Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature - Paperback

by Janine M. Benyus (Author)

Repackaged with a new afterword, this "valuable and entertaining" (New York Times Book Review) book explores how scientists are adapting nature's best ideas for sustainability, solving tough 21st century problems.

Biomimicry, a revolutionary approach to innovation inspired by nature, is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Janine Benyus takes readers into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create sustainable materials by watching spiders weave fibers; harness energy by examining how a leaf converts sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; and many more examples.

Composed of stories of vision and invention, personalities and pipe dreams, Biomimicry is must reading for anyone interested in the shape of our future.

This landmark work of popular science reveals a world of brilliant, proven solutions waiting in the natural world:

• Ecology as a Model: Go into the field with Janine Benyus to learn how mimicking nature's time-tested patterns is the key to solving our greatest technological challenges.
• Engineering Inspired by Nature: Discover how spiders weaving their silk and leaves converting sunlight to fuel are providing blueprints for the next generation of materials and energy production.
• Business Innovation: Explore a revolutionary approach where businesses, modeled on forests and prairies, close the loop on waste and run a more sustainable, profitable economy.
• The Future of Science: A visionary look at how biology and technology are merging to invent miracle drugs, create new ways to compute, and repair our environment.

Back Jacket

This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st-century problems.

If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature - taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R&D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells - and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting-edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low-maintenance agriculture; and more.