To offset the disruptive irrigation effects brought on by global warming, the small village of Stakmo, India has been developing a method for creating their own artificial glaciers.

Eporo is an experimental mini robotic car developed by Nissan that mimics that movement of fish travelling in schools to avoid crashes.

MIT researchers have engineered a massively-improved broadband radio chip that’s faster than any of its predecessors, while consuming 100 times less energy—drawing on inspiration from the structure of the human ear. The ‘RF Cochlea’ is built to mimic much of the functionality of the human cochlea—a spiral-shaped cavity deep inside the inner ear—and the MIT team hope it will prove powerful and flexible enough to replace the chips inside common radio wave-using devices such as cellphones and wireless routers. Rather than trying to trump the incredibly functionality of the human body, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science Rahul [...]

Senosiain Arquitectos architecture firm have designed a shell-shaped residential home, based on the shape of the Nautilus’ shell.  The Mexico-based abode currently houses a couple and two small children.
The house was constructed using Ferrocement, a composite material containing with cement, sand, water and wire or mesh.  Other than being economical , the technique has many benefits, including; hardy, fire-proof, earthquake-safe, anti-rust and maintenance-free.
DVICE explains:
The open concept inside the house is dominated by smooth surfaces, spiral stairs and natural plantings that makes the inhabitants feel like they’re living inside a snail who swallowed the entire contents of somebody’s back yard. While [...]

RS from Barcelona presented a hexagonal seat called the Beeblock. The form was inspired by the honeycombs that bees make. The seat has a slight taper in shape so when they are placed side by side, the gap in between each seat pays homage to the source of inspiration. The seats can also cleverly stack and grow in any direction, also like a real honeycomb.

Since we heard Graham Hill talk about biomimicry recently at the NY PSFK Conference, we’ve been looking for more examples of nature inspired design. The Coral lamp by Studio Aisslinger is constructed of individual hexagonal felt cells. These are attached together and the lamp’s shape grows much like coral or a honeycomb. Particularly nice is that the flexibility of the felt material makes each of the cells distort to become unique in shape and more natural looking.

Studio Aisslinger have also made a floor cushion based on the same construction method. Both were shown this week at the Milan Furniture Fair.
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