JanineBenyus is suggesting innovators rediscover nature as a source of innovation. This 20 minute TED talk focuses on the design advice present in nature provoking innovators to ask “how would nature solve this problem?” Benyus walks through tale after tale where nature provided solutions–building a quieter, faster and more efficient bullet train, stopping bacteria growth in hospitals and creating buildings that can gather water from fog. It’s kingfishers, sharks and beetles who provided the blueprints for these innovations. Perhaps Cicero’s turn to the two suns to understand the political turmoil of his country follows the method Benyus promotes today.
Her current project, Asknature.org, is working to focus the biomimicry community on questions of form and function in nature to support the work of designers and engineers in communities all around us.
