Welcome to: Biomimicry- Using nature to inspire

sustainable design in science classFriday 9:00 - 11:00Presenter: Dan Grossdgross242@live.com

Goals

Connections: meet each other Adjust Agenda for this session to meet everyone’s

needs Introducing Biomimicry to students Out of your seat biomimicry activities Biomimicry PBL explanation Links on the web/and my website If there is time: Design your own sustainable

invention inspired by nature

Connections

Any background you want to share Experience with biomimicry What you want out of this session

Sipping through a foot, the thorny devil lizard of the arid Australian desert demonstrates its ability to wick water to its mouth via channels between its scales. Scientists hope to mimic the mechanism to develop water-capture technologies for dry regions.

Inspirations Earthwatch Institute

William McDonoughHow could a tree inspire design?

Janine Benyus Thomas FreidmanPreparing students for the 21st century

Nature

Introducing biomimicry to your students

On your Do-Now paper……..

1. What do you think is the most creative piece of technology ever?

2. What human problem does this piece of technology solve?

3. What problem do you think inspired the development of this technology?

What do these have in common? Older students: How does nature inspire technology?

Location: Sahara Desert Location: city in a desert Termite Mound Largest building in Zimbabwe

Energy Design Challenge:

Keeping the Building cool without wasting a lot of electricity

. Can be millions of termites in 1 mound

. Termites never sleep

. Used to be used to find gold

. Side note: Chance to share wonder of natural world

Hypothesis ________________________________________________________________

Temp: constant 87 deg

even though outside temp.

ranges from 100-40 deg in

1 day

Base of the chamber is cool wet mud that has openings that redirects air up.

Constantly build new vents and close old ones to regulate temperature.

Explanation ____________________________________________________________

Building designers saved A/C energy by opening/closing vents and storing cold air.

What do these have in common?

40-50 ft long

Up to 80,000 pounds

Max load of an 18 wheeler

Eat Krill 2” long Hypothesis: _______________________________

_________________________________________

Design Challenge: Harness the most energy possible from well designed blades

Which is more efficient?

VS.

8% improvement in lift

32 % reduction in drag

Ridges on the edges of windmill blades, like ridges on a whale fin, create more power with less drag and more lift

Explanation:

Tangent

“When you step into the intersection of different fields/disciplines/cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas.”

- Frans Johansson “The Medici Effect”

What do these have in common?

Shark skin

. Non-Smooth Skin

. Sharks are self- cleaningSkin does not collect marine life

Boat Keel

Design Challenge: Marine life grows on keel

Marine life on keel =

slower speed

chemicals needed to clean Hypothesis ________________________________________________________________

Sharkskin Paint- with scale-like texture

. 4-5 knots self cleaning

. 67% reduction marine life on keel

How can designers use shark skin design on a

keel to keep marine life off…….

Explanation:

Paint is scaly and allows water to get in-between scales to push off marine life.

What do all of these examples have in common?

Biomimicry: Break down the word

Bio- life Mimicry- imitate

Definition: Developing sustainable technologies inspired by nature

Sustainable: How do you define sustainable? Lasts a long time/reusable Less harmful Uses less resources like energy

Why it works: life has been adapting to earth for 3.8 billion years, we have a lot we can learn from life on earth

Activities to get students thinking like a sustainable designer inspired

by nature Read your card to yourself

Find your match: picture and description Example: card card

more fuel efficient car

Match up nature’s solution with design challenge Example nature’s solution design challenge

box fish more fuel efficient car

Figure out how nature can inspire the solution to the design challenge

PBL

Short video

Pass out PBL

Emphasis on Sustainability

Putting your creativity to the test…Existing Example of Biomimicry

a. identify the part of nature in your picture b. identify the technology in the picture

Read the explanation under the photo.

c. explain how “nature” inspired the technology on your sheet

d. what is the purpose of the technology? e. Why is the technology sustainable.

Examples of completed StudentProjects

with different levels of application

drawings made on Smartboard program

Fennec Fox

The Fennec Fox has reflective fur that keeps it cool. It’s big ears act like a vent for hot air to escape its body.

Hot air leaves here.

Fur reflects the heat to keep the animal cool.

A “Cool” Ride

This car (shown above) has reflective, non-toxic paint so it reflects light. It also has air vents so that cool air comes in and it pushes the hot air out. This lowers the use of air conditioning and stops people from cutting down trees for money.

This is the reflective paint.

Heat leaves the car.

Cool air enters the car here.

Fire resistant

Sand pine

High off the ground so it doesn’t catch on fire so easily.

House off ground Houses off the ground where wild fire are

frequent so it doesn’t catch house on fire as easy. If the support beams are made out of concrete it is sustainable and can be used over and over again.

fire

Biomimicry – scented chemical hair

This giraffe has hair that has scented chemicals which repel insects, ticks, dirt, and microorganisms.

These chemicals are made with local materials using simple ingredients found within the organism, created at room temperature, and produced on an as-needed basis

Reticulated giraffe Bottle/jar with chemicals in it• This is a possible jar filled with

the chemicals which repel insects, dirt, microorganisms, and ticks. It is easy to make and will help protect people from various diseases such as lime disease and malaria. It can also prevent things from getting dirty.

• From studying the giraffe’s hair we can watch the process of how the chemicals are made and mix together. After that, it is a simple matter of making an artificial version.

Our invention is sustainable because all of the ingredients in it are non-toxic and fairly common.

Reticulated Giraffe The reticulated giraffe is very

interesting. Its hair contains scented chemicals that repel ticks, insects, microorganisms and even dirt.

The reticulated giraffe might inspire innovation in paint manufactures to protect the coat and finishes. This invention will also takeaway insects from your house and dirt.

• The tokay gecko has the ability to climb up solid surfaces.

• It uses it’s tiny barbs on it’s hands and feet to create an adhesive surface.

• This will benefit anyone who has to clean This creation was made for climbing up walls or windows.

• This creation could be used for cleaning windows, and painting houses.

• It is even recycle able while being durable.

Chataignier tree and Stability Houses

Chataignier trees have extra supports called buttress roots. In case a bad storm comes by, they have a better chance of

surviving with the buttress roots. Buttress

roots

The design below is an adaptation to help people in the countries prone to hurricanes/ typhoons.

The buttress root design goes beneath the surface to increase stability.

House

w/ design

Our Invention

The Black Jewel Beetle has special sense organs that can sense forest fires up to 50 miles away

This invention is a special wrist band that beeps when there is a forest fire for firefighters and forest rangers. It is solar powered and when it is dark out it uses its stored energy to work.

Bio- Mimic-

The Forest

Fire Detector

The Black Jewel Beetle

Where to go after lesson

What ideas do you have? Build windmill blades to light up a light-bulb (lab) Conservation biology:

Adaptation Population fluctuation

Sustainable design Cost/Benefit Analysis Alternative energy Biomimicry design project http://database.portal.modwest.com/start.php

Snakes skin and shell

Links Page: show some if there is time

Ideas from your classes

-Airplanes modeled after birds (wing and body shapes, falcon beak)-Morphing airplane wings that change shape according to the speed and length of a flight, inspired by birds that have differently-shaped wings depending on how fast they fly-Fish-inspired scales that easily slide over each other to enable the morphing airplane wings-Boat hulls designed after the shapes of Fish-Torpedoes that swim like tuna-Submarine and boats hull material that imitates dolphin and shark skin membranes-Radar and sonar navigation technology and medical imaging inspired by the echo-location abilities of bats-Swimsuit, triathlon and bobsled clothing fabric made with woven ribbing and texture to reduce drag while maintaining movement, mimics shark’s skin