The Built World-Nature Inspired

Natural World and Built Environment

We live in a built environment.

What does that mean?

Where do ideas come from?

What if we got ideas from nature?

What if we learned to make tape, for example, from geckos?

What if we learned to keep things clean from leaves?

• The surface of the leaf has tiny, tiny, bumps on it, that you can’t even see with the naked eye.

• The bumps cause water to ball up and the balls of water slide along the leaf, pulling off dirt particles as they go.

Getting ideas from nature about how to make things is

called “biomimicry”.

Biomimicry

• Bio- Life

•Mimicry- Copy or emulate

Using biomimicry, people have learned to make…

Shoes that grip like a mountain

goat.

T-shirts that resist sweat like a horned lizard.

Vitamins based on the diet of forest

apes.

Fasteners that stick like burs.

Sandwich bags that biodegrade like tethers of

blue mussel and zip closed like a

feather

Computer screens that create color the same way as wings

of a butterfly.

Computers as fast as

neurons.

Systems interconnected like

trees in an old-growth forest.

What manmade structure was

inspired by nature?

Trapdoor Spider

What manmade

structure was inspired

by the trapdoor spider?

Ant mound Infrastructure

What manmade structure was

inspired by ant mounds?

Ant Mound Infrastructure

Termite Mound

What manmade structure was

inspired by termite mounds?

Termite Mound

Bio-mimicry: The Eastgate Center (Harare, Zimbabwe)

Prairie Dog Tunnel Systems

What manmade

structure was inspired

by the prairie dog

tunnel system?

Prairie Dog Tunnel Systems

Spiders (webs) http://isadikin.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/interlude-2-the-web-spinner/

What manmade structure was inspired by spider webs?

Spiders (webs)

Fox Den

What manmade structure was inspired by the fox

den?

Fox Den

Shark

What manmade

structure was influenced

by the shark?

Shark

Drag is every swimmer’s worst enemy, one that yields only grudgingly to strength, conditioning

and determination. The company says the three-piece system produces a 16.6 percent

reduction in full body passive drag, a 5.2 percent reduction in full body active drag and a 63.4 percent reduction of force on the goggle.

Michael Phelps – 2008 (Video)

What creatures will inspire you?

What possibilities can you imagine?

Research

• Pair or group children based on interest.

• Have them research elements of nature.

• Generate ideas from nature to improve on their common interest.

Those who are inspired by a model other than

Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring

in vain. - Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most famous Renaissance Man. He was one of the most famous artists of all time but he was also a scientist and inventor. Da Vinci liked

to experiment with his materials. His experiments were not always successful. Da Vinci’s inventive nature was also responsible for inventing a flying machine hundreds of years before the Wright brothers left the

ground. Da Vinci was truly a creative genius.

Leonardo da Vinci

Birds – Da Vinci’s Sketches of Early Flying Machines

Birds – Da Vinci’s Sketches of Early Flying Machines

The human-powered mechanical flight device, patterned after birds and bats.

Birds – Da Vinci’s Sketches of Early Flying Machines

Research

• Research Davinci’s other ideas for inventions.• Select one of his ideas and create a plan to market or sell the idea to a group of investors.