Our lives are filled with materials. They make up everything from the things that we use, the clothes we wear, to the infrastructure of our cities. But many of the materials that modern society is built upon are now destroying our planet and we need to find solutions to this growing problem. Bioinspired material science has the potential to create new, environmentally-friendly materials based on nature’s templates.
What is materials science?
Materials science is a highly interdisciplinary field comprised of physics, chemistry and engineering. It covers a wide range of topics that explore the utility and function of materials that we use in everyday life, from concrete to the electronics in your phone.
What is the difference between general materials science and bioinspired materials science?
General materials science engineers develop products using often very energy intensive processes (e.g. requiring mining, fossil fuel consumption, large carbon footprint etc.). Although these materials prove to be very efficient and cost-effective, many of them are simply not sustainable for our society in the long term. More and more, biology is being explored for it's potential to improve how materials are used in technology. Bioinspired materials science focuses on designing synthetic technology based on the structures and properties found in the natural world. Bioinspiration is powerful because the biological tools of nature have evolved over millions of years, are very adaptive, and present a variety of creative, sustainable, efficient and biodegradable solutions to the redesign of materials.
Introducing the circular economy
The circular economy is a system incentivizes reusing resources, minimizing waste, and reducing the consumption of finite resources. Instead of discarding materials like we do a traditional economic model, products are created to be reused, repaired, or recycled at the end of their useful life, meaning that waste is minimized and resources are kept circulating in the system. It also means that the use of non-renewable resources (e.g. fossil fuels) are replaced with renewable resources, such as solar and wind energy. A circular economy, which can be achieved with the application of bioinspired materials to power our society, strives to establish a closed-loop system where resources are employed sustainably investing in the long term wellbeing of our society and the environment.
Starting to construct nature's blueprints
After reading all these great things about the technology of bioinspiration, you might be wondering "why don't we get on with using bioinspired materials already?" The answer is not that simple. A combination of break-through research and testing needed, the dominance of mass unsustainable industries, and costs of switching to renewable alternatives all play a role in our current struggle towards a green economy. However, bioinspiration is growing increasingly prominent in current scientists mission in the fight against climate change and unsustainable practices with astounding innovations being discovered every day. Keep up with Nature's Blueprints which intends to highlight these break-through discoveries and educate everyone on what will be the future of our society: bioinspired materials.
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