It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well this is the case when it comes to biomimicry.

Biomimicry is known by many names, such as, biomimetics, bionics, bio-inspiration and biognosis. However, the term biomimicry is derived from two Greek words – "bios" which translates to "life and "mimesis" which means "to imitate". The term biomimicry appeared in the literature around 1982 and was popularised by Janine Benynus in 1997 in her book, "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature". It is also in this book that it is best defined as, "a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems." But it is best understood with examples, so in the following paragraphs I will give some areas in where biomimicry is applied and some examples.

One field where biomimicry is applies is in the area of biomaterials. This technique has quite a few advantages, such as, they are naturally biodegradable. They also reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals used to make synthetic materials. Also extreme temperatures are needed in order to produce synthetic materials. This means that much energy is used to produce these materials and in turn a lot of fossil fuels are burnt.

One of the best templates or inspiration in nature for biomaterials is spider silk, which has attained a reputation as the "Holy Grail" of biomaterials. Spider silk is flexible, light weight, with a tensile strength that makes it about three times stronger than steel. It has these properties because of the unique way its molecules are arranged, as long chains that form crystals or pleated sheet crystals. The webs woven (created) are capable of absorbing the impact of flying insects (the main prey of web-building spiders) when they get caught.

Also these webs may look thin and flimsy, but they can withstand wind gusts and not burst because of the arrangement of its molecules.

Biomimicry is also found in the field of robotics. One such example is the effort by scientists to imitate the rotary joint of a cockroach. This may not seem important but if robots that could move like this were produced, they would be able to move very quickly over different terrain and up and down terrain with slight gradients.

Using this technology, robots can be created that can explore areas which are inaccessible by humans, including distant planets. It can also be used on robots that need to access areas that may contain hazardous materials and do jobs that are dangerous to humans, for instance diffusing bombs.

There are many examples of biomimicry throughout history. However, the problems that can be solved using biomimicry range in degrees of difficulty and need not be environmental in nature.

One of the earliest examples is trying to imitate a birds ability to fly.

For instance, the airplane wing is modelled after birds by the Wright Brothers who were themselves avid bird watchers. Another example is that in order to catch seals efficiently, Aboriginal Alaskans would stalk them in a similar manner to that of polar bears, their natural predators.

As mentioned earlier, the versatility of biomimicry is best seen through examples. One such example is from the unique ability some animals have to glow in the dark. This is possible due to the presence of phosphorous proteins. So by attaching similar proteins to certain molecules, therefore making it easy for them to track their movement in living organisms; in turn their role and importance to the functioning of organisms is better understood.

An interesting example of biomimicry is seen in Harare, Zimbabwe in Africa, where the highrise Eastgate Centre building has mimicked the tower-building termites found in Africa. In order to maintain a constant temperature in these massive termite nests, vents are constantly opened and sealed throughout the mound. This action has the effect of controlling the air flow, as cooler air is drawn up from the lower portions of the mound, while hot air escapes from the higher sections. This design was shown to use about 10% less energy than that of a similarly sized conventional building.

Humpback whales are the inspiration for the next example. Here the leading edge of the fan blades used to gather energy from the wind or water in the case of hydroelectric energy has bumps called tubercles, which are similar to those on the flipper of the humpback whale. The presence of these bumps reduces the backward drag of the blade as they spin making them 20% more efficient.

But one of the best if not the most popular examples of biomimicry is the development of Velcro, which imitates the hooks at the tips of the spines of burrs after creator George de Mestral observed how the burrs of plants kept sticking to his pet's

If you were to look closely at Velcro, you would notice that one side comprises of rows of long fibres with hooks on the ends (like the spines of burrs), while the other side consists of loops of fibres arranged in rows which the hooks can catch on to (similarly the fibres of clothing, hair or animal fur can also form loops which these hooks can catch onto).

I hope that through these examples one has seen that organisms in our environment live in harmony with each other and have unique ways of dealing with the environment.

These are just a few examples, but we still have a lot to learn from nature about living in harmony with our environment.