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Nature's Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

Nature's Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation

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A lively and endlessly fascinating deep-dive into nature and the many groundbreaking human inventions inspired by the wild.

"Delightful."—The Guardian


"Fans of Helen Scales won't want to miss this."—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review


When astronomers wanted a telescope that could capture X-rays from celestial bodies, they looked to the lobster. When doctors wanted a medication that could stabilize Type II diabetic patients, they found their muse in a lizard. When scientists wanted to drastically reduce emissions in cement manufacturing, they observed how corals construct their skeletons in the sea. This is biomimicry in action: taking inspiration from nature to tackle human challenges.

In Nature’s Wild Ideas, Kristy Hamilton goes behind the scenes of some of our most unexpected innovations. She traverses frozen waterfalls, treks through cloudy forests, discovers nests in the Mojave desert, scours intertidal zones and takes us to the deepest oceans and near volcanoes to introduce us to the animals and plants that have inspired everything from cargo routing systems to non-toxic glues, and the men and women who followed that first spark of “I wonder” all the way to its conclusion, sometimes against all odds.

While the joy of scientific discovery is front and center, Nature’s Wild Ideas is also a love letter to nature—complete with a deep message of conservation: If we are to continue learning from the creatures around us, we must protect their untamed homelands.

ISBN-13: 9781771648196

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Greystone Books

Publication Date: 10-04-2022

Pages: 328

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Kristy Hamilton is a science journalist who has written for WIRED, Science Magazine, Hakai Magazine, Business Insider, and other publications. Her WIRED article was featured on the website's front page as a "Today's Picks." When she's not on the road, she lives in San Francisco, CA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Wildly Inspiring 1

1 A Cold Case

Tardigrades Inspire the Preservation of Medicine 6

2 Fishing for Stars

Lobsters Inspire Telescopes to View Cataclysms in the Cosmos 26

3 Drinking from a Cloud

Coastal Redwoods Inspire Fog-Catching Harps 47

4 Who's in Charge?

Ants and Bees Inspire Efficient Routing Systems and Robotics 68

5 A Leggy Turn on Events

Giraffes Inspire Lymphedema Compression Leggings 91

6 Bonding with Nature

Blue Mussels Inspire a Nontoxic Glue 110

7 Concrete Evidence

Coral-Inspired Cement Drastically Reduces Construction Industry Emissions 131

8 Driving on a Seed

Pomegranates and Abalone Inspire the Next Generation of Batteries 147

9 Skeletons in the Closet

Bones Inspire Light-weight Aircraft and Architecture 166

10 A Monster is Born

Reptile Spit Inspires a Type 2 Diabetes Medication 187

11 Bumps are Beautiful

Whale Warts Inspire Energy-Saving Fans 210

12 Window Pain

Spider Webs Inspire Bird-Safe Windows 229

13 Flashes of Brilliance

Jellyfish Glow Inspires Nobel Prize-Winning Tool to Peer Inside Our Bodies 247

Conclusion 272

Acknowledgments 276

Notes 279

Bibliography 287

Index 308