The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Biophilia is more than just a philosophy—biophilic design has been found to support cognitive function, physical health, and psychological well-being.

Biomimicry is a design approach that studies how nature solves problems and then applies those strategies to create human solutions. It involves observing natural forms, systems, and processes, and mimicking their efficiency, resilience, and intelligence to improve design, products, and experiences.

Coatings that better enable chemical reactions.

The lotus effect, otherwise known as superhydrophobicity, is the effect seen on the leaves of the Lotus flower, where water is not able to wet the surface and simply rolls off. This high repellence is due to the nanostructure of the plane, where micro-protrusions coated in waxy hydrophobic materials repel the water.

Looking at a variety of plants in the microscope, sugar cane has a similar structure to the ceramic coating.

Inspired by the microscopic scales on shark skin, NASA scientists developed a drag-reducing coating for ships.

Inspired by the thigh bone, the femur (where it fits into the pelvis), is made up of minute bone fibers, called trabeculae, woven in a criss-cross or lattice arrangement.

The internal structure of the trabeculae made the bone very strong and that same thinking inspired the strong crisscross metalwork of the Eiffel Tower.

Humpback whales have a row of ridges on the front of their fins (it’s like a row of bumps). Those bumps give them the ability to move quickly and easily.

That same thinking was applied to turbine blades, reducing drag/noise, increasing speed to changing wind direction by 20%.

Velcro was modeled after burrs of the burdock plant.

The inventor of Velcro, more generically known as a “hook and loop fastener” or “touch fastener” as “Velcro” is technically just a brand of that product, was Swiss engineer, Georges de Mestral. After going out on a hunting trip with his dog in the Swiss Alps, his pant legs and his dog’s hair were covered in burrs from the burdock plant. As an engineer, he naturally began to wonder how exactly the seeds stuck so effectively to his pants and his dog. He then examined the burrs under a microscope and discovered that they had very tiny hooks which allowed the seeds to catch on to things like fabrics, which have tiny loops.

Geckos are famous for their ability to scale vertical walls and even hang upside down, and now scientists understand more about how the expert climbers can pull off these gravity-defying feats: Geckos can quickly turn the stickiness of their feet on and off, a new study finds.

Gecko toes are well-studied and their sticky properties have inspired some incredible technology, such as stitch-free ways to seal wounds. For the past decade, researchers have been developing synthetic adhesives with nanoscale fibers designed to mimic bristly gecko toes.

Electrical grids took inspiration from bees in a hive. Bees sense what job the colony needs done and they do it.

Electrical grids didn’t use to communicate with each other so the energy wasn’t distributed correctly. So taking inspiration from the hive structure, they were able to do build a network that could balance the electricity that maximized efficiency.