环球英语—856：People Copying Nature

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Welcome to Spotlight, I'm Joshua Leo.
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens?
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What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
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These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
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Today's Spotlight is on biomimicry and the work of the Biomimicry Institute. The word biomimicry combines two words: biology and mimic. In this case, biology means all of nature. And mimic means to copy something. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
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Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as a model to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 1998, Janine Benyus wrote a book about biomimicry. She is a natural sciences writer and teacher. Her book made many people think in a new way. With so much interest, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
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The Biomimicry Institute is a not for profit organization. They bring together scientists, building designers, engineers, inventors and many other people. They offer classes to teach people about biomimicry. They provide money for people to research and test new technologies. And they work hard to tell lots of people about biomimicry all over the world. They want all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
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People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world's problems. They think that the world has become too separate from nature. In fact, often new technologies can harm nature. Biomimicry helps to develop technologies that work with nature. Let's look at some examples.
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Earlier in the program we asked about butterfly wings and computer screens. Some scientists are studying the color of butterfly wings. Butterfly wings have beautiful colors. This is because of the special way that light shines off of them. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make more colorful screens.
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Another example of biomimicry is the Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem. It made too much noise! People could hear the train from half a kilometer away.
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Eiji Nakatsu was the lead engineer on the train. But he also loved watching birds. One day he thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher. The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise. This is because of the shape of its beak - its mouth and nose. Nakatsu thought that if he could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked! The Shinkansen Bullet Train is very quiet now. But it is also faster and uses fifteen percent less electricity.
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Another example of biomimicry comes from Zimbabwe. Termites are a kind of insect that eats wood. Termites damage homes and buildings all over the world. So how could termites make buildings better?
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There is a termite called the Macrotermes Michaelseni. They make homes that look like tall hills of dirt. They live in areas where the temperature gets very hot in the day and very cold at night. But, these termites are able to control the temperature inside their dirt hills. They do this by opening and closing doors in the dirt for air to flow through. This brings the cool air in from the bottom. And it lets the hot air get out through the top.
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In Harare, Zimbabwe, an office building is copying the termites' method. The office building opens and closes windows during the day. It now uses ninety percent less energy than any other surrounding buildings. These examples show how copying nature can solve problems and save energy at the same time.
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The next example of biomimicry is about the relationship between animals and plants. Much of the medicine we use in the world comes from plants. There are millions of different kinds of plants in the world. It takes time to find WHICH plants are good for medicine.
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But scientists discovered something when studying monkeys and chimpanzees. These animals also use plants for medicine. They found that chimps use trees from the Vernonia group when they had a sick stomach. By watching monkeys and chimps, scientists found a medicine that can help heal parasites. These small creatures make people very sick. But the leaves of Vernonia trees can kill the parasites!
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This last story is about using nature to help keep humans safe. Tsunami waves are very large and dangerous. They can kill many people if they hit land. Warning systems are very important so that people can protect themselves. But it is very difficult to know when a tsunami is coming. This is because when it is out in the ocean, the wave is mostly underwater. It cannot be seen from land or even above in an airplane. Scientists must put special machines on the floor of the ocean, thousands of meters under the water.
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These machines send a signal to the surface. Sending this signal through all of the water is difficult. Sound is the best way. But sounds can be lost or confused by the water. But there is an animal that is very good at sending under water signals - dolphins! Dolphins can send signals to each other from over 25 kilometres away. They use many different kinds of signals. This lets the signals travel far and clearly through the water. So, scientists copied the way that dolphins send signals. This technology now helps warn people in the Indian Ocean if a tsunami is coming.
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Christians believe that God created the world. And by studying nature, we can learn about God. We can learn about beauty, design, and how the world is connected. Our world does have many problems. And Christians believe that people are responsible to care for the earth. Sometimes these problems seem too big to solve. But sometimes the answer is right in front of us. God provides a solution in the nature that is all around us.
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If you want to learn more interesting stories about biomimicry, you can visit our website and look for this program. We will have a link to the Biomimicry Institute website. There they have hundreds of amazing stories to share.