Biomimicry: “We are surrounded by genius”

If I could reveal anything that is hidden from us, at least in modern cultures, it would be…that we live in a competent universe, that we are part of a brilliant planet, and that we are surrounded by genius.

Janine Benyus in her 2009 TED talk urges people to solve design problems by looking to the organisms and natural systems that have been shaping such solutions for billions of years. Biomimicry, according to the nonprofit Biomimicry Institute, is “the science and art of emulating Nature’s best biological ideas to solve human problems.” Says Benyus,

Learning about the natural world is one thing. Learning FROM the natural world—that’s the profound switch.

For more information, see:

• The Guardian article on Benyus’s talk
• The Biomimicry Institute
• AskNature.org, a database of nature’s strategies and strategists
  

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