The practise of applying biological methods into engineering is called biomimetics. It sounds advanced and so it can be. Yet, Julian Vincent sums up his art in one introductory sentence: He looks for creativity in the field of things we don’t know that we know. Keeping your mind open and registering the surrounding nature in a systematic form allows a better way of mining your knowledge.

If you feel warm, follow the example of a pine cone. A cone opens and closes its surface according to heat and surrounding humidity.

The woodpeckers hitting technique was studied to create new engineering design assumptions. The result pointed out what might seem surprising to some: If you really want to hit something hard, your hammer should be light weight.

Other natural phenomenons having deserved the focus of copycat Vincent and his coworkers are paddleworms, grasshoppers, catpaws and social insects.

Vincent commands our attention to nature. Biology simply knows better.