Biomimicry: When Nature Inspires Amazing Inventions

By Seraphine Menu

Nature did it first! A beautiful and whimsically illustrated explanation of cool inventions like Velcro and scuba suits that were inspired by the natural world

Discover how bats led to the development of radar, whales inspired the pacemaker, and the lotus flower may help us produce indestructible clothing. "Biomimicry" comes from the Greek "bio" (life) and "mimesis" (imitation)." Here are various and amazing ways that nature inspires us to create cool inventions in science and medicine, clothing design, and architecture. From the fireflies that showed inventors how LEDs could give off more light to the burdock plant that inspired velcro to the high speed trains of Japan that take the form of a kingfisher's sleek, aerodynamic head, there are innumerable ways that we can create smarter, better, safer inventions by observing the natural world. Author Seraphine Menu and illustrator Emmanuelle Walker also gently explain that our extraordinary, diverse, and awe-inspiring world is like a carefully calibrated machine and its fragile balance must be treated with extreme care and respect. "Go outside," they say, "observe, compare, and maybe some day you'll be the next person to be struck by a great idea."