Turning nature's inspiration into a production line.

Abstract

Nature has long been a rich inspiration for artists and poets and an endless source of wonder for biologists to understand its workings. For millennia, humans have also relied on natural products in medicine, buildings or clothing and nature has inspired numerous technological inventions, architecture and design. But it is only recently that human efforts to exploit the design and functions of natural systems have become a systematic field of research in its own right. To date, the examples of technologies and materials that were inspired by nature have been limited to isolated and often almost chance discoveries, initially confined to the world of materials. The best known and first major commercial success was the Velcro hook and loop fastener, conceived in 1941 by Swiss engineer George de Mestral, who was inspired by the way burrs or seeds of the burdock plant kept sticking to his clothes. He examined them under a microscope and noted that hundreds of miniature hooks caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing, animal fur, or hair. The case of Velcro was fairly unique as it was inspired by simple observation with the naked eye in combination with a low‐powered microscope. Since then a number of other important technologies or materials were developed based on natural systems, but these involved more detailed probing at smaller scales down to the molecular level. Another well‐known example of such biomimicry is the ability of molecular structures on the surface of plant leaves to repel water that has been copied to varying degrees in artificial materials or technologies. Yet, the field has been expanding beyond materials to embrace medicine, renewable energy production and chemical engineering, stimulated in recent years by the growing movement toward sustainability and reuse, which, the proponents of biomimicry hope, will be easier to attain …