Adapt: How We Can Learn from Nature's Strangest Inventions

Description

Nature's creations are more sophisticated and elegant than anything humans have created. Geckos can run upside down along ceilings. Termite mounds can stay cool in the desert without air conditioning. Adapt explores how we can harness such ideas through the ground-breaking new science of biomimicry - which looks to nature to solve pressing problems in engineering and science. From the depths of the oceans to the ice sheets of the Arctic, Amina Khan talks to the researchers at the forefront of this exciting new science, who are designing everything from wind turbines to military camouflage. An entertaining eulogy to the power of evolution, this captivating book is a must read for anyone with an interest in design, nature and technology.

Amina Khan is a science writer at the Los Angeles Times. She's covered the Curiosity's landing on Mars and explored abandoned gold mines in pursuit of a dark matter detector.

Full of riches * The Sunday Times * One of the most inspiring books of the last decades * Professor Michael Braungart, co-author of The Upcycle and Cradle to Cradle * Khan leaves no stone unturned... Readers will leave this book with a buzzing excitement. * BBC Wildlife * Richly detailed, meticulous, well-written. * Kirkus reviews (starred) * As a science writer for the Los Angeles Times, Khan brings to her focus on health and technology a journalist's demands for authenticity and experience as well as a storyteller's desire to enthrall an audience. Hopeful and exciting reading for the future of personal and planetary challenges. * Booklist * Instead of trying to crudely dominate the world around us, it's nice to learn that more and more smart humans are trying to figure out how we might use the clues from other species to fit in a little more easily on this tired old planet. * Bill McKibben, bestselling author of Eaarth * A skilled journalist and science writer, Khan makes complex topics easy to understand as we travel around the world to meet scientists, engineers, and the plants and animals that are inspiring breakthrough solutions to some of our greatest technological challenges. She doesn't shy away from in-depth explanations of the biology and the engineering behind innovations from material science to nanotechnology to robotics and more, while bringing researchers' stories of discovery to life through her enjoyable, informative writing style. This book is a worthwhile read on many levels. * Jay Harman, author of The Shark's Paintbrush: Biomimicry and How Nature is Inspiring Innovation and CEO of PAX Scientific *