Product Description

A riveting account of the unexpected relationship between nature and scientific design.

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." When Frank Lloyd Wright said this, he probably wasn't envisioning self-cleaning surfaces, the photonic crystal, or Velcro. But nature has indeed yielded such inventions for those scientists and engineers who heeded the architect's words.

The cutting-edge science of bio-inspiration gives way to architectural and product designs that mimic intricate mechanisms found in nature. In Peter Forbes's engaging book we discover that the spiny fruits of the cocklebur inspired the hook-and-loop fastener known as Velcro; unfolding leaves, insect wings, and space solar panels share similar origami folding patterns; the self-cleaning leaves of the sacred lotus plant have spawned a new industry of self-cleaning surfaces; and cantilever bridges have much in common with bison spines.

As we continue to study nature, bio-inspiration will transform our lives and force us to look at the world in a new way. 69 illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #909002 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-29
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Most of us see a gecko and think of ads for auto insurance, but this little lizard possesses a remarkable ability to climb walls and scamper across ceilings. Until recently, scientists couldn't figure out these Spider-Man–like powers as they dreamed of potential commercial uses. Now, according to British science writer Forbes, researchers have used the electron scanning microscope to crack the mysteries of many plants and animals—including the gecko—by studying them at the nano level. For example, studying the dirt-repellent surface of the lotus—an age-old symbol of purity in Asia, rising spotless out of muddy water—led to the invention of self-cleaning glass. Attempts to spin spider-quality silk for a wide range of purposes, including snagging jets as they land on aircraft carriers, have been less successful (one group used genetic engineering to try to create the basic elements of spider silk in goats' milk). The folds of origami mirror the natural folding process of leaves, which in turn has led a Japanese designer to create a better map: it always folds up correctly. Readers interested in how invention imitates nature, and vice versa, will find much to savor. 69 illus. (May 29)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
At its inception, nanotechnology consisted of the brute miniaturization of machines; however, in the past decade, it has been branching out, imitating elegant solutions to the challenge of survival that eons of biological evolution have devised. Forbes presents technologists' pure research into nano-anatomy, followed by their applied and, many entrepreneurs hope, commercial mimicry of nature's ingenuity. Some applications are already on the market: self-cleaning paint and glass inspired by the way water balls off a lotus plant. Fabrics are ripe for a nanorevolution, as Forbes guides readers to the possibilities for threads presented by the iridescence of butterflies and the superstrong webs of spiders. As he takes up discrete fields (including self-assembly, flight, and architecture), Forbes acknowledges the ambivalence some feel about atom-size technologies. Reassuring the worried with the potential environmental friendliness of bio-inspired design, Forbes turns in an informative, positive account of the state of the art. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Peter Forbes is a translator, science writer, and editor of Scanning the Century: The Penguin Book of the Twentieth Century in Poetry. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

THE GECKO'S FOOT draws direct links between bioresearch and consumer interests
Bio-engineering builds intricate structures based on nature's properties, using 'wet' self-assembly techniques of nature - and this new science is explored rarely for general audiences, making THE GECKO'S FOOT: BIO-INSPIRATION-ENGINEERING NEW MATERIALS FROM NATURE a winning discussion. From the origins of Velcro in the notorious spiny cocklebur to how self-cleaning leaves fostered self-cleaning surface inventions, THE GECKO'S FOOT draws direct links between bioresearch and consumer interests.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

British English
Be aware that this was originally published in Britain, and few, if any, of the "Britishisms" are Americanised (or is that Americanized?). An example is the British "tip": this should have been changed to "garbage dump" for the American edition.

Interesting topic.
This book is about bio-inspiration for human technology. It is a very interesting subject, but I had some problems with the execution. For example, the chapters seemed to jump arounds a bit, I didn't get a sense of "flow" from chapter to chapter. There were also some factual errors, the most noticable to me being that "helicopters don't fly in the grand canyon". Since I have done so on a tour, I know this statement to be false. Additionally, the author doesn't go very deeply into the science behind the topics he covers. I suppose he may have just been trying to keep it simple, but anyone buying this book is probably a science nerd, and a little more technical information would be welcome.