Learning from Nature: The Biomimicry Podcast with Lily Urmann

Paying attention to the wild world is a radical act of connection that is needed now more than ever. Join naturalist, educator, and author Thomas Fleischner as he breaks down how the practice of natural history serves as the essential bedrock for biomimicry. Drawing from insights in his new book, Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention, Tom explores how cultivating presence, staying open to wonder, and honing keen observation can spark our imagination, and thus...

How can billions of years of biological evolution help us navigate today's complex cultural and social crises? In this episode, we sit down with Toby Herzlich, the founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation and a path-builder in transformative leadership. While biomimicry is often celebrated for inspiring sleek architecture and sustainable materials, Toby invites us to look deeper: what can living systems teach us about building life-friendly human organizations, communities, and movements? ...

What if your organization could function as effectively and sustainably as a healthy ecosystem? We explore this question with Ines Garcia, an agile coach, circular economy expert, and author of Nature's Blueprint for Business: Harnessing the Hidden Power of Edges. Listen in and delve into Ines's professional path, the practical application of nature's principles in organizational design, and how shifting from rigid structures to collaborating in "the edges" (the permeable zones where differen...

In this episode, we dive into a surprising but essential topic for a life-friendly future: trade networks and resource sharing. Guest Rana Hajirasouli, circular-economy innovator and founder of the climate-tech startup The Surpluss, explains how nature’s systems can inspire smarter, more collaborative ways for industries to reduce waste, strengthen supply chains, and unlock new forms of value. With experience spanning marine conservation, international law, and manufacturing (as well as recog...

How might emergent strategies of group dynamics in nature inform our own technology and design? In this episode, Dr. Iain Couzin, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and one of the world’s leading researchers on collective motion in animals, explores how nature’s systems -- from swarming locusts and murmurations of starlings to schooling fish -- coordinate complex group behaviors without centralized control, and what these patterns can teach us about designing human system...