of which are harmful to the environment. Engineers are trying to copy the abalone shell to safely and efficiently make extremely strong products. Furthermore, the abalone shell is made by a process of forming one extremely thin layer of protein that gets covered by a thin layer of minerals to form mother of pearl, which is thin covered by another thin layer of proteins, and the process repeats. This technique has been copied and modified by engineers to form extremely thin products, for example, such as the ones found in microchips. Copying nature to produce new things or develop new ways of doing something. A deadly chemical that an animal or insect uses in self-defense. Live Like an Animal Design Inspired by Nature Some of the best inventions come about by someone taking an existing technology and applying it in a new way. With biomimicry, engineers find those examples of existing technology in nature. As you all develop in your ability to think like engineers, it is helpful to ask yourself, "What would nature do?" and "What would nature never do?" These questions just might help you develop solutions that are safer, longer lasting, and more efficient. Brainstorming: As a class, have the students engage in open discussion. Remind students that in brainstorming, no idea or suggestion is "silly." All ideas should be respectfully heard. Take an uncritical position, encourage wild ideas and discourage criticism of ideas. Have them raise their hands to respond. Write their ideas on the board. Ask the students: What products that we use may have been developed from copying nature? Question/Answer: Ask the students and discuss as a class: How could pesticides developed from spider venom be better than pesticides developed from chemicals? (Answer: Spider-based pesticides will not harm people and animals, and it can better target the specific insects we want to kill.) Biomimicry Boggle! Break students into groups of three to four. Give the class 2 minutes to write down as many original examples of biomimicry as they can. They should write down the example from nature as well as how that feature of the plant or animal could be used (or is being used already) by engineers to solve a human problem. At the end of two minutes, have each team read aloud their answers and write them on the board. Ask if any other teams came up with the same idea; if they do, then both/all teams have to cross that answer off their list. The team that ends up with the most "unique" ideas, wins! Have students build a prototype (model) of one of the original ideas that their team came up with during the lesson summary assessment. The Biomimicry Institute, "Inspiring, educating and connecting biomimics through the world," 2007-2009, accessed August 5, 2009. http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org Dye, Lee. For ABC News, Technology and Science, "How Snakes See Two Ways: How Snake Eyes Could Lead to Smarter Missiles and Stop Cancer," January 9, 2008, accessed March 19, 2009. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=98115&page=1 Johnson, Dan. Discoveries, "Discovery: Spider Venom Could Yield EcoFriendly Insecticides," May 3, 2004. University of Connecticut Health Center. Accessed March 19, 2009. http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100676&org=NSF National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA Quest, Learning Technologies Channel, October 21, 1997, accessed March 19, 2009. http://quest.nasa.gov/ltc/nps/images/shark.jpg