Post your “BIOMIMICRY” topical homework here:
- Note any important points from your book reading that connect with or inform your research topic.
- Post a link or citation for at least one article per week on your topic (you should have actually read it, and it will help your teammates if you add some comment as to what interested you).
Folks on other topic teams are welcome to make comments, suggest links, or anything else that would be helpful to this team.
Cabrillo College Sustainable Cultures Class 
March 28, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I find it very interesting to learn that the author of my book, Paul Hawken, is one of PAX Scientific’s advisors 🙂
March 28, 2009 at 9:17 pm
My book reading has touched in on the vast array of organizations and people working together to achieve positive goals for humanity and the planet. It seems to me that this is an excellent display of biomimicry, for everything is a biodynamic whole, there is nothing that can survive without something that another organism has to offer. The smallest particle is needed by one to create the other. It is perhaps in this realization that biomimicry is best seen and measured as a viable means to achieve solutions. There is no need to look any further, the answers are indeed, all around.
http://researchmag.asu.edu/2008/09/designers_explore_biomimicry.html
Here is an article on biomimicry to create more sustainable solutions….seems that humans are just about the only creatures on the planet who are so removed from the planet that we need to relearn the basics….
March 27, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Hey Loki,
Heres a cool little article of the potential applications for mycoremediation technologies to clean up the environment.
http://www.battelle.org/Environment/publications/EnvUpdates/Fall00/article4.html
See you Monday,
van
March 23, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Hey guys,
I made a photo slide show this weekend for our presentation. How is your stuff coming along?
I wanted to share this article with you all, its about a ceramic that was created by the Lawrence lab in Berkeley that mimics mother pearl. “It might be the toughest material ever produced”.
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Scientists-create-tough-ceramic-that-mimics-mother-of-pearl-6182-1/
Cheers
March 19, 2009 at 9:45 pm
This week my book did mention a key aspect in biomimicry, and that is connectivity. Hawken uses the immune system in comparison to the environmental movement…great analogy!!!!
I already posted a link, but I just wanted to add one more, seeing that there are many Biomimicry uses that focus on the immune system…and this interview sites the side of flaws existing in nature, and even mentions Paul Hawken’s reference to immunity.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/the-th-interview-janine-benyus-2.php?page=2
March 17, 2009 at 10:58 pm
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/anttraffic.html
Thought this was really cool…especially since we brainstormed abut the traffic problem of Santa Cruz…we were on to it with the ants after all!!!!
March 14, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Here is an article about biomimicry from a local Santa Cruz paper:
http://cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1269
March 12, 2009 at 11:03 pm
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1020-biomimicry.html
Thought this would be a great article for the group to read, especially since it covers the info for the bay area company, in a more local perspective. Interesting how we need a crisis to get things done….
Biomimicry wasn’t mentioned in my reading, but I am sure that through the study of indigenous knowledge there could be vast breakthroughs in this particular field of science.
here’s also the link to the direct site for http://www.paxscientific.com/
March 9, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Dye-sensitive solar cells are not only cheaper than silicon-based photovoltaics, they also don’t require all the energy and toxic solvents currently used.
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/ee4e268a5a0fe3861f6d1f5ae21ea608
http://www.asknature.org/product/b57e64dd3a2a1a9d36a92a5a51ef7293
March 3, 2009 at 10:49 pm
http://brainz.org/15-coolest-cases-biomimicry/
I absolutely love whales and have had some major deep experiences and dreams about them, so I was interested in seeing if there was anything that has been studies about biomimicry and whales, since I deem them to be the most intelligent creatures….and lo and behold….check out number four!
Also, it was a cool link to the 15 coolest cases of biomimicry.
March 7, 2009 at 6:39 pm
A great list, #2 ties into my my topic directly, passive heating and cooling has become a staple in sustainable/green architecture.
#7 is also very cool as I have always been very interested in sacred geometry and the fibonacci sequence more specifically, it is uncanny how often in everyday life that this sequence appears.
March 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=lotus-leaf-inspires-water
I have heard of this and found a link…the lotus is very symbolic in the Hindu tradition as a symbol of spiritual transformation, rising from the depths of the mud, reaching for the sun to burst forth in bloom…also the symbol which depicts the seven chakras, each being defined by a specific number of petals on the louts.
March 7, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Very cool, this is the other topic I would have taken, I find natural systems incredibly awe-inspiring.
February 28, 2009 at 7:54 pm
A great place to begin, of course, is at http://biomimicry.net Also, check for specific info at http://www.asknature.org/
You can see what I’ve bookmarked about biomimicry at http://delicious.com/DrPongo/biomimicry
March 16, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I’ve also got some links and slideshows available at http://www.cabrillo.edu/~mmerrill/biomimicryrefs.htm