Art Imitates Life, and So Should Technology
Biomimicry can extract nature's last untapped resource
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Hello everyone, today’s broadcast is about two idioms, one of them being the idiom of ‘leaving no stone unturned’, making sure that one squeezes every last bit of benefit or utility from ‘something’. That something in today’s piece will be the Earth and Mother Nature. The other idiom is the saying ‘don’t re-invent the wheel’, where the argument is that effort should not be directed to things that have already been ‘solved’ or that we have a ready solution for. However, There is one ‘stone’ has not been fully overturned yet, and it just might help us re-invent not only the wheel, but so much more. Allow me to introduce: the wonder of biomimicry.
Some Broad Strokes
Humanity’s relationship with the Earth can be summarised as the first idiom, as we have exploited natural resources in a vast myriad of ways, whether for food, water, shelter, medicine, entertainment or in order to improve our lives. The impact of humans on the Earth can be seen in almost every corner of the globe (most commonly as pollution in the form of a plastic bag, bottle or rubbish). We have used nature as the source of, well, resources. But I would argue that there is one last resource that humanity has not properly extracted yet: as a source of inspiration for technology.
Let’s do a mini thought experiment. Let’s say someone asks you what is the pinnacle of innovation? Many instinctively may reach out for modern examples, pointing to innovations such as EUV semiconductor technology, satellites or early artificial intelligence. However, one could argue that it is in fact nature that holds the title as the pinnacle of innovation.
Rethinking Associations
Words like ‘innovation’ and ‘technology’ are heavily associated with each other, while ‘innovation’ and ‘evolution’ less so. Innovations are often seen as man made technologies, the idea of synthesis, using resources to create new things, while nature is seen as the opposite, like the ‘start’ of things, the simple beginnings. But why? Evolution can be seen as a process of trial-and-error innovation across millions of years. Innovations that worked, that improved the survival chances of species remained, while other features died out, and this has been happening and happening non-stop. Humans have been innovating for hundreds of years, while nature has been innovating for hundreds of millions of years.
As a result of evolution, individual species of flora and fauna, entire ecosystems, all of it, has been optimised to extreme efficiency, and many have abilities that scientists right now only dream of. As nature is incredibly efficient and optimised, its ‘innovations’ do not have the same issues humanity’s innovations do: there is no ‘maintenance’, no ‘waste’ in nature. As a quick example, the human brain can store thousands of memories, execute multiple decisions at once, coordinate movement, respond to stimuli and take in swathes of data received from the sensory organs- but it doesn’t overheat (under normal conditions, where there is no sickness to deal with). Meanwhile the laptop I’m typing on often heats up when just trying to open Chrome or google.
But biomimicry can re-think many assumptions that humans have used and reply upon, and illuminating a new way of thinking can open many doors to higher efficiency and more abilities, as will be described below.
Early Implementation
Humans have actually dabbled in biomimicry through the years, but it has never enjoyed the concentrated effort it should have. For instance, in ancient China, bamboo was used as inspiration for the development of boats: the internal shape of the boats, such as bulkheads or separated cabins, was created through observing the structure of bamboo poles, as The diaphragm of the bamboo pole section separates the bamboo into many diabolo tubes. Bamboo was also used as masts and incorporated into sails, making these ships some of the most advanced in the world at the time. Leonardo Da Vinci is also infamous for sourcing many of his ideas from nature, mimicking and taking inspiration from nature to create his ideas.
Point A to Point B
There is an example that illustrates how humanity’s thinking is still incredibly behind natures’. What’s the fastest route from point A to point B? With any other information, the answer is in a straight line. but here is a question that was asked in ‘ The Shark’s Paintbrush’ by Jay Harman:
“What is the most efficient way to move fluids or energy or an object through fluids between two points? Is it still a straight line? Almost all engineers and scientists would say yes”
Everywhere you look in a city or where humans have been, there are straight lines everywhere- skyscrapers are mostly box shaped, pipes are straight, doors are straight, socket outlines are straight: roads, blades and wings: almost everything is straight.
But if you take a look at nature, you will see that incredibly few things are straight- nature is made up of curves, spirals, vortices- as one can see in leaves, rivers, weather cycles, water flow:
Who’s Right?
We can do a very simple, crude experiment to see. Take a water bottle and fill it with water. Next flip it over and time how long it takes for the water to flow out. Now do the same, but when the bottle is upside down, give it 2-3 twirls. Water now flows out of the bottle much faster. I’ll leave the scientific explanation for that to greater minds, but this suggests the idea that we may have a lot to learn from nature, as much of our technology relies on water or other fluids travelling in straight lines almost all of the time.
Examples of Extreme Efficiency
Perhaps the most well-known example of biomimicry potential is by sourcing inspiration from humpback whales:
You may notice that it’s fins aren’t sleek and straight, but rather have these bumps and ridges, while planes have wings which are sleek and flat.
But the fins are more dynamic and more efficient than airplane wings, and this is due to these bumps and irregularities actually leading to less drag, and higher efficiency. Just to flash some numbers, These bumps provide 8% increase in lift, 40% increase in angle of attack and 30% improvement in drag reduction.
Now imagine how many wings, fans there are in the world. If every airplane wing, every fan blade, every wind turbine could be improved by 30%, the dividends that would be enjoyed by humanity would be immense in the form of greater energy efficiency and generation, and greater savings from fuel. Such whale- inspired designs have been developed and are slowly entering our world.
Shark Skin
Another source of inspiration can be drawn from sharks: their skin is not smooth like some might intuitively guess, but rough in a scale like structure, this roughness actually leads to a reduction in drag and higher efficiency, as you are dragging less water along as well. This means sharks have to exert much less energy to move, and this efficiency could be captured by ships that travel the seas.
This feature has been replicated, and special paint can be applied on ships which provide 5% reduction in hull friction. While this may seem small, if every ship on Earth had this paint, from the incredibly large container ships or cruise ships to simple jet-ski’s, the fuel that could be saved from this tiny improvement in efficiency would lead to millions in savings annually.
In the Works
Mosquitoes are being examined for their ability to not succumb to the same diseases they transfer onto humans.
Curran, found in carrots could be a potential replacement for carbon fibre, being twice as strong and lighter. In addition, the costs of extracting curran could be significantly cheaper than carbon fibre.
Hippopotamus skin has been studied to create much more effective sunscreens, blocking much more ultraviolet radiation.
A chameleon’s ability to change colours and a gecko’s ability to traverse up vertical surfaces has been studied in efforts to try to mimick these abilities.
Honeycomb structures have been replicated as an example of creating strong structures with minimal materials.
Some trains in Japan have mimicked a birds beak shape for the front to become more aerodynamic.
The Exciting Potential
Biomimicry doesn’t just offer marginal improvements in optimisation and efficiency. What perhaps are the most exciting opportunities are the development of abilities which humans do not even have yet:
Tardigrade's could become the key unlocking a variety of incredible abilities. These micro organisms can survive decades without food or water, and have the ability to enter a stasis mode which can enable then to survive extreme temperatures, from 300 degrees Celsius to absolute zero, immense radiation and even the vacuum of space. Being able to have control and apply these abilities to things could lead to countless benefits, and not just for our human bodies: immunity to temperature could be incredibly beneficial for vaccine or medicines, which currently rely on freezing cold storage to be transported. (Plus, imagine being able to walk in the arctic in shorts??)
Turritopsis dohrnii, better known as the immortal jellyfish, have the ability to restart their lifecycle, effectively being able to live forever save for external factors like predators or disease. Immortality may not be the stuff of pure fiction after all, and who wouldn’t want to be younger again? Closer examination of this jellyfish could also provide the key to transdifferentiation (the conversion of one cell type to another), which also could lead to a myriad of other amazing abilities- being able to change cells into any desired cell needed can enable humanity to have amazing control over our bodies, perhaps giving insight into tissue regeneration for lost or impaired limbs.
Additional Benefits
These biomimetic innovations could inspire change within mature industries- industries where there has been little change or innovation in products, and most of the competition is centered around advertising or cost cutting. Profit margins in these industries are likely to be thin, so a fresh spurt of ideas and viable innovations may provide a boost to such struggling industries, for instance the aforementioned fan industry, where home fans has seen little significant change in recent years. Even such seemingly insignificant changes like changing the shape of blades would have huge ramifications for the industry as a whole.
Why the Delay?
However, the same reason why biomimicry would be ideal for such industries is the same reason holding it back:
→ Companies in established industries with very low profit margins may not have the R&D funding available to test out and implement biomimetic designs, as even if the fundamentals are better, finding a new design that is effective, reliable and easy to manufacture takes time, resources and will, which may be missing from such companies
→ like with any R&D, there is always the risk that at this moment biomimetic designs are not industry friendly or that there may not be a market for them, therefore leading some to see the whole process as too risky to the already frail bottom line, preferring to stick to the status quo.
→ Companies are similar to people in the sense that once you have an established routine or way of doing things, it is difficult to try enact fundamental changes, and you may see people within the firm or even entire companies dragging their feet on potentially better technology.
There have been other factors of course:
→ Technology that enables us to create simulations have enabled us to study specific designs more accurately and allows us to understand natures designs, at fractions of the cost of outdated methods.
→ Stronger microscopes and the ability to see at the cellular level has enabled to observe things that were previously unobservable.
→ Manufacturing technology such as lithography equipment which enables humanity to make shapes and designs at miniscule sizes, allowing us to dabble in nanotechnology.
But as time trudges on, these factors will slowly fade, and usher in a new era of nature- inspired innovation. And perhaps what is best of all, humanity can exploit this resource as much as want- you can not ‘use’ up an idea, nature largely won’t be harmed from observation or analysis. It could be considered the one resource that is truly sustainable.
Biomimicry can help extract nature’s last untapped resource in aiding human innovation by using tried and true ideas from nature, and it could create the dynamic where broad strokes of innovation are painted by humans, and the tiny details and gaps in efficiency and optimisation are filled by nature.
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That’s all from me for now, but stay tuned for future broadcasts,
This has been Kunga’s Written Radio,
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