You know the saying ‘Sometimes the answer is right in front of you’? Well scientists, engineers and industrialists felt really stupid for spending colossal amounts of money and time trying to find solutions to problems when the answers could be found all around them, in nature.


These refined-through-millions-of-years-of-evolution methods were perfect and they coined this ‘abstraction of good design from nature’ biomimicry or bionics.

The concept of borrowing from nature is not new to us though. The Wright brothers based the designs for their planes on bird’s wings. George Mestral grasped the concept for his invention, Velcro, from the burrs stuck to his dog’s coat and the super-efficient cooling system of the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe is modelled on the system of ducts and passages used by termites to maintain a constant temperature in their mounds.

Clever, hey?! Bet you won’t look at your pet in the same light again.