How Does Nature...

1. Evolve

1.1. The slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, is an extremely effective forager capable of creating extensive and highly efficient networks between food sources. This single-celled creature, classified as a protist, oozes its way across surfaces in search of bacteria, fungal spores, and other microbes to feed on. As it spreads and grows in search of food, it naturally organizes itself into a network of tube-like structures that quickly and efficiently connect its disparate food sources. Physarum maximizes its ability to find food by ‘remembering’ and strengthening the portions of its cytoplasm that connect to active food sources. By rhythmically contracting and expanding its body, Physarum is able to move and grow its body in search of food. When it fails to find food or the food source dries up, Physarum retracts its cytoplasm, leaving behind a trail of slime--essentially marking which pathways are useful and which are dead-ends. By trimming back connections and maintaining only active pathways, Physarum uses the least amount of resources and energy possible while still creating a resilient and fault-tolerant system. Links between food sources are made covering the shortest possible distances, but are connected in such a way that a disruption in one area does not impact the overall health or efficiency of the slime mold’s network.

1.1.1. What if we could build a path over anything while constantly having food?

1.2. "Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Yale University are looking for ways to trap viruses. In order to reproduce, viruses need to invade a host cell and replicate using the cell's own DNA-replication system. The researchers figured that if they could lure viruses to decoy cells, they could reduce the viral load enough for someone with HIV or other disease for that person's own immune system to successfully fight off the attack. Mucins are proteins found in most body fluids. They are coated with sugar chains that trap invading pathogens. Red blood cells also appear to act as pathogen traps. One approach is to coat nanoparticles with viral receptors. Another approach is to add decoy attachment sites to red blood cells. One advantage of using viral traps is it would be hard for viruses to evolve resistance to them." (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)

1.3. "New research...shows that in some structured communities, organisms increase their chances of survival if they evolve some level of restraint that allows competitors to survive as well, a sort of 'survival of the weakest.' The phenomenon was observed in a community of three 'nontransitive' competitors, meaning their relationship to each other is circular as in the children's game rock-paper-scissors in which scissors always defeats paper, paper always defeats rock and rock always defeats scissors...'By becoming a better competitor in a well-mixed system, it could actually drive itself to extinction,' said Joshua Nahum...The restrained patches, the ones that grew slower, seemed to last longer and the unrestrained patches, the ones that grew faster, burned themselves out faster'...To understand the process, imagine a community of three strains [of bacteria], Rock, Paper and Scissors, and then imagine the emergence of an unrestrained supercompetitor, Rock* (rock star), that is able to displace Scissors even faster than regular Rock can. But that also makes Rock* a better competitor against Rock, the researchers said. Eventually Rock* will be a victim of its own success, being preyed upon by Paper." (Stricherz 2011:1)

2. Create

2.1. In order to emulate how nature grows materials, Angela Belcher and associates have studied how certain viruses self assemble. In some of their projects they have engineered viruses to recognize material components of batteries and self assemble these components at room temperature into viable batteries. Others are self assembling materials with conductive or photoreactive properties. By exploring the self assembling toolkit of phage viruses the researchers have developed novel ways of manufacturing nano-scale batteries.

2.1.1. What if we could make a battery out of viruses?

2.2. "The arrester or fixation system of the head in adult Odonata is unique among arthropods. This system involves the organs of two body segments: the head and the neck. It consists of a skeleton-muscle apparatus that sets the arrester parts in motion. The parts comprise formations covered with complicated microstructures--fields of microtrichia on the rear surface of the head and post-cervical sclerites of the neck. The arrester immobilizes the head during feeding or when the dragonfly is in tandem flight. Thus, it may serve as an adaptation to save the head from violent mechanical disturbance and to stabilize gaze in a variety of behavioural situations." (Gorb 1999:525) "The arrester system includes the adjusting organs of two body segments--the head and neck--and consists of (i) the skeleton-muscle apparatus that moves the head and neck sclerites, (ii) co-opted microsculptures, which are fields of microtrichia on the rear surface of the head (MFH) and on the post-cervical sclerites of the neck (SPCs), (iii) the secretory apparatus consisting of epidermal cells, which produces lipid substances which pass through porous channels in the cuticle into the region of contact between the MFH and SPCs, and (iv) sensory organs monitoring contact between the MFH and SPCs and the position of the SPCs relative to the other neck sclerites (Gorb 1991a). (Gorb 1999:525)

2.3. Vitalis, a major Portuguese bottled water brand, has produced a new bottle that is lighter than traditional polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles while also providing a strong brand identity. In 2009, Unicer, Vitalis' brand owner, challenged Logoplaste Innovation Lab to create a new range of PET bottles with an exclusive design that would reduce Unicer's environmental impact while enhancing its emotional link with consumers. The goal was to develop the lightest PET water bottle on the market that would still fit existing industrial filling lines.

3. Survive

3.1. "Certain insects, moreover, can even survive the formation of ice crystals within their bodies. One example is the larva of the midge Chironomus, which can be repeatedly frozen to a temperature as low as -13°F (-25°C), up to 90 percent of its body fluid is frozen. Such creatures are said to be freezing-tolerant." (Shuker 2001:110-111)

3.2. "[S]ome plants, like the aptly named 'resurrection fern' (Polypodium polypodioides), can survive extreme measures of water loss, even as much as 95% of their water content. How do the cells in these desiccation-tolerant plants remain viable? "…Ronald Balsamo, Associate Professor of Biology at Villanova University and Bradley Layton, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Drexel University…found that not only is a particular class of proteins, called dehydrins, more prevalent during dry conditions, but, for the first time, they found that it was also prevalent near the cell walls. Dehydrins earned their name for their ability to attract, sequester, and localize water. They behave this way because of their negative charge. "The finding led the researchers to the conclusion that these water-surrounded dehydrins may actually allow water to act as a lubricant between either the plant cell membrane and the plant cell wall or even between individual cell wall layers." (ScienceDaily 2010)

4. Adapt

4.1. A multidisciplinary team will study multiscalar architectures of human cells and translate these findings into algorithms for generating patterned, adaptive materials. These materials will also be interlaced with sensors and feedback mechanisms. The ultimate goal is to generate a building skin that can adapt to its environmental conditions in order to become more energy efficient, not to mention more effective for occupants.

4.2. Warren and Mahoney Limited architects designed the Upper Riccarton Community and School Library located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The library was completed in 2006. The library enclosure is passively ventilated, and uses environmentally sustainable design principles to minimise requirements for air-conditioning and its associated energy use. The architects incorporated several mechanisms that allow the building’s fabric to monitor climatic changes and reconfigure itself to accommodate them on a continuous basis. These include the following: Motorized operable windows at high and low levels to generate cross ventilation with high-level extraction over the summer months. Passive ventilation augmented by roof-mounted extract fans at times of peak temperature. Full-height motorized vertical louvers (automatically tracking with the sun) screen east and west-facing glazing. A raised floor slab incorporates a highly efficient pump-driven waterborne heating/cooling matrix, which responds to seasonal temperature requirements. Solar water heating, low energy lighting, double glazing, higher-than-code insulation levels and strategically placed thermal mass complete the environmental design strategy. Stormwater collection, and reuse, from the roof and asphalt areas.