Imagine drainage pipes that mimic the digestive system of an earthworm to keep fertilizers in fields and out of waterways. Or a smartphone app that sorts out the logistics of sharing and selling farm ...

How does nature make durable materials like corals without heat or a kiln? How do peacock feathers get their beautiful colors? And how do geckos stick to all kinds of surfaces, allowing them to run up ...

Through most of the industrial age, we have been getting by on our own wits and inventions for new product designs. But now few savvy manufacturers are beginning look back at nature's laboratory to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Jonathon Keats is a writer and artist who critiques museum exhibits. This article is more than 5 years old. When bullet trains ...

When it comes to innovation, nature often gets there first. For millions of years, plants and animals have been adapting, optimizing, and surviving through elegant solutions to life’s toughest ...

Source: Greystone Books, with permission. Some years ago I learned about the fascinating field called biomimicry, basically "a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to ...

This article originally appeared in New Scientist. Jeff Karp is an associate professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His research combines bio-inspiration, materials ...