Scrolling through the Synapse by Biomimicry 3.8 newsfeed raises more than a few interesting questions: Can sunflowers save the bees? How does slime mold “decide” how to move toward food? What if we designed trusses like dragonfly wings? What kind of engineering tips can we get from a killer trapdoor plant? That’s one of the great things about biomimicry; you never know what kind of thought-provoking design inspiration might be found when you look to nature for answers. We recently hit a milestone on our new Synapse by Biomimicry 3.8 newsfeed when we published our 100th post, each of which includes expert commentary on recent biomimicry news articles, papers, and innovations. The newsfeed provides a daily does of biomimicry news in the form of commentary from our experts, including Janine Benyus and Dr. Dayna Baumeister. Reaching the 100-post mark means we’ve compiled a tidy, scrollable list of 100 nature-inspired ways to spark new ideas on how to use nature’s genius to...Read More >
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Posted in Featured, Innovation Insights on June 23, 2016 by jenna
Sustainable Brands will hold it’s annual conference in San Diego next week, focusing the four days of events on sustainably-led innovation that creates scalable impact and profitability. No doubt that achieving that kind of innovation requires strong leadership. And while design innovations inspired by nature are inherently life-friendly (we always like to say there are no landfills in nature), nature also has much to teach us about effective leadership. That’s the idea Janine Benyus is bringing to Sustainable Brands this year. She’ll take the main stage on Tuesday, June 7, to explain what nature can teach executives about effective, purpose-driven leadership. Janine talked biomimicry and it’s array of innovation inspirations when it comes to combatting things like climate change, contributing to a clean 3D printing revolution, and about the best ways organizations of any kind can integrate biomimicry into their innovation process with Sustainable Brands editor Jen Elks in advance of the conference. In the article, she explained the increased interest...Read More >
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Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Innovation Insights on June 1, 2016 by jenna
Janine has presented two TED talks, one in 2009 and one in 2005. Together, they have been viewed nearly 2.5 million times. Here are links to both of Janine’s TedTalks: Biomimicry in action Biomimicry’s surprising lessons from nature’s engineers Janine joined TED Radio Hour host Guy Raz this week on the NPR program that is all about fascinating ideas. The topic? Design as a hidden force that shapes our lives. “Design is all around us,” the show’s description says, “but much of it could be better, bolder, more elegant.” Enter Janine, who discusses what designers can learn from nature. Take a listen to the show, which aired Friday. Listen to the full show here. Listen to Janine’s portion here. Ted Radio Hour draws from TEDTalks, bringing together a set of TED presenters to expand on their fascinating ideas. It is hosted by Guy Raz and airs each Friday. Learn more about biomimicry and Biomimicry 3.8, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter (follow @Biomimicry38)...Read More >
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Posted in Innovation Insights on May 20, 2016 by jenna
We’ve always found profound inspiration from the innovation ah-has our clients find as we guide them through the process of engaging biomimicry—whether it’s when we’re helping an international cosmetics company learn packaging lessons from poppy flowers and beetle wings or sharing Life’s Principles as a way to help growing companies thrive. It’s those kind of experiences that nourish our company’s work. And it’s in that spirit that we’ve created a new service, Synapse by Biomimicry 3.8. We’re excited to be introducing this week a preview of Synapse, which is designed to help more people discover the power of biomimicry. Synapse by Biomimicry 3.8 is a new, membership-based service that delivers syndicated research and advisory services created by the world’s foremost biomimicry thought leaders at Synapse.bio, the website we created for the service. This week we’re debuting the Synapse newsfeed, which is live now at Synapse.bio and includes biomimicry news highlights chosen by members of our team at Biomimicry 3.8. The...Read More >
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Posted in Innovation Insights, Newsworthy on May 11, 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 >
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Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Innovation Insights, Inspired by Nature on April 8, 2016 by jenna
The next frontier is to capture and use the excess carbon that already exists in our economy and in our atmosphere.
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Posted in Innovation Insights, Newsworthy on March 18, 2016 by jenna
Enter biomimicry, and a set of solutions that looks to nature for strategies to manage carbon.
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Posted in Innovation Insights, Newsworthy on by jenna
Bone Structure image via Shutterstock The Airbus Group is taking innovation inspired by nature to the air by using 3D printing to help build a stronger, lighter-weight galley partition that mimics cells structure and bone growth. The design literally lightens each airplane’s load, allowing it to do things like save a projected 465,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. According to Airbus, “this makes the bionic partition a groundbreaking development for a sector in which less weight equals less fuel consumption” (read more about how Airbus learns from nature here.) In this edition of Innovation Inspirations, we’ll take a look at the biology of bones, and explore what else nature can teach us about creating life-friendly materials that are lightweight and super-strong. Why bones should be industrial designers’ best friend: In nature, bones grow in response to mechanical stress and loading. Bones need to be strong, yet lightweight. Bone is made of a composite material that is about 95%...Read More >
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Posted in Featured, Innovation Insights on February 2, 2016 by jenna