It’s time to AskNature
If you’re going to change the world, you’ll need to understand how it works first.
A Guide to Life’s Inner Workings
AskNature.org is an open-source database of deep biological knowledge, presented in accessible language to inspire and guide anyone working to develop regenerative solutions for today’s most pressing issues.
Serving users since 2008, it is an ever-evolving collection of amazing facts and strategies from all living beings, as well as some of the revolutionary innovations they have inspired.
a field guide for the future
How it works
AskNature is a field guide to life on Earth, designed to draw your eye not just to the organisms we see around us, but to what we can learn from them.
Biological Strategies
Learn from 1,700+ profiles of specific ways living beings have met various challenges.
Innovations
Explore profiles of successful cutting-edge projects informed by biomimicry.
Collections
Dive into thoughtful essays that identify a theme, trend, or pattern emerging among various biological strategies and innovations.
Educational Resources
Gather tools to bring biomimicry into the classroom and get students to begin practicing it themselves.
AskNature impact
600,000+
Visitors per year
Our audience is global and diverse across many sectors: designers, engineers, educators, students, journalists, and others.
96%
Educator approval rating*
When biomimicry is taught in schools, teachers and professors around the world overwhelmingly turn to AskNature to bring the concepts to life.
*As reported in the Biomimicry Institute’s Youth Design Challenge survey
2,000+
Pages of inspiration
Explore the latest biological discoveries put into easy-to-understand language, plus profiles of successful biomimetic innovations, thought-provoking essays, and more.
Highlights from AskNature.org
Learning From the Rise of Mammals
Bestselling science author Steve Brusatte paints a new, functionally-focused picture of how mammals came to be.
Adaptive Camouflage Helps Blend In or Stand Out
The skin of cuttlefish changes color rapidly by expanding or contracting elastic pigment sacs.
Modular Building Material Inspired by Sponges
Metavoxel creates high-performance materials by mimicking the open cellular architecture of bone, wood, and sponges.