Back in 1941, Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral came back from a walk in the woods with his dog to find burrs stuck on both his clothes and the dog. Curious about the little fuzz balls’ ability to cling so tenaciously, he examined them under a microscope. Noting their “hook-like” structure and the way it attached to anything with “loops” – fabric, fur – inspired him to invent Velcro.
 
Fast forward to the 21st century and we now have an entire field of science devoted to biomimetics – the imitation of nature. Creation-Evolution Headlines frequently spotlights the latest studies and the real life applications that researchers are discovering:

Ever since biomimetics gradually emerged around 2002 and really took off in 2005, it has not slowed down…
…The reports have accelerated in recent years to the point where there is only space for short summaries that give a taste of the wide variety of engineering work taking inspiration from plants, animals, and even cells.

A recent CEH post lists a wide range of new design and inventions inspired by God’s creation – hummingbird flight, gecko feet, soil-dwelling bacteria, Gila monster saliva… Follow the Leader: Nature

In this world of bad news and Darwin bigotry, it’s nice to find some good news to report: useful products inspired by nature, promising a better life, showing the wisdom of the Creator, amazing us all with wonders around us, and returning academia to real science that is 100% Darwin-free. The Darwin bigots will die off eventually. Bioinspiration and bioengineering is science for the rest of us, who need a rest from intolerance and bad news.