Biomimicry Inspirations: What do a Spider, a Panda, and a Pitcher Plant have in common?
Welcome back to another episode of
Biomimicry Inspirations!
Last week I posted my first ever curated post. Biomimicry Inspirations aims to bring you closer to the principles and biology of nature without getting lost in the science. This can be especially useful for biomimics, circular economists, circular designers, urban planners, architects, process managers, and all nature-based professionals!
Before I dive into the articles I have selected, I want to introduce you to a cornerstone of the biomimicry design process:
Nature's Principles
For nearly 4 billion years, all organisms living on earth have faced the same basic conditions, and to survive have followed three basic rules:
- Sense, respond, and adapt to changing conditions.
- Live within the limits of Earth’s systems.
- Support their ecosystems while supporting themselves.
Through the process of evolution, nature has evolved a set of ‘principles’ that allow organisms to follow these rules, live sustainably, and survive times of radical upheaval. Successful organisms in nature are resilient, optimising, adaptive, systems-based, valuesbased, and life-supporting.1
Biomimicry 3.8 has identified 26 Life's Principles:
Image by Doing Biomimicry: Nature's Principle's
I won't go into them in detail now, but I could at a later date if you are interested (let me know in the comments). The Life's Principles are fundamental when confronted with the question, "Is my design really nature-based and does it sustain/enable life?".
The first and last steps of a nature-based design process include identifying the life's principles you want to fulfull--because today, it is not always possible to hit them all--and seeing how your design holds up against them. If you did it right, with every design, you will fulfill more of them! Think about Life's Principles as you plan out your next innovation. Are you adapting to changing conditions? Do you do life-friendly chemistry? Is it locally attuned and responsive?
Now without any further wait, I give you what you probably came here for... this week's
Argiope Lobata - Hellenic Version
by @funnel
Original image by the author
I know, I know... @funnel was featured last week, but you have to see this spider! Not only does Kali offer a myriad of functions to be mimiced, the process used to identify her is really helpful when you are looking for organisms for your designs. There are billions of species out there, each one with a unique set of characteristics. To find the best ones for your work, sometimes you have to go through a bunch of trial and error!
Why Panda's Choose to Eat Bamboo
by @sward
Did you know that the digestive system of a panda was made for a carnivorous animal? I had no idea! Now I know AND I know how pandas are able to survive off bamboo. Nature has been adapting to changing conditions for billions of years, and this is yet another example. If your design needs something that is not inherent in the system, here is an example of an organism that has adapted to the local environment.
A pitcher plant ecosystem, or "I eat flies with a little help from my friends."
by @effofex
Plants and community, my two favorite topics, and this is exactly what @effofex gets down to in this super easy to follow explanation of how Pitcher Plants eat their prey. Here we learn how it takes a village of organisms to digest what one carnivorous plant is able to capture. Who knew there could be so many players involved, including some unexpected alliances. There are some great ideas in here for complex projects.
I hope you enjoy these articles as much as I have. If you are interested in really getting into the biomimicry, why not create a function card for one of these? You can find instructions in my previous post. Add your card to the comments here and let's start building our joint database!
Until next week...
Follow Tigrilla - @yvesoler - for more about
Plant Neurobiology and Biomimicry
SPEAKER | FACILITATOR | NATUREPRENEUR
Facilitating evolutionary Interspecies Communication to CoCreate Nature-Inspired Places, Products, and Processes.
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Plant neurobiology, biomimicry, social innovation, plant music, design, interspecies communication, urban planning... These are just some of the biophilic topics I cover on my website and here on Steemit. Follow along and comment often. My goal is to create discussion, not give a conference! And if you explore related topics, let me know in the comments, I would love to follow you.
hello @yvesoler.... thank you for referring to my post one more time....you see i do not post very often such subjects but when i do i'm trying my best!!!...
...by the way we have to look carefully to these 3 Nature's Rules if we want to survive eventually.....but i don't think anybody is bothering
You are doing a great job with your writing!
I think there are more people looking to nature's principles thank you might think, only that their voices are getting lost in all the noise. I find the same thing here on Steemit. There are lots of posts that are one or two sentences that are drowning out good, quality content.
But if we keep pushing, we will break through and others will see what we have to say. So keep doing the great work you are doing!
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