Shark's Paintbrush: Biomimicry and How Nature Is Inspiring Innovation - Softcover

Harman, Jay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940468213 ISBN 13: 9781940468211

Verlag: White Cloud Press, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Today, an interdisciplinary and international group of scientists, inventors, and engineers are turning to nature to find elegant solutions to human problems. The principle driving this transformation is called biomimicry, and Harman shares a wide range of examples of how we’re borrowing from natural models to invent profitable, green solutions to pressing industrial challenges. Aimed at a business audience, aspiring entrepreneurs, environmentalists, and general science readers, The Shark’s Paintbrush reflects a force of change in the new global economy that does more than simply gratify human industrial ambition; it teaches us how to live in harmony with nature and opens bright opportunities for a better future.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jay Harman is a scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur dedicated to creating breakthrough technologies through biomimicry that will radically reduce energy consumption worldwide. He continues to conduct field research leading to new biomimetic products. He is the CEO of PAX Scientific based in San Rafael, CA, where he lives.

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Introduction to Jay Harman's
THE SHARK'S PAINTBRUSH: BIOMIMICRY AND HOW NATURE IS INSPIRING INNOVATION


Introduction
THE NATURE OF INNOVATION
* Why does the bumblebee have better aerodynamics than a 747?
* How can a seashell keep a microchip from overheating?
* How can the colors of a butterfly’s wing reduce the world’s lighting energy bill by 80 percent?
* How can fleas’ knees and bees’ shoulders help scientists formulate a near--perfect rubber?
* How will the answers to these and similar questions forever change our lives?


Most young ladies sunning by the pool or beach probably aren’t thinking about a hippopotamus, let alone its perspiration. However, it turns out that hippo sweat provides a highly effective, four--in--one sunblock. We humans perspire by allowing salt water to leave our pores, using the physics of evaporation to cool the skin. Hippos—-long--lost cousins of whales and dolphins—-solve more than just a cooling problem by secreting a blend of chemicals that takes care of many challenges simultaneously. Besides being an excellent, nontoxic sunscreen (though perhaps a little aromatic in its natural form), hippo sweat is also antiseptic, insect repelling, and antifungal.

Researchers at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University and the University of Trieste, as well as Dr. Christopher Viney and his materials engineering team at the University of California, Merced, have studied the rust--colored combination of mucus and chemicals secreted by hippos. They found two pigments that absorb light across the ultraviolet--visible range, with crystalline structures that ensure the material spreads over the entire skin without the need for being rubbed on by hand (a challenge for a hippo). The pigments turn white skin a shade darker, while simultaneously slowing the rate of bacteria growth.

With one million Americans developing skin cancers each year, the market for sunscreen is substantial—-$640 million a year and growing. Yet of the more than eighteen hundred products containing sunscreen on the market today, three out of four have been shown not to live up to their claims. In addition, most chemicals applied to the skin can be absorbed straight into the bloodstream, so some scientists are concerned that certain sunscreens may prevent sunburn but introduce toxins that can still cause cancer. In fact, the FDA recently responded to concerns about product efficacy by tightening the rules for sunscreen labels.

Of course, few bathing beauties would find delight in smelling like a hippo’s armpit, so there’s the exciting opportunity to synthesize the sweat’s beneficial properties, having it smell more like, say, coconuts. Longer term, scientists anticipate applying the hippo’s chemistry to exterior paints, clothing, and other UV--sensitive products.

Whether finding inspiration on hippos to reduce skin cancer or developing better road systems by studying the tracks made by slime molds seeking food, biomimicry, or bio--inspiration as some call it, very simply means applying lessons learned from nature to solve human problems. Examples of biomimicry include everything from energy--producing solar cells that mimic tree leaves to lifesaving pharmaceutical breakthroughs based on the biology of lizards to antibacterial paints that emulate sharkskin to highly profitable businesses that improve their organizational structures based on redwood groves. Even the Velcro you undoubtedly have somewhere in your closet is a prime example of biomimicry in action.

Why do we need biomimicry right now? Despite the confusing claims and counterclaims of scientists, corporations, interest groups, and politicians about whether the earth is in catastrophic decline, we all know in our hearts that something is not right. Half of all humans live on less than $2.50 per day. Fuel prices are unstable. Weather is rapidly growing more severe and unpredictable. We’re living through a mass extinction of species. In the wake of the worldwide financial meltdown, innovation has slowed. In medicine, we’re losing battles with antibiotic--resistant strains of bacteria, while the incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, and diabetes is escalating. And, despite living in a period with more trained researchers, engineers, and doctors than in all of history combined, the future viability of our race is in increasing danger.

The story doesn’t need to end this way. Most of our environmental and economic problems result from an out--of--date way of doing business. Industry has continued to depend on the same old “heat, beat, and treat” methods that were mechanized in the industrial revolution, but these methods simply aren’t sustainable. Nature, on the other hand, constantly evolves, survives, and thrives, while not using up or endangering its base resources. It reinvents itself, adapting and beginning anew with irrepressible optimism.

As a serial entrepreneur and inventor, I’ve spent the past thirty years starting and growing multimillion--dollar research and manufacturing companies that develop, patent, and license innovative products, ranging from prize--winning watercraft to interlocking building bricks to electronic information systems and noninvasive technology for measuring blood glucose and other electrolytes. Now I find myself credited with being among the first scientists to make biomimicry a cornerstone of modern and future engineering. My latest ventures—-PAX Scientific and its subsidiary companies—-design more--energy--efficient industrial equipment, including refrigeration, turbines, fans, mixer systems, and pumps based on nature’s fluid flow geometries.

Simply stated, I’m on a mission to halve the world’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through biomimicry and the elimination of waste. I’m also on a mission to inspire others to climb on board a new wave of possibility and optimism that is rapidly gaining momentum: All over the world, across dozens of industries, people are finding profitable solutions to seemingly intractable problems by partnering with nature. This book will clearly demonstrate that nature is the best source of answers to the technological, biological, and design challenges that we face as humans.

Scientists have already identified more than two million species of life on earth; some estimate that there may be as many as one hundred million. Each one has evolved hundreds of optimized solutions to life’s challenges, many of which can be readily applied to the very problems facing human enterprise and survival. By constantly creating conditions conducive to life, with zero waste and a balanced use of resources, nature is clean, green, and sustainable. Following nature’s design mastery, we can achieve greater wealth and economic sustainability. We can do this without sacrifice, while protecting our planet. How biomimicry is invigorating current business models, and how individuals and companies can reap the rewards that this burgeoning industry has to offer, is exactly what this book is all about.

Looking back, I had long shown the makings of a biomimic. When I was a boy growing up in Australia, I knew that fish were highly effective swimmers. They usually survived my admittedly ungainly attempts to catch them with a spear that I’d made from a broomstick and bent nails. Hoping to paddle farther out to good fishing sites without getting tired, I experimented with hammering the sides and bottom of my homemade metal canoe into the shapes I’d seen on fish and ducks. Of course, my canoe became easier to paddle, though I’m not sure if that could have been empirically measured or just seemed that way to my biased enthusiasm.

Regardless of efficacy, I was captivated and convinced...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: White Cloud Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1940468213
• ISBN 13: 9781940468211
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 340
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar