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Biomimicry comes from bios, meaning “life,” and mimesis, meaning “to imitate.”

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It is a fairly new science that studies nature for ways to answer the needs of humans.

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According to author and biomimicry expert Janine Benyus, nature has already invented many processes and products far superior to what humans have created.

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Benyus says that animals, plants, and microbes are the “consummate engineers.”

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They have discovered through trial and error what works and what doesn’t.

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Most important, they have figured out what lasts.

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Two examples of biomimicry are the airplane and the telephone.

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The Wright brothers studied birds to learn how they fly.

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Inventor Alexander Gramham Bell imitated the human tongue and eardrum to create his original telephone speaker and receiver.

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Velcro is another famous example of biomimicry.

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One summer day in 1948, Swiss inventor George de Mestral took his dog for a hike.

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They both returned from their walk covered in burrs.

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De Mestral studied one of the burrs under his microscope and discovered it was covered with tiny hooks.

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The hooks grabbed the loops in the fabric of the clothing and stuck.

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From studying the burrs, De Mestral got the idea to develop a hook and loop fastener made by nylon.

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He called it Velcro, a combination of the words velour and crochet.

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In 1955, he patented his design.

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Today, of course, Velcro is a multimillion-dollar company.

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Yet another example of a product conceived through biomimicry is a house paint called Lotusan.

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This paint mimics the self-cleaning properties of the lotus flower’s leaves.

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German botanist Dr. Wilhelm Barthlott discovered this process when he noticed that a lotus leaf is covered with tiny points.

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When a speck of dirt lands on the leaf, it perches atop those points.

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Then, as water flows over the leaf, it easily picks up the dirt and carries it away.

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Lotusan is guaranteed to stay clean for five years without washing.

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In the world of biomimicry, another major goal is to recreate spider silk.

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This substance is five times as strong as steel, yet remains light and elastic.

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Thus researchers are studying how spiders spin silk.

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So far, they know only that spiders first eat and digest insects for protein.

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Glands in the spider’s body then add water to the proteins to create a wet solution.

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When the spider squirts this wet solution through a tiny opening, the soluble proteins turn into an insoluble fiber, a strand of silk.

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This last step of the process is the secret scientists hope to be able to unlock and duplicate.