Innovation doesn’t always mean creating something entirely new. Some of the most remarkable breakthroughs come from observing what already exists in nature. From color-shifting chameleons to ...

How does nature make durable materials like corals without heat or a kiln? How do peacock feathers get their beautiful colors? And how do geckos stick to all kinds of surfaces, allowing them to run up ...

Our biomimicry challenge What Would You Ask Nature? assigned three challenges, and teams are now reporting their bio-inspired solutions. After having a discussion with IBM, and walking through some ...

Can a building behave like a forest—by generating its own energy, absorbing naturally available water, and producing no waste? This was one of the prompts behind the design of the Bullitt Center, a ...

Designers and engineers have often looked to the environment and how Mother Nature has accomplished phenomenal design solutions for inspiration over the ages. Perhaps all that is new about this ...

Nature has inspired humans in myriad ways from the beginning of time, but one of the relatively untapped applications of how nature can improve building structures comes in the form of architectural ...

"It all started with a Beetle." This could be the beginning of a story about someone who went on to become a "car nut" engineer or somebody who went on to become an entomologist. In Rich Altherr's ...

Da Vinci was definitely on to something when he observed birds and copied their forms to create his own wings for flight. Although biomimicry wasn’t ultimately successful in helping Da Vinci achieve ...