Nature understands finest when it concerns, well, most things. If youre looking for a response to how to remain cool in the heat, secure yourself from pathogens or form long-lasting friendships, other living organisms have probably already found an option– and AskNature.org is assembling them for you.
AskNature is a task from the Biomimicry Institute, which (as the name suggests) takes ideas from nature and applies them to social, economic and design obstacles in the human world. For example, researchers have actually learned that hermit crabs use a form of social networking to find real estate– empty shells– to reside in, and ants use decentralized nests to quickly distribute food after a lack.
There are a few methods to explore AskNatures totally free resources. You can use the search tool at the top of the page, which will auto-populate related content as you type. Or you can browse collections (sorted by top-level subjects like “Life-Friendly Transportation” and “Resilient Food Systems”) or biological methods (such as “Antifreeze prevents frost damage”).
Within these categories, you can narrow your search by function– such as maintaining community or processing info– or organism type (from germs to mammals).
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Theres also an area called Inspired Ideas, which applies natural design to engineering conundrums, like how to keep hot beverages hot without using any energy. (Natures solution? A relaxing that mimics a polar bears blubber and fur.).
Even if you arent trying to find an answer to a particular question, spending a couple of minutes discovering how plants, insects and other animals deal with the obstacles of existence may assist you solve issues in your own life faster, more creatively and more sustainably.
