Biomimicry Matching Game

Biomimicry is the science and art of emulating nature’s best biological ideas to solve human problems. The natural world is made up of very good green chemists. Consider animals and how they make their own shelter and get all the food they need from other things in nature. This is all done without having to use any gas or electricity or taking more than they need, and they produce little waste or waste that can be used by other living things.

Many scientists looking for green solutions are turning to nature for answers to some of our problems with chemical processes. For example, the spider’s web is coated with one of nature’s strongest adhesives, so scientists have recently done studies of what we call “Spider Web Glue.” They found that it is made from proteins with sugars attached to the molecules (glycoproteins). The DNA and enzymes in the spider synthesize this glue, and scientists are working now to find ways to mimic this process.

Biomimicry and green chemistry complement each other incredibly well. For more information and to see the inspiration for this segment of the lesson, please check out: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/ and www.asknature.org.