Scientists estimate that there could be up to a trillion species on Earth today! Though most are microbes, it’s an astounding amount of Life. But consider this: together, we represent less than 1 percent of all the species that have ever lived since Life first appeared on Earth 3.8 billion years ago. So where did all this diversity come from? It starts with the fact that nature loves to design and innovate. Nature has been conducting R&D for 3.8 billion years, and amongst a wide collection of successful and repeated strategies, nucleated cells is a big winner. We’re celebrating the “birthday” of nucleated cells this week as a part of our year-long Happy Birthday Life celebration. In March, we told you about the day photosynthesis appeared. And, we told you about how Life first appeared on Earth in the form of a single-celled organism on February 25. That’s according to Earth’s calendar year calculations, which compress the age of Earth (4.5...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Innovation Insights, Inspired by Nature on July 10, 2016 by jenna
Our latest Biomimicry Thinking for Social Innovation immersion workshop wrapped up last week in The Netherlands, where participants gathered with Dr. Dayna Baumeister, Biomimicry 3.8 Co-founder, and Toby Herzlich, founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation, in De Spreeuwelse Heide, near Eindhoven in Westelbeers, for five days of exploration of the fusion of biomimicry and social innovation. The workshop took the crew through sand dunes, moors, and woodlands in the Netherlands as they learned to apply design lessons from nature to help grow resilient organizations and foster a regenerative society abundant with innovative leaders. It made for a “mind-blowing” workshop, participant Leen Gorissen said on Twitter. We got to live vicariously through the crew thanks to social media, which provided a snapshot of the experience (and the views). Here’s a sampling of the shares: Finally, a Facebook post from Karen de Moss, who showed off her completion certificate, noting that “We made it!” Learn more about our immersion workshop, biomimicry, and Biomimicry 3.8, connect with us...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Innovation Insights, Inspired by Nature on July 1, 2016 by jenna
Whether you’re an engineer fascinated by the concept of being able to emulate the designs created by nature during 3.8 billion years of evolution, or a lover of the outdoors looking to reconnect with the natural world and apply its wisdom to your career, biomimicry–by default or by design–puts people in touch with nature. “Biomimicry is all about emulating life’s genius. It’s learning from nature….That begs the question: what is nature? What does it look like and how can we wrap our mind and arms around the notion of nature? From there, you ask, ‘what is my personal connection with nature?’ “said Thomas Baumeister, an instructor for the Master’s of Science in Biomimicry at Arizona State University. Biomimicry 3.8 and ASU partnered in 2014 to begin offering the world’s first accredited master’s degree program for biomimicry, and to create the Biomimicry Center. Baumeister’s 517 class explores the human-nature connection, allowing students to dig deep into the concepts of how they...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Inspired by Nature on June 16, 2016 by jenna
You may have heard the we’re headed to Australia in September for an immersion workshop, another five-day experience that helps participants discover nature’s genius while learning in the field. This workshop will take place in a particularly amazing spot: At the intersection of the Great Barrier Reef and the oldest living tropical rainforest. What kind of nature’s genius inspiration can be found there? We’ve compiled a small set of the amazing examples below. We’ll share more too in the coming weeks. In fact, the local experts we’ve recruited to help run the workshop are gearing up to share their Top 10 must-see organisms. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, take a look at these Inspiration from Australia cards for a glimpse of what participants will learn during the workshop: It’s among these organisms that participants will begin honing and developing the skills to tap into nature’s genius while inspiring new innovations. Learn more about biomimicry and Biomimicry 3.8, connect with...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Inspired by Nature on May 5, 2016 by jenna
We’ll be among the estimated 1 billion people celebrating Earth Day 2016 this year, not only because the events help inspire people to protect the Earth for future generations, but also because it’s a perfect time to remind ourselves that we ARE nature. Our co-founder Janine Benyus explains: Biomimicry works precisely because there is no difference between what we do and what other organisms do—the boundary between us and the rest of the world is a false one that dissolves when you consider what is really important, what makes life worth living. We are in a long line of organisms that have sprung from this earth, each trying to figure out how to stay here, how to take care of the place that will care for our offspring. This year, Earth Day events will focus on the urgent need to plant new trees and forests worldwide. Also this year, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has invited every world leader to...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Inspired by Nature on April 20, 2016 by jenna
The elegance of life’s technologies—and biomimicry’s growing influence in bringing those technologies to the design world—is on full display in this wonderful new video featuring our co-founder Janine Benyus. “Design In Nature,” was shot near our headquarters in Missoula, Montana, on what turned out to be a gorgeous early spring day, and was produced by Bloomberg Businessweek Design for the publication’s one-day design conference that took place in San Francisco April 11. This design-focused video is a 4-minute introduction to Janine’s keynote at the event, where she’ll expand on the role of biomimicry in the design world. The video offers not only a glimpse of biomimicry’s design influence, but also of Janine’s backyard laboratory—including an evergreen tree that, or as Janine points out “an amazing assemblage of technologies.” Janine was joined by 24 other global design leaders, ranging from a social innovation startup leaders to costume designers. The video is part of a Bloomberg Businessweek package on biomimicry (including this...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Innovation Insights, Inspired by Nature on April 8, 2016 by jenna
During our Happy Birthday Life celebration last month, we told you about how Life first appeared on Earth in the form of a single-celled organism on February 25. That’s according to Earth’s calendar year calculations, which compress the age of Earth (4.5 billion years) into one calendar year. According to that calendar where 144 years equals one second, if Earth was “born” on January 1, then February 25 would be the day life emerged. About 23 days (or about 285 million years) after the first single-celled organism appeared, photosynthesis evolved. That makes March 21 a major milestone on Earth’s calendar: The evolution of a new kind of energy that is produced, captured, and stored during a process that fits into a renewable system that has lasted for billions of years. Photosynthesis is the primary form of energy production that sustains biological life on our planet. By capturing sunlight energy in molecules, plants and algae have become a foundation that supports...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Inspired by Nature on March 18, 2016 by jenna
We are always excited to share inspirations from nature—biomimicry, after all, is innovation inspired by nature. We’re extra excited to share this new video that takes you to South Africa and offers a glimpse into our biomimicry immersion workshop experience. Shot last November during our Discovering Nature’s Genius workshop in Leshiba Wilderness, Limpopo province, South Africa, the video is a beautiful, exciting snapshot of the experiences people have while exploring biomimicry in the field. Biomimicry 3.8 has been putting on workshops since 2002. We’re planning to host several more in 2016. Feeling inspired? Our next workshop will take participants to the Netherlands for the first European-based Biomimicry Thinking for Social Innovation workshop. The workshop will explore the fusion between biomimicry and social innovation—inviting participants to re-imagine organizational leadership, strategy, planning, and operations with inspiration from healthy and evolving ecosystems. The workshop will be taught by our own Dayna Baumeister and Toby Herzlich, founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation. The six-day experience...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Inspired by Nature on March 10, 2016 by jenna
If we compress the age of Earth (4.5 billion years) into one year, Thursday, February 25, would be the day life appears. That means it was 3.8 billion years ago this week that the first single-celled organism appeared. Since then, Life has been the ultimate innovator, creating conditions that are conducive, to well, Life. Consider this: Homo sapiens sapiens (that’s us) have been on Earth for about 200,000 years. That’s the equivalent of less than 30 minutes of Earth’s Calendar Year, with humans appearing on the scene on December 31 at 23:26! With 3.8 billion years to celebrate, we think Life has earned the title of wise. Biomimicry is based on the premise that we aren’t the only species who calls Earth home. It’s a practice that recognizes the clues to our path forward can be found in wisdom compiled during the last 3.8 billion years. That’s why we celebrate Life’s Birthday. To remember that Life is so much bigger...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Inspired by Nature on February 24, 2016 by jenna
Of the thousands of biomimicry-inspired innovations budding throughout the world each day, a large number don’t include collaboration with a biologist. Emilie Snell-Rood pointed to this stat—fewer than 8% of the nearly 300 studies on biomimetics published in the past 3 months and indexed in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science had an author working in a biology department—in a compelling article for Nature where she argues that embracing teamwork and bringing biologists of all kinds to the collaborate on biomimicry-based projects is necessary for continued, meaningful advancement of innovation. She writes: With around 1.5 million described species, and probably some 9 million eukaryotic species in existence, researchers pursuing biomimetic approaches have barely scratched the surface of biological inspiration. Biologists from all sorts of disciplines have an extraordinary store of knowledge that could guide forays into a much richer diversity of natural systems. Such knowledge could also help to steer experimental approaches. Biomimicry 3.8 co-founder Dr. Dayna Baumeister agrees, of course. In fact,...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Inspired by Nature on February 16, 2016 by jenna