Learning from the Masters

"I see us as a very young species and eventually natural selection will judge the rightness of our innovations. The thing that's different about us is that we can choose to learn from the masters...It's really interesting. I look at the scientific method and it's quite different than the method that biomimics use. In the scientific method, you go to your observation with a hypothesis and then people try to find the exception to the rule. In biomimicry, you're training yourself to observe and to pull out the universal. You're sitting and observing in a way that says teach me.

~ Janine Benyus, from "Biomimicry," Studio 360 (5.9.08)

12 Sustainable Design Ideas from Nature (February 2005) Janine Benyus provides heartening examples of ways in which nature is already influencing the products and systems we build.