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Thu 07 Jul 2009Technologists turn to animals and plants to solve their problems
NEXT TIME you have a problem, ask yourself: what would a plant do? Billions of years of evolution have given animals and plants plenty of time to come up with ingenious solutions to the trials of life, and technology is increasingly being based on their innovations.
Speaking at TEDGlobal in Oxford yesterday, Janine Benyus, who specialises in the field of “biomimicry” entertained the audience with examples. The Galapagos shark, for example, prevents bacteria sticking to its skin and that design has been adapted to coat hospital surfaces.
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