Janine M. Benyus

A stunning picture of the wildlife in the eastern half of the United States.A noted outdoors expert and an acclaimed illustrator have banded together to create a stunning picture of the wildlife in the eastern half of the United States. Complete with observation tips.

Repackaged with a new afterword, this "valuable and entertaining" (New York Times Book Review) book explores how scientists are adapting natures best ideas for sustainability, solving tough 21st century problems.Biomimicry, a revolutionary approach to innovation inspired by nature, is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study natures most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world.Janine Benyus takes readers into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when theyre sick; learn how to create sustainable materials by watching spiders weave fibers; harness energy by examining how a leaf converts sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; and many more examples.Composed of stories of vision and invention, personalities and pipe dreams, Biomimicry is must reading for anyone interested in the shape of our future.This landmark work of popular science reveals a world of brilliant, proven solutions waiting in the natural world:Ecology as a Model: Go into the field with Janine Benyus to learn how mimicking natures time-tested patterns is the key to solving our greatest technological challenges. Engineering Inspired by Nature: Discover how spiders weaving their silk and leaves converting sunlight to fuel are providing blueprints for the next generation of materials and energy production. Business Innovation: Explore a revolutionary approach where businesses, modeled on forests and prairies, close the loop on waste and run a more sustainable, profitable economy. The Future of Science: A visionary look at how biology and technology are merging to invent miracle drugs, create new ways to compute, and repair our environment.

En el contexto de la crisis económica global, y ante el agotamiento del actual sistema productivo, la biomímesis se alza como la solución más sensata: tomar como modelo el mundo natural, cuyas estrategias, imaginativas y eficientes, responden a nuestros problemas mas acuciantes, con la garantia añadida de haber sido modeladas y puestas a prueba a lo largo de millones de años. Sin embargo, solo si abandonamos nuestro enfoque antropocentrico y atendemos con humildad a las lecciones de la naturaleza, podremos mantener una estabilidad dinamica y aprovechar los recursos sin acumular desechos, respetando el ecosistema en que nos hallamos inmersos.En este libro pionero sobre biomimesis, Janine M. Benyus, una de sus principales impulsoras, nos ofrece con entusiasmo contagioso brillantes soluciones inspiradas por la naturaleza: fibras que imitan a las telarañas (cinco veces mas fuertes que el acero y muy elasticas), celulas solares capaces de convertir luz en energia, una farmacopea basada en la sabiduria ancestral de los chimpances u ordenadores inteligentes compuestos por biomoleculas. a