What an awesome word, right?! I just learned it yesterday and it might be my new favorite.
I learned it watching a TED talk from Janine Benyus, which is embedded below for you to enjoy. They’re starting to put the TEDTalks on Netflix in categories and the Eco-Solutions one is really fascinating!
What does it mean? Well, it seems to be a branch of scientific study where scientists are learning how to develop new technologies from the way that nature does things.
For instance, one example they used, was that there is a shark who doesn’t get bacteria or parasites on it’s skin. This is because the way their scales are shaped prevent bacteria and other undesireables from being able to latch on. A technology company is using that discovery to create materials for use in hospitals so we won’t have to worry about super bacteria anymore. How cool is that?
What I really love about this is that, even though here on the blog we’ve been learning a lot about animals and applying those lessons to life, science is now doing the same thing – doing it enough that there’s a word just for the practice! Nature is such a wonderful fountain source of wisdom that it’s just beautiful seeing how we can learn new things from her in so many different parts of our world.’
What a gift!
