Biomimicry – innovative word of the week

Le présent billet a été rédigé par Jonathan Goldberg, que je remercie. Une traduction en français sera publiée prochainement sur ce blog.

Biomimicry is a new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems: "innovation inspired by nature." (Biomimicry Institute).

The following are examples of products that have been developed or  activities that are being conducted today:

• a heat-stable vaccine storage that eliminates the need for costly refrigeration. The process is based on a natural process that enables the resurrection plant to remain in a desiccated state for years.  
• mimicking the spider's sustainable manufacturing process to find a way for humans to manufacture fibers without heat or toxins.
• mimicking the silica-production process employed by diatoms. This could signal a low-energy, low-toxin route to computer components.
• mimicking the process by which the brittlestar self-assembles distortion-free lenses out of seawater. 

"The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone." – Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature 

Design Inspiration from Nature – Biomimicry for a Better Planet Rebecca Paul	Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature Janine Benyus

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_GFq12w5WU&feature=related

Biomimicry - Discovery World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMZYdVLqME&feature=related

Bio-Inspiration: Nature as Muse - KQED QUEST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnBkbaFsZOY&feature=related

Linguistic note:

Definition of MIMICRY

1 a: an instance of mimicking; b : the action, practice, or art of mimicking

2: a superficial resemblance of one organism to another or to natural objects among which it lives that secures it a selective advantage (as protection from predation)

(Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)

Mimicry (from mimic) has been in use since 1680 and, in its zoological sense, since 1861 (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Biomimicry is from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.

  

Mimicry - Encyclopedia Brittanica

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/383252/mimicry

Surviving by Disguising: Nature’s Game of Charades – New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07angier.html?_r=1&ref=science