Card #16 – ”Look to Nature”

Card #16 – ”Look to Nature” from the Creative Whack Pack

Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

Many good ideas have been discovered when someone borrowed a pattern or principle from nature and then applied it to his situation.

For example, the “spinning wing” feature of the elm seed served as a model for more efficient windmills and helicopters. Bell invented the telephone by imitating the ear. The sticky hooked spine of the common burr inspired the man who invented Velcro fastener.

Nineteenth-century English gardener Joseph Paxton modeled his design of the world’s first glass-and-iron building, the Crystal Palace, on his studies of the cantilevered rib structure of the giant water lily Victoria amazonica.

Biologist Julian Vincent studied humidity’s role in how pine cones open and close to develop a smart clothing fabric that adjusts to changing body temperatures.

— What patterns and cycles in nature can you use to develop your idea?

— Think of a letter of the alphabet. Now think of an animal (mammal, fish, bird, or insect) that begins with that letter. What two specific tactics would that animal try in dealing with your problem?

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