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Biomimicry or biomimetics is the study of nature's models, systems, elements, and processes in order to gain inspiration to solve human problems. The term biomimicry comes from the Greek term bios which means life and mimesis which means to imitate. Bionics, bio-inspiration, and biognosis are other terms that are often used in this field.
Throughout billions of years, nature has gone through a massive trial and error process to refine the living things, processes and materials of the ecosystems. The field of biomimicry has inspired many new technologies created from biological engineering in all areas down to even the nanoscale levels. Humans have been looking to nature to answer problems of both complex and simplistic nature since the beginning of humanity. Nature has inspired solutions to many current engineering problems such as wind resistance, harnessing solar energy, and fuel issues.
The term biomimetics is often used to describe the movement of ideas from biology to the field of technology. The term did not enter Webster's Dictionary until 1974 and is defined as "the study of the formation, structure, or function of biologically produced substances and materials and biological mechanisms and processes especially for the purpose of synthesizing similar products by artificial mechanisms which mimic natural ones."
An early example of biomimicry was studying birds to inspire human flight. Leonardo da Vinci, although never successful in creating a machine that could fly, keenly analyzed the anatomy and flight of birds. He made numerous sketches and commentary on his observations and drew many possible designs for flying machines. More successfully, the Wright Brothers derived inspiration for their airplane by watching pigeons in flight. Nanobiomimicry is the imitation of nano and macro scale structures and processes. Nature gives people a plethora of nano-sized materials that can be used to create new materials. Bacteria, diatoms, viruses, and biomolecules are some of the natural things that can be used to create new items. Nanodevices such as nanowires and quantum dots have propelled technology in a way that more conventional human methods could not.
The field of biomimicry has brought together professionals from many fields as it requires a great deal of collaboration. It requires professionals including biologists, engineers, physicists, material scientists, and nanotechnologists. The growing field of nanotechnology has created many materials and enabled scientists to produce amazing biological replicas due to biomimicry.
There are many fascinating examples of innovations brought about by biomimicry that are commonly used today. The creation of velcro was inspired when a Swiss engineer saw that burrs were very hard to detach from his dog's fur. After looking under a microscope, he saw that the burrs had tiny hooks that caught in anything with a loop so he created the system of one strip of loops and one of hooks. Another example of a biomimicry innovation is the glow in the dark aquarium fish found in today's pet stores. These fun and entertaining pets were inspired when researchers came across florescent proteins discovered in jellyfish. The field of biomimicry will continue to bring fabulous innovations to people all over the world.
