Biomimicry - Nature as Model, Measure and Mentor

[Ryan Goble]

This video from Seed is an interesting example of biomimicry

Neri Oxman is careful not to use traditional terms like "architecture" or "material science" to refer to her work. Instead, she calls it "material ecology," a nod to her belief that design is as much about the work's relationship to and participation in its local environment as it is about the form of the object itself. Oxman finds inspiration in biology; the forms in her work often mimic those found in nature. She doesn't believe biomimicry is a passing fad: "The biological world," she says, "is displacing the machine as a general model of design."




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More: materialecology.com & Slides

And this article from Fast Company blew my mind

Self-Healing Paints Clot Like Blood
BY: TIM MCKEOUGH Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Microscopic agents help coatings clot like blood on a cut.

So some punk keyed your car at the mall -- don't worry about it! The days of stressing about dings may soon end: Illinois-based Autonomic Materials has created additives that make paint heal itself. The technology, developed at the University of Illinois, works by embedding hundreds of thousands of microscopic capsules filled with healing agents in every square foot of a painted surface. "When damage occurs, those capsules break open, the healing agents mix, and a new polymer is laid in place where the damage happened," says CEO Larry Evans. "It's like blood clotting on a cut."
Autonomic Materials is now working with several major coatings companies to bring its first products -- targeting infrastructure and heavy machinery, such as oil platforms and cargo-ship hulls -- to market by 2010. Evans says the company is exploring other applications, from planes to trains to automobiles, and using the technology with other substances, such as adhesives. Everything, it seems, could use a little healing.

From: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/134/self-healing-paint.html#self