CONTENT

Biomimicry:
 What is biomimicry? 5
 Early examples of biomimicry 6-8
1. Rock-cut Architechture
2. Silk
3. Pyramids
4. Myths and legends
 Why teach biomimicry? 9
 Some examples of biomimicry 10-14
1. Velcro
2. Sleek shark skin
3. Diatoms as cheap solar cell
4. Beetles show the way to water conservation
5. Gecko's grip and adhesive
6. Umbrellas
 Advantages of Biomimicry 14-16
 Conclusion 17
 Bibliography 18

What is biomimicry?
Biomimetic or biomimicry is the imitation of the models,
systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving
complex human problems. A closely related field is
bionics.

Living organisms have evolved well-adapted structures

and materials over geological time through natural
selection. Biomimetic has given rise to new technologies
inspired by biological solutions at macro and nanoscales.
Nature has solved engineering problems such as self-
healing abilities, environmental exposure tolerance and
resistance, hydrophobicity, self-assembly, and harnessing
solar energy.

Biomimetic could in principle be applied in many fields.

Because of the diversity and complexity of biological
systems, the number of features that might be imitated is
large. Biomimetic applications are at various stages of
development from technologies that might become
commercially usable to prototypes.

Early examples of Biomimicry

While humans have only studied biomimicry for the past
half century, the earth has been developing efficient
methods of life for 3.8 billion years. Our planet is the
oldest and wisest teacher we could ask for. However
throughout our extremely short history we have not
exactly seen eye to eye with the earth. It is because of this
that we are experiencing changes in the climate that will
prove detrimental to our future. This project is designed
to open the minds of the reader to a new form of
innovation. Biomimicry, innovation inspired by the
natural processes of earth. This timeline highlights
examples of biomimicry that hopefully enlighten you and
inspire anew way to create.
Rock-Cut Architecture: 6000 BCE

Caves have been used as shelter since the monolithic era

6000 BCE, so it makes perfect sense that in India
Buddhist temples and shrines were actually carved into
caves and mountain sides. These temples eventually
doubled as trade posts on the Silk Road. 
Silk: 3000 BCE

Silk is one of the first examples of biomimicry that we see

in human history. Use of the material is dated back to
4000 BC, making it one of the first fabrics invented by
humans. It is common knowledge that silk comes from
silkworms, and the Chinese were the first civilization to
learn from the brilliant worm. This invention was the
reason that the Silk Road got its name. 6,000 years later
we are still using silk all around the world.
 Pyramids: 2470 BC

While there are hundreds of theories about who or what

actually constructed the Egyptian pyramids, until an
extraterrestrial force is proven to have played a part, one
would assume they were man made. And one theory that
makes sense is that they were designed after mountains. 
Myths and Legends: 

The wonders of the earth have always captured our

imagination. One myth that captures our wonder of the
earth is the story of Daedalus and Icarus, father and son
respectively. Imprisoned on the island of Crete for a
crime against his nephew, Thalus, Daedalus was
instructed by King Minos to build a labyrinth to contain
the Minotaur. This story ends with Daedalus inventing
bird wings made of feather and wax to fly out of the
labyrinth and out of Crete. However Icarus, his son, flies
against his father’s advice, too close to the sun and his
wings melt and he falls to his death. Daedalus was
regarded as a great inventon.

Why teach biomimicry?

Learning not just to identify different trees, or that they are used
as building material and fuel, but how they are an amazing
technology that stores energy from the sun, moves gallons of
water a day without pumps, creates materials out of carbon in
the air, and provides countless ecosystem services. When we
learn to see this kind of technology in nature, our eyes are
opened to new possibilities for our own designs. This is the
power of biomimicry education at any age.
Biomimicry today is not just influencing design, it’s also
revolutionizing education – offering a teachers a compelling
way to teach biology, STEM subjects, creative problem-solving,
and systems thinking. Biomimicry in education can provide:
 A compelling way to present science, technology,
engineering, and math subjects.
 An interdisciplinary platform to connect subjects to one
another, and to the real world beyond classroom walls.
 A tool to enhance creativity and problem-solving skills
through design and project-based activities.
 A new way for young people to view and value the natural
world; to see nature not just as something to learn about,
but as something to learn from.
 A unique and powerful way to think and learn about
sustainability.

Some examples of Biomimicry:

 VELCRO:
George de Mestral was inspired to invent Velcro after noticing
how easy it was for burrs to stick to his dog’s hair. Upon
studying them under a microscope, he noticed the simple design
of tiny hooks at the end of the burr’s spines. These were able to
catch anything with a loop, such as fur and fabric, and he went
on to replicate this synthetically. His two-part Velcro fastening
system uses a strip of loosely looping nylon opposite a strip of
tiny hooks, and has since been prolific in its range of
applications and popularity.

 SHARKSKIN-INSPIRED
SWIMSUITS:
Sharkskin-inspired swimsuits received a lot of media attention
during the 2008 Summer Olympics when the spotlight was
shining on Michael Phelps.
Seen under an electron microscope, sharkskin is made up of
countless overlapping scales called dermal denticles (or "little
skin teeth"). The denticles have grooves running down their
length in alignment with water flow. These grooves disrupt the
formation of eddies, or turbulent swirls of slower water, making
the water pass by faster. The rough shape also discourages
parasitic growth such as algae and barnacles.
Scientists have been able to replicate dermal denticles in
swimsuits (which are now banned in major competition) and the
bottom of boats. Scientists are applying the technique to create
surfaces in hospitals that resist bacteria growth — the bacteria
can't catch hold on the rough surface

 DIATOMS AS CHEAP SOLAR

CELLS:
The ability to produce low-cost, hierarchically-structured and
Nano patterned inorganic materials could potentially
revolutionize the way we fabricate photovoltaic, energy storage,
and optoelectronic devices. In nature, many organisms carry
out the hierarchical assembly of metal oxide materials through
cellular and biochemical processes that replicate periodic
micro- and nanoscale features by a bottom-up approach at
ambient conditions. For example, single-celled algae called
diatoms produce a nanostructured amorphous silica skeleton
called a frustule. The insertion of other metal oxide materials
such as titanium or germanium dioxide into
the nanostructure of the diatom frustule could potentially be
utilized to fabricate new dye-sensitized solar cells,
nanostructured battery electrodes, and electroluminescent
display devices. The exploitation of diatom Nano biotechnology
for the development of novel device concepts in these areas is
overviewed.
 Beetles show the way to water
conservation:

Certain species of darkling beetles that live in the Namib Desert

are able to harvest water vapor using an ingenious series of tips
and bumps on their wing scales. The water droplets start to
form on the tips and then flow off the waxy bumps to be
collected by the beetle. This structure allows the beetle to
survive in an incredibly arid environment. It could also be used

by engineers to develop a similar system for collecting water for

humans. Students should use this and other plants and animal
phenomenon to start designing their own solutions to human
problems.

 GECKO’S GRIP AND ADHESIVE:

Geckos have long inspired scientists and super-hero fans alike
with their ability to scamper up vertical walls and cling to
ceilings with a single toe. In recent years, people have
attempted to create materials that match those spectacular
abilities, in the hope of creating new advanced adhesives, or
even car braking systems.
Now US chemists claim to have made one based on nanotubes
that it is 10 times stickier than some gecko feet. Even more
impressively, like a real gecko foot, it can also be easily unstuck
with a tug in the right direction.
Gecko’s superhero toes are covered in microscopic hairs,
known as setae, with even smaller branches at the tips, called
spatulae.
These ensure that a gecko’s foot has a large surface area in
contact with any surface, maximising the weak but ever-present
attraction between adjacent molecules known as the van der
Waals force.
  UMBRELLAS : 3 CE
The first Chinese umbrellas were invented 1700 years ago by a
man named Lu Ban, who is now revered in Chinese history. The
idea for the umbrella sprouted when Lu Ban saw children using
lotus leaves to shield themselves from the rain. He decided to
mimic the flexibility and effectiveness of the leaf and create a
product of his own. The first umbrellas were, in fact, made of
silk.

Benefits of Biomimicry as a
framework for innovation
By using the Biomimicry DesignLens as a framework, looking to
Life’s Principles and bringing ecologists and biomimics to the
table, design teams can bring new perspectives to their projects.
1. Disrupt traditional thinking:
Start by asking, “How would nature solve this challenge?”
Assuming the team has the adequate knowledge to answer, or
works with our biomimics to assist you on this - this framing
gives project teams an opportunity to explore new solutions and
brainstorm opportunities to solve challenges in new and
innovative ways. It combines the best of systems thinking and
design thinking and the ability to reverse engineer solutions
tested over millions of years.
2. Accomplish multiple objectives with a single gesture:
In nature, there are no single-purpose tools. For example, trees
provide shade with their leaves, which also generate energy,
and bark, which also help to protect and cool the moving water
beneath the surface. Imagine surfaces and systems that could
accomplish multiple functions with one simple, multi-functional
design.
3. Adapt to context and climate:
Rather than fighting against the context by using energy and
resources to hold nature at bay, nature leverages cyclic
processes and builds with readily-available materials and
energy. These elements also can make the achievement of
sustainability goals much more achievable. Understand true
sustainability from nature itself – not only creating but
continuing to nourish and heal the systems that create
conditions conducive to life. Fitting in not just on the Earth.
4. Embody resilience:
The ability to identify and apply principles and recipes for
adapting to change is key. Life on Earth is the epitome of
resilience, adapting and changing to fit its context over billions
of years. By looking to how nature confers resilience on its
systems — incorporating diversity and embodying resilience
through variation, redundancy and decentralization, integrating
rapid feedback loops — we can create human-built systems that
are inherently resilient to change and disturbances.
5. Nourish curiosity:
We are all innately curious. Biomimicry provides the
opportunity to feed our curiosity and be in wonder and awe
about nature’s genius water, energy and material-use
strategies. This perspective broadens the solution space to bring
new solutions to the table.
6. Leverage collaboration:
Rethinking our re-imagining our products, processes and
systems with nature as model, measure and mentor – cannot be
done in siloes. Everything in nature is interconnected and as we
learn to emulate nature’s genius we find the greatest
opportunities in leveraging our interconnectedness too.
Biomimicry processes are inherently interdisciplinary and
collaborative. This collaborative approach not only enables
cross-pollination and innovation, and organizational benefits
but cultivate collaborative relationships that save resources,
energy and cost for the project and the company at large.

CONCLUSION:
Biomimetics or biomimicry have been used and advanced even
without formal research in many areas. Accumulating creative
ideas as a foundation, mankind has accelerated the speed of
development and evolution of civilization. Such rapid
industrialization has resulted in environmental pollution and a
shortage of natural resources that is threatening the survival
and future of humanity. As a result, it has become critical and
urgent to find alternative methods to engineer materials,
products, and services. Biomimetics is potentially the best
method to help us cope with future development of civilization,
environmental pollution, and resource shortage threats.
As with many great ideas, biomimetics started from simple
imitation of natural organisms. Over time, it has evolved
through integration and combination with modern science and
engineering to help us discover new materials, ways of
combining nano/microstructures, applications, and alternative
ways of production. Biomimetic has developed from mere
imitation to a stage where we are using the structures and
functions of nature to create. Soon, we will be able to take
ourselves to the next stage, where we can apply the newly
discovered principles of biomimetic to help us create an
economy that better follows natural evolution and development.
By building technology in such a manner, we hope to create a
more stable and productive future where products are more
biodegradable and more compatible with nature, rather than
being destructive.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/what-is-
biomimicry-definition-real-life-examples.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics
https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/biomimicry-a-
history
https://architecturever.com/2019/09/07/levels-of-
biomimecry-and-its-importantance-part3/
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/
ee/c0ee00306a#!divAbstract
https://medical-technology.nridigital.com/
medical_technology_mar20/
spider_silk_a_sticky_solution_to_traditional_sutures
https://www-sciencefocus-com.cdn.ampproject.org/
v/s/www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/
biomimetic-design-10-examples-of-nature-inspiring-
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tape-
inspired-spider-webs-could-revolutionize-surgery-
180973450/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14902-
gecko-grip-material-aims-to-be-the-end-of-glue/
https://stemazing.org/biomimicry-powerpoint-
presentation/