When car manufacturer DaimlerChrysler’s Research department wanted to develop a new era aerodynamic, safe, comfortable and environmentally compatible car they turned to nature for inspiration. By doing this, the new The Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car has much resemblance with the box fish in terms of shape and body structure. Despite its boxy, cube-shaped body, this tropical fish is in fact outstandingly streamlined and therefore represents an aerodynamic ideal. The result was a 20 percent lower fuel consumption and up to 80 percent lower nitrogen oxide emissions.

Taking inspiration from nature like this is called Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate). Biomimicry is an ancient concept recently returning to scientific thought that examines nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements. The basic principle is to make nature’s ideas and problem solutions, which have stood the test of time over millions of years of evolution, usable for man.

Bionics research does not mean copying nature. The aim is rather to understand its principles and use them as a stimulus for innovations. The inventions of nature, which have been developed and continuously improved over millions of years, provide an inexhaustible reservoir of ideas and inspirations from which not only technology can benefit. More than ever before, bionics can also further the cause of environmental protection. Many of the innovative concepts which engineers and scientists are adopting from nature correspond to the principle of sustainability. Nature always achieves its objectives economically, with the minimum energy, conserves its resources and completely recycles its waste an example which is well worth following.

Other examples of biomimicry include: Self-Repairing Aircraft with plastic that ‘bleed’ and ‘heal’. Whalepower Wind Turbine designed after the bumps on humpback whale flippers, and retrofitted onto a wind turbine‘s blades. Self-cleaning surfaces, such as metal, paint and glass, is called superhydrophobicity and is designed after the leaves on a lotus plant, hence The Lotus Effect.

A new website, AskNature.org, has been launched to gather knowledge on Biomimicry and build a community for like mined people to share their ideas. AskNature is where biology and design cross-pollinate, so bio-inspired breakthroughs can be born.

AskNature is a free, open source project, built by the community and for the community. Their goal is to connect innovative minds with life’s best ideas, and in the process, inspire technologies that create conditions conducive to life.

The founder of AskNature is Janine Benyus. She is the Co-Founder and Board President of The Biomimicry Institute. In July 2009, she gave a great TED talk about the ideas behind Biomimicry. The talk is embedded below this article.