The Secret of Trees | Albert Maysles from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Here’s an inspiring example of where biomimicry thinking can take young minds. Thirteen-year-old inventor, Aidan Dwyer, realized that trees follow a mathematical formula to gather sunlight in crowded forests. Then he wondered why we don’t collect solar energy in the same way.

The video doesn’t address what type of solar collector he’s using on his array, but his model would be a great fit for dye-sensitized solar cells. If you are interested in learning more about the Fibonacci sequence in nature, check out Vi Hart’s great video series on Fibonacci spirals in plants.