Claim OwnershipLearning from Nature: The Biomimicry Podcast with Lily Urmann
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© 2024 Learning from Nature: The Biomimicry Podcast with Lily Urmann
Description
We share Earth with millions of other species, many of whom have been around much longer than us. Biomimicry is the promising practice of learning from nature’s forms, processes, and systems to create life-friendly designs that benefit both people and the planet. Lily Urmann – a biomimic, educator, and nature communicator – will explore this exciting field and showcase how biomimicry is applied and practiced around the world; from architecture and engineering to material science, manufacturing, business, design and everything in-between. Join Lily as she dives into the brilliant and beautiful world of how nature works and interviews biomimics across cutting-edge disciplines. Together, let’s discover what we can learn from nature!
26 Episodes
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The Biomimicry Institute's Launchpad program supports scientists and designers who are addressing some of our biggest challenges with nature-inspired ideas. Every year, a cohort of innovators from around the world comes together to learn from each other and receive guidance and inspiration through mentoring, networking, and community-building. Dave Hutchins is the Launchpad Program Manager and dives into what it takes to get a biomimetic product to the next stage and the pathways that The Bio...
Humans view waste as a burden, but nature utilizes waste as a valuable resource in a cycle of continual renewal. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris is generated every year -- and Mycocycle knows this is an opportunity. Joanne Rodriguez discusses how Mycocycle leverages mycelium (fungal root structures) to consume and eliminate toxins from construction waste and produce raw building materials like MycoFILL, MycoFIBER, and Myc...
Our coastlines are crucial buffer zones for climate chaos. Yet the current building strategies for concrete coastal marine construction can lead to low biodiversity, which impacts ecosystem health and water quality. ECOncrete's technology involves texture agents and molds that increase biological performance by creating a macro-surface that encourages organisms to colonize. This innovative company has implemented more than a dozen large-scale projects globally and is expanding rapidly as dema...
Globally, more than 1.6 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year -- and in India, 40% of produce goes to waste before it even reaches grocery store shelves. By learning from plant protection mechanisms, Deepak Rajmohan of GreenPod Labs has developed a solution: using natural plant extracts to activate those built-in defenses. The simple yet effective solution is a satchel that can be dropped into produce transportation to slow down the ripening rate and limit microbial growth. All at ambie...
In the fourth episode of our limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Roxanne Swentzell and Anne LaForti engage in a conversation hosted by Sara El-Sayed, converging Indigenous ideologies and scientific understanding of soils, seeds, regenerative versus sustainable terminologies, and steps to healing ourselves and our ecosystems. This limited series is produced by The Cultural Conservancy's Native Seed Pod, Arizona State University, and Learning Fr...
In the third episode of our limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, PennElys Droz and Maibritt Pederson Zari engage in conversation hosted by Lily Urmann, exploring cosmologies, paradigm shifts and how to be in good relationship while we co-create and design as humans within creation. They outline principles of regenerative design in communities, and how we all might engage in decolonization as well as learn from Indigenous ecological relati...
In this second episode of the limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Dayna Baumeister and Melissa K Nelson continue their conversation, hosted by Sara El-Sayed, exploring the common ground and mapping the divergences between Indigenous science and biomimicry. They dive into the nature of biomimicry and Indigenous knowledges and how they are often misconstrued by non-practitioners; potential ethical limits to seeking knowledge; and an ethical spac...
In this inaugural episode of the limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Dayna Baumeister joins Melissa K. Nelson and Sara El-Sayed in a conversation exploring the common ground and mapping the divergences between Indigenous science and biomimicry. SERIES SYNOPSISBiomimicry, nature-inspired design, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), or Indigenous Knowledge Systems, both have roots in nature and a deep respect for natural processes. Howeve...
It's on every continent, and in every terrestrial ecosystem. It's beneath our feet on most hikes and it's often overlooked: lichens! In this episode, Dr. Troy McMullin, the chief lichenologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, gives an insightful overview of what lichens are, describes their many interesting strategies, and shares why you should care. We dive into their unique symbiotic partnership, their range of amazing structures, and how they are an important part of our future here on Ea...
A fun fact for your next party conversation: humans have over 30 trillion cells in our bodies, and 70-90% of those cells are bacterial and fungal! Look no further than exploring the microbiomes of biology when you need your next existential crisis -- or next rabbit hole of fascination to dive into. While mucus and the microbiome might not be the classic poster-child of biomimicry, there is so much we can learn from these elegant, strange, and efficient strategies. Erin Miller discusses the po...
Many of us are either afraid of or avoid chemistry simply because of the way we were taught the topic in school. Yet chemistry is all around us: in the leaves of your backyard tree and the snail inching along the sidewalk. It's also a crucial component to the practice of biomimicry. In this episode, explore the topic of green chemistry with one of its founding members: Dr. John Warner. Nature runs on sunlight, breaks down products into benign constituents, builds selectively with a smal...
1If you've ever sat on the forest floor marveling at a beautiful red or purple mushroom, this episode is for you! My guest and fellow biomimic Ximena Curiel will dive deep into what mushrooms are, why they are different colors, what the purposes of these colors are in nature, and explain how we can use these pigments in sustainable dyeing, artwork, and clothing. It's a fun journey of discovery, wonder, and awe that will have you gathering your foraging books and calling your friends to go look...
Our buildings use A LOT of energy to heat and cool, and because of this they contribute drastically to global carbon emissions. But what if we borrowed design inspiration from the amazing ability of squids to shift colors and control light in order to reduce or eliminate excess energy needs? In this episode with Raphael Kay, explore how these underwater creatures are so efficient and what strategies we can translate to our built environment. We also discuss why practicing meaningful biomimicr...
Our world is full of intricate, complex, and elegant strategies. In this episode we explore one such strategy that might surprise you: the decision-making sneezes of African wild dogs. Explore this unique topic with Ebenezar Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers and campaign strategist at Change.org, who completed his Learn Biomimicry practitioner's project on applying this sneeze democracy to the United Nations. The potential of learning from nature's efficient systems can be applied in a wide r...
Honeycomb and the hexagon shape is very popular in the biomimicry design space, but what makes it efficient and resilient? In this episode, Dr. Clint Penick dives deep into the function of optimizing space and managing compression, as it relates to bee and wasp nests. There is so much more to the honeycomb shape than most people initially realize, and this conversation sheds light on some of the details behind this "genius" in the natural world. We also chat about urban ecology, social insect...
In biomimicry, function is the bridge between nature and design. We ultimately want to ask "How does Nature ___?" in order to match our challenge and context with nature's genius range of strategies for the same challenge. In this new series, we will be exploring what function is and why it's important. Dr. Dayna Baumeister is a global leader in the biomimicry space: she is the Co-Founder of Biomimicry 3.8, the Co-Director at ASU's Biomimicry Center, author of the Biomimicry Resource Handbook...
A relatively small, yet committed group of individuals CAN radically shift a system. But how do we get there? And what does that future look like? In this episode, join Jamie Miller, Director of Biomimicry at B+H Architects and President of Biomimicry Frontiers as he explains what this practice looks like in the application space, and how you too can help shape a collective and hopeful future. Jamie has almost two decades of leadership in this field and will share his insights on finding your...
How is biomimicry related to what we eat, or the ways that we connect to a place? Listen in to learn from Sara El Sayed, Co-Director of The Biomimicry Center and Assistant Research Professor at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. We will explore and explain Life's Principles: 26 deep patterns that govern all of life on Earth, and an incredible tool to measure how life-friendly a design is. Sara beautifully weaves this methodology with Traditional Ecolog...
Natural History is ultimately the practice of falling in love with the world, and is a powerful gateway to biomimicry. We are all born with an innate curiosity for nature, and practices like these can re-ignite that inquiry, inspiration, and love. In this episode, hear from Tom Fleischner, a naturalist and conservation biologist who was the founding Executive Director of the Natural History Institute in Prescott, Arizona, and is Faculty Emeritus at Prescott College, where he taught interdisci...
The average American spends over 80% of their time inside. How do we begin to reconnect with Nature on a deeper level and create a future where Nature is centered in our built environment and technology? Biophilia is the human tendency to interact or be closely associated with forms of life in Nature. In this episode, Tim McGee outlines how he integrates biophilia and biomimicry into his career and discusses what it takes to make a bio-inspired idea a reality. In his years of experience being...
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