Design by Nature
I posted on the Design from Nature concept in March (see the Natural Way to Better Ideas). Today there's a round-up post on BNET, What Is Biomimicry? 
Despite comparing biomimcry to green design (there's nothing inherently green in copying nature), it's a good thumbnail, more user-friendly than my post, though it covers much of the same ground I did. It does add some intriguing tidbits on future research:
The Biomimicry Guild, PAX Scientific, and other companies are teaming up to solve some of the most common engineering problems. The organizations won't reveal where their inspiration is coming from, but they're working on solutions for improving the technology behind windmills, cooling and refrigeration systems, noise reduction, shock absorption, and moisture management. In the next year, humpback whale-inspired fan blades, developed by a Toronto-based company called WhalePower, will be hitting the market. Meanwhile an engineering group in India is studying how nature builds (and rebuilds) landscapes in a monsoon environment.
It's hard not to like a company called WhalePower -- people love anything involving charismatic megafauna. But remember that there are no guarantees in product design. Biomimetics, as the field is also known, has arguably been around since Frank Lloyd Wright and his Prairie School, which was crushed by the Bauhaus school, for better or for worse. Velcro remains the field's biggest success, and it's pushing 70. But design au naturale is definitely getting a second look.Image courtesy wikipedia, under a Creative commons license