The Wonders of Biomimicry
Working with Nature
Making New Discoveries
For the past 3.77 billion years, the natural world has been constantly working to adapt and improve in order to survive. From the first spark of life to the present, it has been a forward journey toward invention and perfection. The changes that occur in plant, animal, and human species over time is called evolution.
Animals and plants were on earth about 495 million years before humans arrived. They faced many challenges and went through many changes to survive. Today, we are taking a leaf from nature’s book to solve human problems. This is called biomimicry. Biologists work with product designers, engineers, and architects to make new products or improve on older ones.
Although many plants and animals have died out or become extinct because of disease, many have disappeared due to humans. Now, when we look to nature to solve our problems, we realize how important it is to preserve it. We wouldn’t want to lose something that may be able to help us in the future.
For Instance: Giraffes helped solve one of the problems of human space travel.
A giraffe’s legs are six feet long. This would be a problem for the human cardiovascular system, but gravity doesn’t cause blood to collect and make a giraffe’s legs swell. Unlike humans, giraffes have very tight skin on their legs that squeezes them and helps regulate blood pressure—like the LBNP device!
When astronauts travel in space, they become weightless. This changes how their bodies work. Without gravity, all the blood is squeezed into their heads. Upon reentry, their legs and ankles fill with blood. This often meant astronauts would black out as they traveled back to Earth. The invention of the lower body negative pressure (LBNP) device solved this problem. It works like a vacuum cleaner by applying negative pressure over the lower body while in space—keeping the blood from rushing to the head—and stops homecoming astronauts from blacking out. The LBNP device was developed after studying giraffes.