Materials Research Lecture

Biomimetics is a growing multidisciplinary field that aims to learn from nature to build/fabricate high-performance composites with remarkable properties. Although the natural composites (e.g. bone, nacre) are made up of relatively weak materials (brittle minerals and soft biomolecules) it is their combination with hierarchical, intricate and well defined structures that infers their uniqueness.  A key-step for a successful biomimetic approach has been to comprehend the composite`s structural/hierarchical features and natural rules for material selection. However, we have now comprehended that the underlying principles of biological systems cannot be explained by simple reduction and sum of its parts. Instead, the multiparametric interaction between its parts attains a high level of complexity that is still far from being fully understood. Thus, the current challenge in biomimetic research field is to integrate this complex factor for designing future biomimetic constructs (both structure and materials).

Reengineering biomimetics lays the concept of learn-complexify-build where the complexity factor is introduced either by iterative mathematical algorithms for development of new bone implants or using the combination of plant biology&nanotechnology as technological platform for fabrication of layered materials for application in the field of wearable technologies.

This presentation will briefly describe the history of biomimetics and current advances in both field of science and art (design&architecture), three cases studies in biomimetics (old bioinspired materials, biofouling and multiscale self-assembly) and two case studies of reengineering biomimetics (bone implants and cotton).