● Many insects secrete a thin, oily film that helps them adhere to surfaces, but the porous surface of the carnivorous PITCHER PLANT holds on to water, rendering such adhesive films useless. Harvard scientists created Slips (slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces), which REPELS BOTH WATER AND OIL, as well as bacteria, using the pitcher plant as their inspiration. “We don’t want buildup on surfaces for lots of reasons, whether it’s on furniture, or the sides of tanks, or on airplane wings,” Benyus says. “This is a material approach that could be applied in every industry.”
Janine Benyus’s theory of evolution
By Jessie Scanlon
April 11, 2016
Janine Benyus is the co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8, a design consultancy named not after proprietary software, but rather the 3.8 billion years nature has been doing its own design R&D. The firm grew out of her 1997 book, Biomimicry, which popularized the idea of applying natural principles to product design, and its clients include multinational corporations, city planners from around the world, and several U.S. federal agencies. To Benyus, the idea of man vs. nature is nonsense. “We are nature,” she says. “And once that separation goes away, it puts us in the role of student rather than conqueror.” Below, she shared some of what she’s learned on her own and on others’ projects.
● Interface, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carpet tiles, turned to Biomimicry 3.8 to find an alternative to the glue it used to install carpet, which put out TOXIC FUMES and made replacement difficult. For inspiration, Benyus and her team studied the GECKO, whose feet are covered in tiny hairs that create an attractive force when pressed down. With that principle in mind, her team developed TacTiles, glue-free adhesive squares that connect the tiles at their corners. As a result, “Interface was able to REDUCE ITS ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT BY 95 percent,” Benyus says.
● Encycle develops technology to help commercial buildings improve their ENERGY EFFICIENCY. Its core product is SWARM LOGIC, a system of small wireless controllers that communicate with one another and monitor buildingwide energy usage, turning power-hungry devices on and off as needed. The idea behind it is the same one BEES, ANTS, AND SCHOOLS OF FISH use to communicate. “This is one of the very first applications of what will become normal with the INTERNET OF THINGS,” Benyus says. “When [things] communicate with each other, what are the protocols that will be used?”
● The new lightweight cabin partitions being tested in the Airbus A320 optimize strength by MIMICKING CELL STRUCTURE and bone growth. Says Benyus: “When you get down to the level of design principle, [bone growth] really lends itself to algorithms. The designers took that partition, which is a solid piece and pretty heavy, and ran it through a program that knows where the lines of stress are going to be. Based on that, the program takes material away from where it’s not needed and puts it where it is.”
● Japan’s 500-series Shinkansen commuter train was fast—but it was also loud, especially as it passed through narrow tunnels. The engineer charged with solving this problem happened to be an avid bird-watcher. He modeled his updated train design on the long, narrow beak of the KINGFISHER, which allows the bird to dive into the water without so much as a splash. “The hidden benefit was that the train went 10 percent FASTER, WITH 15 percent LESS ELECTRICITY USE,” Benyus says.
● BioHaven Technology’s MAN-MADE ISLANDS mimic the way natural islands CLEAN AND PURIFY WATER. “Often, we clean water by putting in a chemical, or we’ll use one bacterial strain,” Benyus says. “That’s not how it works in the natural world. There is usually a CONSORTIUM OF ORGANISMS that work together.” The islands, made of postconsumer plastic, support plant life on top, with their root systems extending into the water and creating a habitat for SNAILS and other water-filtering creatures.
● The surface of a nocturnal moth’s eye is covered in NANO-SCALE DOMES, shapes that absorb more light than they reflect and help conceal the moth from its prey. The shape can be used as the jumping-off point for all sorts of technologies—“everything from DISPLAY SCREENS to CAMERA LENSES,” Benyus says.
● Humpback whale flippers have bumps called TUBERCLES along their edges, which allow them to move efficiently through water. Envira-North Systems is creating industrial-size fan blades with whalelike tubercles to REDUCE DRAG. “What’s cool about it for wind turbines is that you can operate at lower wind speeds,” Benyus says. “That opens up the opportunity for wind power in zones that are no-go now.”