It’s an ongoing and dynamic R&D facility over 3 billion years old. Even those who might scoff at that number for religious reasons agree: Everything we need to survive, thrive and succeed as a species already exists right here on Earth. We just need to find the answers.
Often, they are staring us right in the face.
With our planet facing a global extinction crisis, (scientists are predicting that more than 1 million species are on track for elimination) the need for ecological responsibility and stewardship has become increasingly important. But we also need to balance the needs of our species, especially when it comes to technology, innovation and commerce. There may be a way to find that balance with a relatively new science being pioneered right here in Northeast Ohio. It’s called biomimicry, and it examines how nature has evolved to answer its own survival questions. Now we just have to ascertain how those answers can be used to improve our existence.
“Imagine that you could have access to 3 billion years of R&D and this technology could help solve problems using less energy, less materials in water-based chemistry,” says Carol Thaler, co-director of Great Lakes Biomimicry, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ohio Aerospace Institute and a nonprofit focused on accelerating innovation through nature. “This kind of technology is what life on earth has to offer, if we take a moment to look.”
“Many of the engineering challenges facing humans today are similar to difficulties that exist in the natural world. Plants, animals and insects have evolved through generations of successes and failures resulting in remarkable adaptations to overcome these challenges.
“Innovation inspired by biology or biomimicry is the process where we take inspiration from nature to solve complex problems of science and engineering. With biomimicry, new materials, energy-saving shapes and chemical recipes can result in sustainable products and processes that heal the earth. Not just ‘less bad,’ but regenerative.”
The idea that we have to have a dirty environment in order to have a strong economy is false, adds Thaler.
“Biomimicry is one of the most effective tools for driving transformative innovation because nature is constantly evolving at scale, is regenerative and manages the interrelatedness of systems,” adds Trisha Brown, co-director of the organization. “There must be something we can learn from that.
“Nature’s ability to drive innovation in sustainability is based on over 3 billion years of experience with R&D. Biological systems have evolved optimizing both energy and material usage. Emulating this would benefit a business’s bottom line and the environment by shifting the current business model from maximization to optimization. Equally important, biomimicry innovation leads to actions that can help us address climate change challenges with solutions that are in sync with natural systems.”
The science of biomimicry has taken root here in Northeast Ohio and is beginning to grow. That’s not to say there haven’t been some problems along the way. There have been, however, plenty of miracles.
How It Started
The concept of biomimicry is the brainchild of author and scientist Janine Benyus, who popularized the concept in her 1997 book, “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.” The idea took root in the mind of local business leader and entrepreneur Tom Tyrrell back in 2008, who today is emeritus founder and chairman emeritus of Great Lakes Biomimicry.
“I was working on a project called the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative, funded by the Gund Foundation and the County Planning Commission, which was a two-year study of the watershed between Lake Erie and Akron,” says Tyrrell. “Someone mentioned the concept of biomimicry, so I went home and looked it up.”
After just a few paragraphs into the online article, Tyrrell was intrigued. Then he read an article about the Japanese Bullet Train and its use of a design imitation of kingfishers’ splashproof bill to improve aerodynamics, and he was hooked.
“We are a location that has plenty of nature-based education and green space, so I thought this would be an ideal location for something like this,” says Tyrrell.
After working with another local nonprofit attempting to build biomimicry into a usable science and business model, Tyrrell approached another successful entrepreneur, Don Knechtges, who today is an emeritus board member of Great Lakes Biomimicry. Blessed with an engineering background, plenty of marketing experience and an open, creative and entrepreneurial mind, Knechtges quickly realized the growth potential of the new scientific concept.
The idea was to initially focus on education and build the discipline through our area’s colleges, universities and grade school systems. The science would then be used to foster innovation through Northeast Ohio’s strong community of major corporations. It would be funded through corporate innovation as well as our area’s strong philanthropic base.
It wasn’t long before the two met up with Dr. Peter Niewiarowski at the University of Akron to pioneer an education track in biomimicry. Soon, the trio developed biomimicry PhD fellowships within the University of Akron’s integrated bioscience program.
“Don (Knechtges) and Tom (Tyrrell) were captivated by an idea made popular by Janine Benyus back in the ’90s,” says Niewiarowski. “They approached a number of people on the academic scene, including biologists and others who saw the power of the idea, and worked with educators to connect to businesses primarily, but also community organizations, to make the concept better known.”
Using the support of corporate sponsorship and private industry, the University began offering fellowships in biomimicry that combine other disciplines such as biology, engineering, chemistry, marketing and even art. As a part of the program, the fellows spend 15 to 20 hours a week at a company that pays them for developing biomimicry-inspired products and solutions.
Today, the program is supported by major corporations in our area, including Goodyear, Lubrizol, Parker Hannifin, Sherwin-Williams, Steris through its U.S. Endoscopy Division and GOJO Industries, among other businesses. The critical component of the program is that the private entities help pay for the education of the fellows with the reward of owning the intellectual property they generate.
The program led to the founding of the University of Akron Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center (BRIC), which today is an internationally recognized leader in the field of biomimicry. BRIC is led by academics who come from four divergent disciplines: Dr. Niewiarowski, who is a biologist; Dr. Christopher M. Miller, PE, an associate professor of civil engineering; Dr. Ali Dhinojwala, the W. Gerald Austen endowed chair and H.A. Morton professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering; and Matthew Kolodziej, who is a professor of painting and drawing.
“Together we represent the four basic disciplines that we wanted to bring together,” says Dhinojwala. “Biomimicry really requires that you think about solutions from many perspectives. You must think about it from an engineering and science standpoint, but also from a design perspective.”
Biomimicry in Action
BRIC connects artists, businesspeople, designers, engineers and scientists to create biomimicry-based innovation using interdisciplinary research that draws inspiration from organisms as diverse as ants, bacteria, cacti, fish, flies, geckos, mussels, snakes and spiders.
The results have been astounding.
In the case of GOJO Industries, the program was utilized to create a touchless dispenser for hand sanitizer that uses 50% less energy than its predecessor. It’s based on the human heart’s efficiency in moving blood through its chambers.
Mentor-based Steris and its division US Endoscopy had a fellow who worked with the new product development staff to create US Endoscopy’s Talon Grasping Device. The new product development team looked to raptors for help.
While nature uniquely adapted birds to grasp and hold prey, there were several differences between the commercially available wire graspers on the medical market and the operational characteristics of birds. The commercially available graspers utilized three points of contact and were designed to meet at the center. The talons
of raptors, however, had four claws that were staggered or offset as they collapsed on their target prey, but still were able to create significant pinching power. Incorporating these features into the Talon Grasping Device not only proved advantageous when it came to grasping and maintaining control of the foreign object, but also made it easier to house the graspers into the tubing for transportation to the site.
Anyone who has driven on Northeast Ohio’s frozen roads can understand the importance of traction. So why not study what makes it possible for some arctic animals to walk and run across the ice so gracefully without slipping?
Three researchers from the University of Akron took a deep dive into the paws of polar bears to find out. The project team included Dr. Dhinojwala.
“We were interested in this topic because being in Akron, many of our national partners need to develop tires with a strong grip on the road in ice and snow conditions,” says Dhinojwala.
Nate Orndorf, a 2022 PhD graduate who is now employed as a senior material scientist at Bridgestone Americas, and Austin Garner, a 2021 PhD graduate who is now an assistant professor of biology at Syracuse University, decided to study polar bears who walk and run across ice effortlessly.
The project was interdisciplinary, combining approaches and techniques from both biological and materials research. Orndorf and Dhinojwala are polymer scientists who integrate biology into their research, while Garner is an animal biologist who integrates materials science into his research.
The idea was to look at the paw pads of polar bears. The team discovered that previous work studied the microstructures (papillae, the little bumps on the pad of the foot) of polar bear paws and found that the papillae were adaptations for improved traction on snow. The previous studies did not include other species of bear, so Garner helped identify two species closely related to the polar bear (the brown bear and American black bear) and one distantly related (the sun bear) to include.
Connecting with a variety of museums, scientists, environmentalists and even taxidermists across the country, the team collected and studied samples and replicas of polar bear paw pads. After a 3D analysis, the team discovered that the papillae (or bumps) on polar bear paw pads were taller than other species, including brown bears and black bears. This is what gave polar bears better traction in the snow.
Now that their research has been published, other scientists and manufacturers can look at its application for their specific projects.
“If you look at snow tires, you will see that they do have some deeper treads, but this research could also show various ways to design them that could have a larger impact,” says Dhinojwala.
But the interest isn’t just for tire manufacturers.
“Individuals who do high altitude climbing are interested in this research, and companies that specialize in the delivery of goods in bad weather would love to have better grip,” Dhinojwala adds.
Studying how nature adapts to different environments, Dhinojwala concedes that biomimicry is a new way of looking at innovation. He and his team have examined gecko adhesion, spider silk, mussel adhesion and structural colors inspired by birds and other organisms. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research and other various industries.
His team is continuing to look at ice — how ice formation takes place, ice adhesion — research that is very helpful for the automotive and aircraft industries. His students have just begun working on a project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Another area of study is the use of adhesives and stickiness used by geckos and spiders in capturing prey.
“Spider silk is always of interest because of the sticky net they create for webs,” says Dhinojwala. “It’s also one of the strongest materials known to mankind by weight — even stronger than steel by weight.”
One fascinating example of silk toughness comes from Darwin’s bark spider found in Madagascar. It produces an extraordinarily tough silk and can build webs that span rivers.
Here, the research hope is to create adhesives that can work in moist conditions or even underwater for bandages and other biomedical applications.
BRIC is also actively involved with the creation of sustainable polymers through the national Tech Hub recently created for the Polymer Industry Cluster of the Greater Akron Chamber. Other projects include the development of permanent/reversible adhesives, new building construction techniques, color-producing additives/structures, robotic actuators/control systems, thermal management systems, water harvesting/repellent materials and more.
Creating Future Innovators
Beyond research, BRIC activities include training next-generation innovators by developing and implementing undergraduate- and graduate-level curricula, promoting awareness of biomimicry through public seminars and accelerating innovation through codelivery of professional services through organizations such as Great Lakes Biomimicry.
There are also a number of organizations that are involved with creating biomimicry curricula to train teachers throughout Cuyahoga, Lorain and Summit counties. Lorain County Community College and Baldwin Wallace are involved with biomimicry and there are programs at public schools in Lorain County, including Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville.
“It is very important for us to create an awareness, especially when students are in the sixth grade or even before,” says Tyrrell.
The STEM Center of Excellence, being built at the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio Camp Ledgewood in Peninsula, is projected to be completed this fall. The scouts hope to provide the equipment, tools and skills to build students’ science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) confidence and education.
The STEM Center will include an 8,000-square-foot building and will be integrated with the outdoors. It will house a wet lab; workshop space, including tools needed for prototyping and invention; a tech space; podcast booth; an observatory; a weather station and more. Outside, the building will include other immersive experiences, including a meadow with a honeybee exhibit, an outdoor pavilion with bat houses, a rain garden and an outdoor classroom.
The STEM Center of Excellence will be a multilevel building with workshops and technology designed to teach girls how to learn from nature to solve today’s technological problems. It will carry a biomimicry theme with the goal of sparking an interest in technology and nature, according to Jane Christyson, Girl Scouts of North East Ohio CEO.
Christyson describes the building’s design as spectacular, complete with a glass butterfly roof boasting wind and solar power sources. An entire campus is being developed around it where girls can learn about bioretention, bees and bats and work in a rain garden.
While that is the good news, across our area, several biomimicry educational projects have been on hiatus, due to a scarcity of funds. However, there are plans to resurrect many in the near future.
The ultimate goal of all these efforts is for biomimicry to become yet another driver for sustainable economic development here in Northeast Ohio.