Biomimicry

Summary

The transcript explores the concept of biomimicry, where humans can learn from nature's 3.8 billion years of innovation to create sustainable solutions. It highlights how mimicking natural processes and designs can lead to advancements in various fields, including material science, energy conservation, and environmental protection. Examples range from using spider silk's strength in fiber manufacturing to the Namibian beetle's fog-harvesting abilities for water conservation. The narrative encourages embracing nature's wisdom to build a more sustainable future.

Takeaways

• 🌿 Life on Earth has been evolving sustainable strategies for 3.8 billion years, offering valuable lessons for human sustainability.
• 🧬 Biomimicry is a discipline that involves looking to nature for solutions to human problems, emulating the strategies used by organisms that have survived for eons.
• 🌞 Life operates on principles like running on sunlight, using water as a universal solvent, and valuing local expertise and diversity.
• 🔬 Nature's chemistry is characterized by using a small subset of safe elements and reactions that are low temperature, low pressure, and low toxicity.
• 🕸 Spiders create silk stronger than steel using water at room temperature, demonstrating how nature achieves remarkable results with benign conditions.
• 🐚 Abalone shells are twice as tough as high-tech ceramics, showcasing nature's ability to self-assemble strong materials from simple elements in seawater.
• 🌳 Plants convert CO2 into useful structures like cellulose, and companies are mimicking this process to turn CO2 into biodegradable plastics.
• 🏗️ Coral reefs sequester CO2, inspiring technologies that can produce concrete with less emissions by using CO2 and seawater as raw materials.
• 🌬️ The Namibian beetle's ability to collect water from fog has been mimicked to create fog-catching nets for agriculture and self-filling water bottles.
• 🌱 Scientists are studying plants that thrive in extreme conditions to develop crops that require less water, addressing water scarcity in agriculture.
• 🎨 Nature often uses structural color rather than chemical pigments, a principle that can be applied to create long-lasting, vibrant colors in human products.

Q & A

What is the core idea behind biomimicry?

The core idea behind biomimicry is to look to nature as a mentor and model for sustainable design and innovation. It involves studying the strategies that organisms have developed over billions of years to survive and thrive on Earth and then emulating those strategies in human-made products and systems.

Why should we consider biological organisms as mentors for sustainability?

Biological organisms should be considered as mentors for sustainability because they have evolved over billions of years to create efficient, effective, and sustainable ways of living. They are experts in their environments, using local resources and energy in ways that do not harm their habitats, which is a model we can learn from to create a more sustainable human footprint.

What are some principles of life that can guide our approach to being better adapted to Earth?

Some principles of life that can guide our approach include: running on sunlight, conducting chemistry in water, relying on local expertise, valuing diversity and cooperation, upcycling waste, and not fouling one's nest. These principles suggest that we should design systems that are energy-efficient, use water as a universal solvent, understand and respect local ecosystems, promote biodiversity, and ensure that our actions do not harm the environment.

How does nature's approach to chemistry differ from synthetic chemistry used in industrial processes?

Nature's approach to chemistry is characterized by using a small subset of safe elements and elegant, low-temperature, low-pressure, and low-toxicity reactions. In contrast, synthetic chemistry often involves using every element in the periodic table, including toxic ones, and employing brute force reactions to bond or break elements apart.

What is an example of how biomimicry is being used to create stronger materials?

One example is the study of spider silk, which is five times stronger than steel when compared ounce per ounce. This has inspired fiber manufacturers to look into creating stronger, more sustainable materials by mimicking the natural processes spiders use to create their silk.

How is biomimicry being applied to address the issue of carbon dioxide emissions?

Biomimicry is being applied to carbon dioxide emissions by mimicking natural processes that use CO2 as a building block. For instance, companies like Novomer and Newlight are converting CO2 into biodegradable plastics, and Blue Planet is using CO2 to precipitate the raw materials for concrete, effectively sequestering carbon in the process.

What is an example of how biomimicry can help in conserving energy?

An example of how biomimicry can help conserve energy is the study of ant and bee communication patterns by the software company Regen. They applied these algorithms to sensors on appliances, which allowed them to communicate and reduce peak energy demand by 25 to 30 percent, thus conserving energy.

How does the concept of structural color in nature inspire new ways of creating color in human-made products?

Structural color in nature, such as seen in hummingbird feathers and peacocks, is created through the interaction of light with microstructures rather than pigments. This inspires the development of products with color that is built into the material's structure, which could last longer and be more vibrant without the need for chemical pigments.

What is the 'Lotus effect' and how is it being applied in human-made products?

The 'Lotus effect' refers to the self-cleaning property of the lotus leaf, which is due to its micro-structured, waxy surface that causes water to bead up and roll off, taking dirt with it. This concept is being applied in products like fabrics, roofing tiles, and paints that mimic this structure to repel dirt and water, reducing the need for chemical cleaning agents.

How does biomimicry offer solutions to the problem of bacterial resistance in hospitals?

Biomimicry addresses bacterial resistance by looking at how certain organisms, like the Galapagos shark, naturally repel bacteria through the shape of their skin. Companies like Sharklet Technologies are creating surfaces that mimic this texture to prevent bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, offering a non-chemical solution to reducing hospital-acquired infections.

Outlines

00:00

🌿 Bio-mimicry: Learning from Nature's Engineers

The paragraph introduces the concept of bio-mimicry, a discipline where humans learn from nature's solutions to create sustainable designs. It emphasizes the importance of looking to life on Earth, which has been around for 3.8 billion years, as a guide for sustainable living. The speaker suggests that organisms are the ultimate engineers, chemists, and technologists, having evolved to create a sustainable world. The idea is to take cues from these 'biological elders' rather than re-inventing the wheel. The paragraph also touches on the principles of life, such as running on sunlight, using water as a solvent, valuing local expertise, and banking on diversity and cooperation.

05:03

🕸 Nature's Innovations in Materials and Energy

This paragraph delves into specific examples of how nature's innovations are being applied to solve modern problems. It discusses how spiders create incredibly strong silk at room temperature and low pressure, which inspires fiber manufacturers. The paragraph also covers the self-assembly of materials like the mother-of-pearl found in abalone shells, which is twice as tough as human-made ceramics. It mentions companies that are mimicking these natural processes to create biodegradable plastics from carbon dioxide and methane, and a company that uses CO2 to make concrete, sequestering carbon in the process. The paragraph also explores energy conservation through biomimicry, such as software that mimics ant communication to reduce energy demand and a wind farm design inspired by fish schooling behavior.

10:05

💧 Water Conservation and Biomimetic Solutions

The focus of this paragraph is on finding solutions to water scarcity through biomimicry. It highlights the Namibian beetle's ability to collect water from fog and how this has inspired new fog-catching technologies. The paragraph also discusses the potential of using nature's filtration methods, like the aquaporin channels in fish gills, to create more efficient desalination membranes. It mentions how scientists are studying plants that thrive in extreme conditions to develop crops that require less water, which is crucial for a water-stressed planet. The paragraph concludes with examples of how shape, rather than chemistry, can be used to solve problems, such as the structural coloration in birds and butterflies that does not fade.

15:07

🌱 Sustainable Agriculture and Structural Solutions

This paragraph explores how biomimicry can contribute to sustainable agriculture and cleaning methods. It discusses the discovery of a fungus that allows certain plants to grow with less water, which could lead to more water-efficient crops. The paragraph also introduces the concept of structural color, where color is created through the arrangement of layers rather than pigments, potentially leading to long-lasting, non-fading colors in products. Additionally, it covers the 'Lotus effect,' where the surface structure of a lotus leaf repels dirt and water, inspiring self-cleaning materials. The paragraph concludes with a discussion on how nature's strategies for preventing bacterial growth, such as the skin structure of the Galapagos shark, can be applied to create surfaces that resist bacterial colonization.

20:08

🌱 The Future of Biomimicry: A Sustainable World

The final paragraph summarizes the overarching theme of biomimicry as a path to a sustainable future. It emphasizes that the answers to creating conditions conducive to life are all around us in the form of millions of species. The speaker calls for humanity to learn from these biological models and integrate their strategies into our designs and practices. The paragraph concludes with a vision of a future where biomimicry leads to beauty, abundance, and fewer regrets, highlighting the natural world's definition of success as the continuity of life across generations.

Keywords

💡Biomimetics

Biomimetics, also known as biomimicry, is the practice of looking to nature for design inspiration and solutions to human problems. In the video, biomimetics is central to the theme as it discusses how organisms have developed sustainable and efficient strategies over billions of years, which humans can learn from and emulate. For instance, the video mentions how spiders create incredibly strong silk and abalones form tough shells, which are examples of nature's engineering that humans are trying to mimic.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain processes or conditions in a way that avoids depletion of natural resources and minimizes negative environmental impact. The video emphasizes sustainability by highlighting how biological systems have mastered long-term survival strategies, such as using sunlight, water, and local expertise. It suggests that by learning from these systems, humans can develop more sustainable technologies and practices, as seen in the discussion of using CO2 to create biodegradable plastics.

💡Chemical vs. Structural Solutions

The video contrasts chemical solutions, which often involve the use of toxic substances and high-energy processes, with structural solutions that rely on the physical arrangement of components. For example, the video explains how nature creates vibrant colors not through pigments but through structural color, which involves the manipulation of light through microscopic structures. This approach is more sustainable and can lead to innovations like self-cleaning surfaces inspired by the lotus leaf.

💡Life's Principles

Life's principles are the fundamental rules and strategies that living organisms have evolved to follow for survival and success. The video mentions several of these principles, such as 'life runs on sunlight,' 'life does its chemistry in water,' and 'life banks on diversity.' These principles guide how organisms interact with their environment and each other, and the video suggests that humans can apply these principles to create more harmonious and effective technologies.

💡Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change. The video discusses how coral reefs naturally sequester CO2 and how companies like Blue Planet are mimicking this process to create concrete that not only doesn't emit CO2 but also sequesters it, demonstrating a shift from traditional carbon-intensive industries to more sustainable practices.

💡Energy Conservation

Energy conservation involves reducing energy consumption through efficiency and minimal use. The video references software company Regen, which studied ant communication to develop algorithms that help appliances communicate and reduce peak energy demand. This example illustrates how biomimicry can lead to innovative solutions for energy conservation in human technologies.

💡Desalination

Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from saline water to make it suitable for human consumption or irrigation. The video mentions how fish naturally desalinate water and how this process inspired a Danish company, Aquaporin, to create more efficient desalination membranes. This keyword is tied to the video's theme of learning from nature's solutions to global challenges like water scarcity.

💡Adaptation

Adaptation in biology refers to the process by which organisms adjust to their environment over time, often through evolutionary changes. The video discusses how humans should look to nature's adaptations, such as plants that survive in extreme conditions, to develop resilient agricultural practices. This concept is integral to the video's message of learning from nature's successful strategies for long-term survival.

💡Diversity

Diversity in an ecological context refers to the variety of life forms and genetic variation within a given ecosystem. The video underscores the importance of biodiversity as a key principle of life, where different species and their interactions contribute to the health and resilience of ecosystems. It suggests that humans can learn from this diversity to foster more robust and adaptable systems, such as in agriculture and materials science.

💡Elegant Solutions

Elegant solutions in the context of the video refer to simple, efficient, and effective methods that nature uses to solve complex problems. For example, the video describes how organisms use a small subset of elements and low-temperature, low-pressure processes to create advanced materials. This concept challenges humans to seek similarly elegant solutions that are less resource-intensive and more in harmony with the environment.

💡Industrial Chemistry vs. Nature's Chemistry

The video contrasts industrial chemistry, which often involves the use of toxic elements and high-energy processes, with nature's chemistry, which uses safe elements and gentler conditions. It advocates for a shift towards mimicking nature's chemistry in human industries to create less harmful and more sustainable products, such as using CO2 to create plastics instead of relying on petroleum-based materials.

Highlights

Life on Earth has been learning for 3.8 billion years about sustainability and what lasts.

Biological organisms are seen as mentors for creating a sustainable world.

Bio-mimicry is a discipline where we learn from nature's solutions to human problems.

Nature uses a small subset of the periodic table and low toxicity reactions for chemistry.

Organisms create materials in and near their bodies, avoiding high temperatures and toxins.

Spiders create a fiber stronger than steel using low temperatures and pressures.

Abalone shells are twice as tough as high-tech ceramics, made from simple materials in seawater.

Carbon dioxide is seen by life as a building block, not a poison.

Companies are mimicking nature to turn carbon dioxide into biodegradable plastics.

Coral reefs sequester CO2, inspiring a company to make concrete that stores carbon.

Software company Regen mimics ant communication to reduce energy demand.

Caltech students designed a wind farm based on fish schooling to increase energy efficiency.

The Namibian beetle's fog-collecting abilities are being mimicked for water conservation.

Nature's membranes, like in fish, are used for desalination with less energy than traditional methods.

Agricultural innovations are looking at plants that grow in extreme conditions for water efficiency.

Structural color in nature, like in peacock feathers, is being used to create non-fading colors in products.

The Lotus effect, where the lotus leaf's structure repels dirt, is used in self-cleaning products.

Sharklet Technologies mimics shark skin to create surfaces that repel bacteria.

Nature's principles can guide us towards creating conditions conducive to life for future generations.

Transcripts

life's been on earth for 3.8 billion

years and in that time life has learned

what works and and what's appropriate

here and what lasts here and the idea is

that um perhaps we should be looking at

these mentors at these biological elders

they have figured out how to create a

sustainable world

so rather than inventing it from scratch

um why don't we take our our cues from

them it's these are earth savvy

adaptations and the consummate life is

these organisms are the consummate

engineers they're the consummate

chemists and technologists they've

learned how to do it in context so

that's the core idea behind bio memory

um is that that the best ideas might not

be ours you might already have been

invented

I'll mimicry is innovation inspired by

nature it's a new discipline in which

the people that make our world are

chemists and architects material

scientists and product designers they

ask themselves what in the natural world

has already solved what it is I'm trying

to solve and then they try to emulate

what they've learned our work as a

species is to create designs and and

strategies that move us towards being

better adapted to life on Earth

over the long haul and when you when you

ask how to be better adapted to this

planet there are no better models than

the species that have preceded us for

billions of years you know there are

thirty to a hundred million species

maybe more and in all that diversity um

there is a hidden unity um there are a

set of operating instructions how to be

an earthling and their their life's

principles like life runs on sunlight

except for a few organisms in sulfur

vents at the bottom of the ocean life

runs on current sunlight we run on

ancient photosynthesis trapped in fossil

fuels life does it's chemistry in water

as the universal solvent and we tend to

use very very toxic solvents like

sulfuric acid life depends on local

expertise organisms have to understand

their places they have to know the

limits and the opportunities of their

places and life banks on diversity and

rewards cooperation life waste nothing

up cycles everything and most of all

does not foul its nest does not foul its

home we're a very young species and

probably our best stance as a young

species is to be apprentices to these

masters

we need to replace our old industrial

chemistry book with nature's recipe book

our synthetic chemistry is completely

different ten nature's chemistry we use

every element in a periodic table

even the toxic ones and then we use

brute force reactions to to get elements

to bond or break apart life uses a small

subset of the periodic table is the safe

elements and then very very elegant

recipes low temperature low pressures

low toxicity that's nature's chemistry

it's a very different paradigm and we

have to ask ourselves not just how to

replace individual molecules for

different kinds of molecules but rather

whole families of reactions it's a big

job to do that ah but it's it's an

Apollo project worth pursuing

organisms make materials in and near

their own body so they can't afford to

heat things up to astronomical

temperatures or to use toxins or high

pressures so for instance a spider it

takes what comes into its web a fly

flies into its web it takes that it does

chemistry and water at room temperature

at very low pressures and it creates

this amazing fiber that ounce per ounce

is five times stronger than steel and

this is being looked at now by fiber

manufacturers

nature's also really good at making hard

materials like ceramics if you take the

inside of an abalone shell which is that

iridescent mother-of-pearl why material

is twice as tough as our high-tech

ceramics and what those mother-of-pearl

layers are composed of is just very

simple materials in seawater so what

happens is the soft bodied critter

releases a protein into the seawater

creates a template and on this template

there's charged landing sites and the

calcium and carbonate in the seawater is

also charged and it lands in particular

sites which directs the crystallization

automatic self-assembly crystallization

of this incredible material and and

actually it's a self-healing material

beautiful architecture incredibly benign

manufacturing and people are figuring

out how to make ceramics without ever

using a kiln and this has been looked at

for both reasons for the blueprint and

for the recipe of how you self-assemble

out of seawater um a hard material

the one thing that we have an awful lot

of is carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

and we think of it as the poison of our

era life sees carbon dioxide as a

building block carbon dioxide is used by

plants to make sugars and starches and

cellulose it's used by organisms in the

sea to make their shells and to make

coral reefs and that chemistry that's

co2 to stuff chemistry is now being

mimicked so Nova mer is a company that

takes carbon dioxide and turns it into

biodegradable plastics there's also a

company called new light and their

products called air carbon and they're

taking methane which is an even worse

greenhouse gas and they're using that to

create packaging Della's using all their

packaging now made out of this air

carbon it's called there are chairs made

from it the first carbon negative chairs

in the world made of this kind of

plastic that comes from co2

the most used building material on the

planet is concrete the manufacturer of

concrete produces five to eight percent

of all co2 emissions when you look at a

coral reef which is a concrete like

structure you realize that co2 is

actually sequestered so there's a

company called blue planet that is now

taking the recipe from the coral reef

and they're taking co2 from flue stacks

and they're taking seawater putting

those together and precipitating out the

raw materials for concrete and in fact

they're now able to sequester a half a

ton of co2 for every ton of concrete so

if you can imagine someday us using

carbon dioxide and sequestering it

long-term geological sequestration in

the buildings that are all around us

that's what's exciting about biomimicry

you say to yourself there's existence

fruits that there's another way to do

this

in the arena of conserving energy

there's a software company called regen

and they've studied how ants and E's

communicate to one another in order to

find food sources and and to help

streamline their foraging and what

they've done is they've applied these

algorithms to sensors that they're able

to put on appliances and drastically

reduce peak demand by 25 to 30 percent

reducing energy bills by having these

appliances communicate with one another

and dial down the need for energy at

Caltech students have come up with a new

kind of wind farm that's based on how

fish move in a school so when Fisher are

moving they group together and the ones

in the front as with our cinemas

movements they kind of throw off

vortices these little spirals in the

water and then the ones behind them

curve around those spirals and actually

they get flung upstream saving a lot of

energy so what these students did was

they said why don't we take vertical

axis wind turbines and instead of

spreading them out on the landscape like

you would with traditional wind turbines

why don't we pack them as closely as

possible together and they did this and

they found that when the first axis is

turned they would create these spirals

and the ones behind them would start to

turn even before the wind hit them and I

got ten times more wind power out of a

wind farm this way for a with a lot less

land use

one of the things that erst e planet

will need is a way to find more fresh

water

the Namibian beetle lives in the Namib

Desert drinks entirely from the fog that

comes in a few times a week it has these

special structures on its wing scales

that condense the water out of fog very

very efficiently ten times better than

our fog catching Nets this Namibian

beetle effect has been mimicked by many

companies trying to make new fog

catching nets for agriculture along fog

coasts there's also a small company

that's called NBD Nano and they're

creating the fog catching surface along

the inside of a water bottle and

creating a self filling water bottle

that will fill itself with the humidity

in the air life is really good at

filtering especially to recover fresh

water if you think about a fish every

fish in the ocean is a desalination

plant it's living on fresh water in its

cells but it has to create that fresh

water from salt water so it's

desalinating so this this idea of

nature's membranes we even have them in

our bodies we have them in our kidneys

and in our red blood cells and we have

these little pores called aquaporins and

what they do is they actually because of

their shape and their charges they are

perfect for water molecules water

molecules are attracted to the pores to

the channels and then they move through

them very very easily leaving everything

else behind and that's been mimicked in

a membrane with a company a danish

company called aquaporin and they're

doing desalination membranes that

instead of the energy intensive reverse

osmosis which pushes water against a

membrane they're using the aquaporin

membrane to pull water molecules through

in something called forward osmosis a

fraction of the energy

use and about a hundred times more

permeable than the normal membranes that

we use in our big desalination plants

agriculture is one of our biggest uses

of water and if we can find a way to

grow plants with with less water that's

gonna go a long way for a thirsty planet

what scientists are doing is that

they're looking at places where plants

are growing in extreme conditions and

asking how are you doing that guy named

rusty Rodriguez went to the Yellowstone

hot springs and these hot pools have a

grass growing around them called panic

grass which shouldn't technically be

able to live in those conditions but he

dug down in the roots and he found that

there was a fungal helper wrapped around

the reed that was allowing the plant to

grow in these very hot conditions and he

was able to inoculate seeds with a

fungus that enabled the plant to grow

five times more rice with half the water

use which is really really important if

we're talking about a climate changed

world where drought is the new normal

it's really interesting is sometimes you

are asking yourself how to replace a

chemical and when you loop to the

natural world you realize there's a big

paradigm shift because you don't even

need the chemical life often uses shape

instead of chemistry so for instance

paints these are chemical pigments often

we use really toxic materials like

chromium or cadmium in our paints and

the question is can you create color

without chemistry can you create it with

structure turns out that the some of the

most brilliant organisms in the natural

world create their color through playing

with light so structure so this is these

are the hummingbirds Emma and the morpho

butterflies and the peacocks a peacocks

feather is has no pigment in and except

for brown all of those colors that you

see are created from very simple layers

that are certain distance apart and when

light comes through it gets bent it gets

refracted it gets amplified to create

the color blue to your eye or the color

yellow or the color gold all without

chemistry

it's just structure and structural color

is four times brighter than pigmented

color never fades imagine if we were

able to create products where the last

few dip coatings of the surface of the

product say a car would be transparent

layers that played with light in such a

way to create a color no painting no

repainting it's built right into the

structure of the product another kind of

chemistry that we're always looking for

alternatives to is a better soap a

better way of cleaning without

phosphates and other things in our

wastewater

life also has to stay clean

imagine a leaf a leaf has to stay clean

in order to photosynthesize so

scientists a couple of decades ago put a

lotus leaf put that under a microscope

and found that the way it stays clean

it's not a chemical solution it's

actually a structural solution has tiny

bumps there are certain distance apart

and they're waxy and rainwater balls up

on this surface and dirt particles don't

really adhere they they kind of Teeter

on the mountaintops and the ball of rain

when the leaf tilts picks up those dirt

particles as it rolls off pearls it away

and it's become known as the Lotus

effect so now there's all kinds of

products there's there's a fabrics with

the Lotus effect Big Sky Technologies

does that and and shoulder and there's

roofing tiles Earl estroux f---ing tiles

there's a paint from a company called

Stowe called Lotus in' and when it dries

it has that bumpy structure so that dirt

really can't adhere and rainwater cleans

the building instead of sandblasting or

applying chemicals and soap so it's a

whole new way of cleaning it's another

one of those paradigm flips that you

often see in the natural world when you

look to nature for for solutions

the big problem of superbugs in

hospitals and the fact that we use so

many antibiotics in order to to battle

bacteria so for instance there's a

company called sharklet they said is

there how does nature manage bacteria

they found this very interesting shark

the Galapagos shark which is a basking

shark that has no bacteria on its

surface even though it doesn't move very

much it has no bacteria on its surface

how is that possible

well the shape of its skin turns out to

be something that bacteria do not like

to land on or to form their films on so

by mimicking that shape sharklet

technologies has created thin films that

you can put on door knobs and hospital

railing bed railings and and all kinds

of surfaces and what it what the shape

does is it actually repels the bacteria

it's a shield against bacterial

infection but it's not done with

chemistry it's done with structure

you know the answers we seek the secrets

to a sustainable world are literally all

around us and if we choose to truly

mimic life's genius ah the future I see

would be beauty and abundance and

certainly fewer regrets in the natural

world definition of success is the

continuity of life you keep yourself

alive

and you keep your offspring a lot that's

success but it's not the offspring in

this generation success is keeping your

offspring alive 10,000 generations and

more and that presents a conundrum

because you cannot you're not gonna be

there to take care of your offspring

10,000 generations from now so what

organisms have learned to do is to take

care of the place that's gonna take care

of their offspring life has learned to

create conditions conducive to life and

that's really the magic heart of it life

creates conditions conducive to life and

that's also the design brief for us

right now we have to learn how to do

that and luckily we're surrounded by the

answers and you know millions of species

willing to gift us with their best ideas

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