Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

Book Description

This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st–century problems.

If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature – taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R\'9126D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells – and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting–edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when theyᱥ sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low–maintenance agriculture; and more.

Customer Reviews:

Never really used it........2007-09-27

I had no need for it in my class so I did not use it.

Poorly written.......2007-06-30

Interesting topic, but very poorly written. Many of her explanations are oversimplified, and there's a lot of unnecessary details about things like scientists' office decorations. Also, by now, about half of the book is out of date. Especially the chapter on biological computing, which was very confusing to start with. Also, there was a surprising lack of citations, significantly diminishing the value of the book.

I felt that this book was more about choice interviews with the few scientists she was able to get a hold of.

Given that, I did enjoy the chapter on Wes Jackson's work.

Biomimicry is Very Good, Very Detailed.......2007-06-19

As other reviewers have pointed out, Biomimicry is a good to great book, but the level of detail is enough to make a non-scientist's head spin. Be prepared for in-depth discussions on cellular activity, computer theory, and energy transfer. The main point of the book is excellent, which is that as a human race, we will eventually have to start acting like the rest of the living world and only use what we have in a sustainable manner. Physically, our path of using more energy than the world can generate is simply not sustainable for long. The book is not one of those alarmist environmental-destruction-is-imminent books however, it actually has good ideas on directions to take for sustainable manufacturing and sustainable energy.

Insightful, inspiring.......2007-03-09

Thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing perspective and the paradigm shifting philosophies of how human approaches science. Provides clarity of where things went wrong and how it can be rectified. Brilliant

New Revolution?.......2005-11-27

This book is a really good read for anyone interested in technological partial solutions for modern environmental issues. Many great examples of processes which have been innovated, and what could be done.

My only issue with this book is that you have to have a strong knowledge of many sciences to fully understand this piece. This may be a good thing if you are looking for something very specific; but it will be definately too much for the average person.

Biological Transformation of Wood by Microorganisms: Proceedings of the Sessions on Wood Products Pathology at the 2nd International Congress of Plant ... 10-12, 1973, Minneapolis, Minn., USA
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Biological Transformation of Wood by Microorganisms: Proceedings of the Sessions on Wood Products Pathology at the 2nd International Congress of Plant ... 10-12, 1973, Minneapolis, Minn., USA

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 354007368X

Biological Transformation of Wood by Microorganisms: Proceedings of the Sessions on Wood Products Pathology at the 2nd International Congress of Plant
Average customer rating:
Biological Transformation of Wood by Microorganisms: Proceedings of the Sessions on Wood Products Pathology at the 2nd International Congress of Plant

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 038707368X

Book Description

Best friends, Madison, Lina, and Holly created The Dating Game as a way to get credit for their Interpersonal Human Dynamics course (a fancy name for Sex Ed). Now they've become sought-after online matchmakers for their whole school! The Dating Game has gotten too hot to handle -- at least for the school's principal and parents. After Mads, Lina and Holly come off like junior sex experts on a local radio interview and their controversial new feature, Ex-rating -- where exes rate their former boyfriend/girlfriend -- brings in scandalous responses, the Dating Game is banned from the school's computers. But Mads, Lina, and Holly aren't giving up without a fight -- even if it means being expelled!

Customer Reviews:

it keeps getting better and better.......2006-06-16

In the fourth installment of the Dating Game series, Ex-Rating, Mads, Lina, and Holly struggle with more than trying to find true love. Mads is outraged when the principal of their school decides to not sponsor the web-site anymore. Mads will do almost anything to change his mind. Lina is finally over Dan, and instead realizes her feelings for Walker, but it's too late, Walker has a girlfriend. Or is it? Holly's relationship with Rob is better than ever, until she gets swept up in his sister Julia's wedding, having to make all the decisions for her, not having any time for anything else. Forget can true love survive high school... can they survive high school at all?

Average.......2006-03-25

This is yet another installment in this series. While I thought these books were moderately funny in the beginning - they are starting to feel boring to me.

The storyline is essentially the same with the girls trying to find their soulmates - while at the same time trying to matchmake everybody in their school.

The problem with this book is the corny dialogue. The whole opening chapter with them being interviewed was just so painful to read. The author seemed to be trying to be cute and funny and the result was that the characters simply sounded stupid. This is a theme that would repeat over and over throughout this book. I think its time to retire this series.

Average customer rating:

Ex-rating: (The Dating Game Series #4)
Natalie Standiford
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTQ9VQ

Case Studies Workbook to accompany Human Genetics
Average customer rating:

Decent..........

Excellent overview of the subject.

Case Studies Workbook to accompany Human Genetics
Ricki Lewis
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072846062

Book Description

Introductory human genetics for non-science majors. Assumes no previous knowledge of biology.

Customer Reviews:

Decent.................1998-02-17

This is a good book, but the topic is so enormous that the book is too broad and should be more specific. The book is an overview of so many areas and it doesn't go into much detail. A excellent book for someone who is illiterate in human genetics like an undergraduate.

Excellent overview of the subject........1997-09-14

Very good read. Thorough discussion of underlying science and technology trends. Call me if you want more info : 510-664-3016. Peter Thottam. genesisla@aol.com.

Case Studies Workbook to Accompany Human Genetics

Average customer rating:

Case Studies Workbook to Accompany Human Genetics
Ricki Lewis
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGVW52

Book Description

Contemporary Aspects of Boron: Chemistry and Biological Applications highlights the biological activity and applications of boron containing compounds. The authors specific approach surveys general features of the subject, while exploring new and novel strategies for preparing certain chemical and natural boron products that are of significant substance in medicinal chemistry. For example, cancer treatment is one of the most important issues related to such products. In addition to contributing to the development of new drugs by addressing biological applications in medicinal and industrial fields, the book provides a comprehensive review of the most relevant components that comprise the pharmaceutical, medicinal and environmental applications of boron containing compounds.

* Timely and comprehensive
* Provides new insights to active researchers in the field
* Presents concepts and methods in simple scientific terms

Contemporary Boron Chemistry (Special Publications)

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Contemporary Boron Chemistry (Special Publications)

Manufacturer: Royal Society of Chemistry
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0854048359

Book Description

Practical Asymptotics is an effective tool for reducing the complexity of large-scale applied-mathematical models arising in engineering, physics, chemistry, and industry, without compromising their accuracy. It exploits the full potential of the dimensionless representation of these models by considering the special nature of the characteristic dimensionless quantities. It can be argued that these dimensionless quantities mostly assume extreme values, particularly for practical parameter settings. Thus, otherwise complicated models can be rendered far less complex and the numerical effort to solve them is greatly reduced.
In this book the effectiveness of Practical Asymptotics is demonstrated by fifteen papers devoted to widely differing fields of applied science, such as glass-bottle production, semiconductors, surface-tension-driven flows, microwaving joining, heat generation in foodstuff production, chemical-clock reactions, low-Mach-number flows, to name a few.
A strong plea is made for making asymptotics teaching an integral part of any numerics curriculum. Not only will asymptotics reduce the computational effort, it also provides a fuller understanding of the underlying problems.

Asymptotic approximation in the three-dimensional theory of thin and thick elastic shells: The practical classification of shell problems

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Asymptotic approximation in the three-dimensional theory of thin and thick elastic shells: The practical classification of shell problems
Hendrikus Stephanus Rutten
Manufacturer: Nederlandse Boekdruk Industrie N.V
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Practical considerations in boundary estimation: Robustness, efficient computation, and bootstrapping (Mimeo series)

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Practical considerations in boundary estimation: Robustness, efficient computation, and bootstrapping (Mimeo series)
C Krishnamoorthy
Manufacturer: Dept. of Statistics, [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006OVCMA

Practical use of higher-order asymptotics for multiparameter exponential families (Technical report)

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Practical use of higher-order asymptotics for multiparameter exponential families (Technical report)
Donald A Pierce
Manufacturer: Dept. of Statistics, Oregon State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Gigi, Julie de Carneilha, and Chance Acquaintances: Three Short Novels
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Getting to Know a Voluptuaries Voluptuary

Collected Stories By A French Master

Gigi, Julie de Carneilha, and Chance Acquaintances: Three Short Novels
Colette
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Collected Stories of Colette

ASIN: 0374527857

Book Description

Two volumes of Colette's most beloved works, with a new Introduction by Judith Thurman.

Perhaps Colette's best-known work, Gigi is the story of a young girl being raised in a household more concerned with success and money than with the desires of the heart. But Gigi is uninterested in the dishonest society life she observes all around her and remains exasperatingly Gigi. The tale of Gigi's success in spite of her anxious family is Colette at her liveliest and most entertaining. Written during the same period as Gigi, Julie de Carneilhan, based on Colette's last years with her second husband, focuses on a contest of wills between Julie, an elegant woman of forty, and her ex-husband. Chance Acquaintances, a novella, involves an invalid wife, her philandering husband, and a music-hall dancer whose odd meeting at a French spa affects and indelibly marks each one of their lives.

Customer Reviews:

Getting to Know a Voluptuaries Voluptuary.......2007-07-18

I started reading this collection because of the author herself, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, being something of the patron saints of voluptuaries... I felt like I wanted to get to know her better, so I decided the best way would be to read some of her best loved works.

"Gigi", the most popular from this collection, was actually my least favorite in the bunch. It was entertaining and sweet, but much less mature than the other two novellas. The one aspect of it that I loved were the sensory descriptions and I wondered how the original French might be different or the same.

The translation by Richard Senhouse was beautiful, word choices were entrancing.

My favorite selection was "Julie de Carneilhan" as the main character was such an independent spirit and unconventional in the same sense I believe Colette was. It was through this title I really felt like I got to know the author intimately. The writing style favors action with tightly woven descriptive and sensory elements which also tune into Colette's voluptuary leanings.

The introduction to the entire text by Judith Thurman provides a brief mini-biography which provided more details of the author's personal and creative life.

Collected Stories By A French Master.......2003-02-28

Gabrielle Colette died in 1954. She is most famous for writing "Gigi" which became a Broadway musical and Oscar winning film. Gabrielle was a talented, gifted writer, with aesthetic skills and a charming perception of humans, particularily the society she grew up in early twentieth century France. A fascinating woman, she wrote mainly short stories, dealing with women coming of age, older women making new decisions, relationships with intensity, and all of her characters have memorable nuances. She may have drawn from personal experience. Colette was clearly a woman with deep understanding of the nature of love and the course of human emotions.

Gigi is the story of a young woman brought up in a decadent, materialistic society. Her aunts have raised her to become a mistress, a courtesan for the wealthy. Gaston falls for Gigi, and attempts to make her his mistress. But Gigi refuses to be a part of the pretentious society in Paris, wanting an honest and open relationship based on love. In the end, she is granted this for remaining true to herself. Julie de Carneilha and Chance Encounters are striking tales of women in love, beautifully written and set in the opulence of Paris. Colette is a cosmopolitan writer, one can almost see her as she writes with a bottle of champagne on her writing desk, a view of the Eiffel tower from her window and a vivid imagination that takes flight.

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