Expert Article: Biomimicry

Biomimicry 

How Nature Inspires Innovation

In my elementary school ceramics class, we displayed our pieces along racks that spread across an entire wall (spanning from the floor to the ceiling). There were hundreds of small vases and bowls across these shelves. During an earthquake one afternoon, the shelving unit unhinged and the entire wall of ceramics slammed to the ground. Shards of glazeware flew across the room and every last shelf was dismantled. A few students in my class were injured. 

A few years later, I had an idea about how trees might inspire better shelving design. I thought about how the massively heavy branches of an oak tree are somehow cantilevered firmly from its trunk. It occurred to me that a very sophisticated structure must support those heavy branches in order to grow at right angles to the tree trunk. What if the same sophisticated structure could be applied to design secure, cantilevered shelving units? 

As it turns out, my idea was not original. In fact, this concept of using nature to solve complex design and engineering questions is coined by the term “Biomimicry”. Nature has a remarkable intelligence that humans have yet to fully understand. Since the term was conceived by Jaine Benyus in 1982, designers have emulated all kinds of structures in nature: the composition of spider webs, the hide of an armadillo, or even the movement of inchworms. 

I would argue that biomimicry is best defined by the following brilliant examples:

• The Japanese Bullet Train 

• Eastgate Center, Zimbabwe 

• WhalePower Tubercle Technology 

The Japanese Bullet Train

In the late 1990s, Japanese engineers modeled a bullet train after a Kingfisher bird’s beak. As bullet trains were getting faster, the bullet shape was creating a lot of noise as the trains would zoom in and out of tunnels. Eventually, engineers discovered that the noise was caused by the air cushion acquired at the front of the train. After carefully studying the aerodynamics of a kingfisher bird, one of the engineers on the team noticed that these birds can dive into water creating very little splash. Alexandra Brumwell, a scientific journalist, perfectly described why the Kingfisher bird is so unique. She wrote: "Their bill is specially designed so air and water pass over it, reducing drag and resistance (the forces that slow down the bullet train and lead to the loud sound waves)" (Brumwell, 2020). After modeling the head of the train to the shape of a kingfisher beak, the train was able to cut the air to glide swiftly and quietly through tunnels.

Eastgate Center, Zimbabwe 

Mike Pearce, a Zimbabwean architect, was eager to find a sustainable way to ventilate buildings without consuming more energy. As JoAnna Klein explained in her article for the New York Times, “Eco-friendly buildings are typically smaller scale, because human comfort is difficult to achieve in systems dependent on varying climates” (Klein, 2019). But Pearce found a surprisingly simple solution to this complex issue. He turned to the mounds built by fungus-farming termites. These insects have an incredibly sophisticated way of “air-conditioning” their own systems. Within termite mounds, there is a web of joined pores which control the ventilation, temperature and humidity inside.  This natural process became the foundation for Pearce’s shopping center building in central Harare, Zimbabwe. Eastgate Center is the first building in the world to use natural ventilation. 

WhalePower Tubercle Technology 

Humpback whales are one of the world's largest and heaviest mammals. Despite their mass, they happen to be very elegant swimmers and divers. A biomechanic named Frank Fish attributed this strange duality to the bumpy ridges (tubercles) along the front of their fins. Tubercles cut through the water, making it easier for whales to swim. Fish also noted that, “If a whale wants to make a tight turn, it’ll need more lift, from a higher angle of attack…But if that angle of attack is too great when it’s trying to make that circle, it’ll stall – just like a stomach-dropping moment in an airplane or skidding on black ice in a car” (Llewellyn, 2019). Fish found that textured wind turbines positioned at a certain angle were quieter and more efficient than traditional smooth blades. Fish found that textured wind turbines were quieter and more efficient than the traditional smooth blades. The humpback whale inspired a range of tubercle products like wind turbines, hydroelectric turbines, irrigation pumps, and ventilation systems. This idea was ingenious. 

Looking Ahead

As many designers and engineers have stated, the future of biomimetics seems to be promising. When we study nature closely, we often discover the most elegant and intricate solutions. By studying these structures, we are also lead to find more sustainable designs. While technology advances at a rapid rate, it seems to do so at the cost of our biosphere. As humans have become more disconnected from the natural world, biomimicry is more important now than ever before. Brumwell put it perfectly: "Biomimicry provides a way for humans to unite these two fields [nature and technology]" (Brumwell, 2020). 

WORK CITED

Brumwell, Alexandra. "Birds, Bullet Trains and Biomimicry." TheGIST. November 25, 2020. https://the-gist.org/2020/01/birds-bullet-trains-biomimicry/.

Evans, Alex, Jessica Allen, Matt Hargrave, Thomas Llewellyn, and Siobhan Fairgreaves. "More Efficient Wind Turbine Blades Inspired by Humpback Whale Fins -." BIOSPHERE. February 06, 2019. https://www.biosphereonline.com/2019/02/06/efficient-wind-turbine-blades-inspired-humpback-whale-fins/. 

Klein, Joanna. "What Termites Can Teach Us About Cooling Our Buildings." The New York Times. March 26, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/science/termite-nest-ventilation.html. 

Schreiner, Wyatt. "Biomimicry: A History." EHISTORY. April 19, 2018. https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/biomimicry-a-history.