News and Ideas from the Biomimicry Institute
Watch a No-Brained Blob Think Out Loud
Slime mold’s oddities are balanced by behavior that is ultra-relatable—they are ruled by food! Case in point: A hungry individual is avoided more by its peers than a poisoned one. Humans are now looking to the hardwired programming that gets them fed ASAP to feed the next big innovation.
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How I Found the Circular Economy: Biomimicry and the Power of Design
New materials, synthetic biology, and a circular economy are still in their early stages. As with any exponential technology, trends start small before taking off. There are dozens of design competitions around the world like Circular Economy 2030, OPENIDEO, Solve by MIT, and of course, the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, among many others. I am optimistic that a circular economy is achievable in our lifetime.
A Stage to Show or a Ring for Battle? A Survival Story of BGDC Taiwan Competition
The Biomimicry Global Design Challenge (BGDC) Taiwan Competition is a stage for young people to showcase their sustainable ideas inspired by nature and a potential way to start their future career or to solve real-world problems… but this is only one side of the story. The BGDC Taiwan Competition is a battle ring for the young people (and even the organizer) to challenge harmful patterns of the existing industrial society.
Greeting this Technological World with Nature at Home and in the Classroom
COVID-19, rapid climate change, racial tension, and political unrest have impacted Earth’s entire ecosystem; and in light of the ongoing global changes, teachers, parents, and students are getting creative in transforming the educational landscape. Whether at home, at school, or virtually online, there are a myriad of ways to tap into nature’s lesson plans to find inspiration, hope, healing, and creative problem solving techniques.
Back to School, Back to Nature
Our world feels very different right now, but this difference can provide us with a wonderful opportunity: an opportunity to teach ourselves and our students how to adapt to and learn from everything that nature has to offer. We hope to offer educators and parents an introductory guide on how to bring nature into the classroom, or more appropriately, take the classroom outside.
Diving Deeper: Talking with ECOncrete®’s Co-founders on the Ocean’s Value (Part 2)
In Part 1, we heard from the co-founders of ECOncrete®, the company that was awarded the 2020 Ray of Hope Prize® last week. Scientists Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, Ph.D. and Ido Sella, M.Sc. offer us more insight in the second part of our interview about how their diverse team comes together and what they hope to do with this year’s $100,000 grand prize.
ECOncrete®’s Co-founders on Reconnecting to Nature and Finding Inspiration for Revitalizing Marine Ecosystems (Part 1)
After receiving this year’s $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize®, we sat down (virtually, of course!) with ECOncrete® co-founders Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, Ph.D. and Ido Sella, Ph.D.. These scientists have a vision: transform the way our future coastlines look and function by building marine infrastructure projects that benefit the environment and humans.
Good for Business, Good for Planet: The Judges Behind the World’s Foremost Biomimicry Prize
The art and science of biomimicry revolves around this seminal question — how do we create conditions conducive to life on this planet, for the long haul? How do we more seamlessly become part of “the regeneration”?
Nature & Health: The Power of Connection
Connection with nature is crucial for our health, especially in the time of a pandemic.
Biomimicry Offers Us Help, Hope, and Healing As We Build Back Better Together
Biomimicry, utilizing nature’s teachings in our own designs, provides us with a place to start and a compass to follow as we chart a course toward a better, brighter, and more sustainable future for all beings. As we now rebuild our cities in these uncertain times, biomimicry can help us clean the air, water, and soil the way that nature must do when ecosystems have been disrupted. Nature shows us how to effectively support life, drive our economies, and improve our collective health for all kin on Earth.
A World Hungry for Change
Environmental start-ups are reducing food loss by reimagining basic components of agriculture with nature in mind.
Summer Journal: 30 Days of Reflection and Reconnection
High school student Sophia Stiles shares her love of biology and design and takes us along for a personal recollection of her journey with 30 Days of Reconnection.
Start Where You Are
In biomimicry thinking, diversity signifies resilience. From a prairie grassland’s thriving ecosystem to the design table’s need for a myriad of expertise, a wide variety of forms, processes, and systems make the world strong and resilient. And yet, our society is new to truly embodying this framework, and we have a lot of work to do to make our culture not only equal to all humans, but equitable, too.
A Game Plan to Help You
Solve Global Problems
Systemic change—change that fundamentally alters the systems in which we live and work—can be overwhelming. How can we as individuals in a sea of millions really make a difference? How can we make a change with broad impact that’s actionable from where we are right now with what we have? Even asking that question can feel daunting!
Turning the Anthropological Lens
on Biomimicry
Approaching nature as an infinite meta-resource of intellectual inspiration can transform our cultural understanding of what it means for nature to be – to become – a resource. What value can be placed on its potential to inspire interventions aimed at climate stability and ecosystem balance?