[Pollinator] SFGate: Nature may offer vital clues on rebuilding New Orleans/Forests and butterflies hold key to better design, says author

[Laurie Adams]

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Wednesday, September 14, 2005 (SF Chronicle)
Nature may offer vital clues on rebuilding New Orleans/Forests and butterflies hold key to better design, says author
Susan Fornoff, Chronicle Staff Writer


   When Katrina's winds flattened Gulf Coast homes and businesses, biologist
Janine Benyus looked to the trees for clues on how to rebuild.
   "Under a forest, you have as much biomass as you have on top -- there are
root systems grafted to other root systems," Benyus said at San
Francisco's Palace Hotel last week. "So when the wind blows, ... notice
how many trees stood among buildings that fell. When we go back to build,
we have to ask those trees: How are you still standing?"
   It's all about "Biomimicry" for Benyus, who in 1997 wrote the so-titled
book on the maverick science of appropriating the best ideas of nature to
solve problems and improve conditions for humans.
   Thursday, at the International Interior Design Association's Leader's
Breakfast honoring architect Richard Hannum, Benyus connected some recent
findings and current projects in her field to the design, architecture and
building tasks of her listeners.
   Bird feathers show a Georgia carpet tilemaker how to put together a
seamless product low on adhesives so that health care facilities will want
it. Trees combing moisture from fog prompt a scientist in England to find
a way to extract potable water from humid air. A kingfisher's beak
inspires engineers in Japan to construct a quieter bullet train.
   "We're surrounded by genius," Benyus told them. "These other organisms are
elders compared to us. We are a very young species. ... Three-point-eight
billion years is a very long time to do R&D."
   Benyus ventured that "our interiors will tell us when there are
contaminants in the air." Canes with eco-location inspired by bats will
guide the blind; jewel beetles, which "can smell and feel a fire 50 miles
away," will lead us to new smoke detectors; the lobster's ability to sense
chemical plumes in a molecule of water will translate into a way to make
sure we're not drinking sludge.
   Studies on how butterflies and peacocks display brilliant colors yet
contain no pigment except brown are paving the way to chemical-free hues.
Work by Jay Harman, with Pax Scientific in San Rafael, has answered the
question "How would a nautilus make a better fan?" with spiral-based air
handlers that save energy and are quieter than electric fans.
   The "lotus effect," where rainwater does the cleaning, could revolutionize
car paints, roofing and even our household cleaning products -- a prospect
that Benyus said didn't go over too well when she shared it with an Amway
convention.
   The lotus effect also has led to the development of a formaldehyde-free
plywood that, according to Benyus, is "very cheap" and is being tested by
Columbia Forest.
   Benyus urged listeners to create "designs that are conducive to life" and
promised them free access to a database of natural design solutions that
is being tested by the Biomimicry Guild at database.biomimicry.org.
   More information about "biomimicry" is accessible online at
www.biomimicry.net.

   E-mail Susan Fornoff at sfornoff at sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 SF Chronicle