The Gecko's Foot: Bio-inspiration: Engineering New Materials from Nature [Hardcover]

Peter Forbes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393062236 | ISBN-13: 978-0393062236 | Publication Date: May 17, 2006 | Edition: 1

A riveting account of the unexpected relationship between nature and scientific design.

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." When Frank Lloyd Wright said this, he probably wasn't envisioning self-cleaning surfaces, the photonic crystal, or Velcro. But nature has indeed yielded such inventions for those scientists and engineers who heeded the architect's words.

The cutting-edge science of bio-inspiration gives way to architectural and product designs that mimic intricate mechanisms found in nature. In Peter Forbes's engaging book we discover that the spiny fruits of the cocklebur inspired the hook-and-loop fastener known as Velcro; unfolding leaves, insect wings, and space solar panels share similar origami folding patterns; the self-cleaning leaves of the sacred lotus plant have spawned a new industry of self-cleaning surfaces; and cantilever bridges have much in common with bison spines.

As we continue to study nature, bio-inspiration will transform our lives and force us to look at the world in a new way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most of us see a gecko and think of ads for auto insurance, but this little lizard possesses a remarkable ability to climb walls and scamper across ceilings. Until recently, scientists couldn't figure out these Spider-Man–like powers as they dreamed of potential commercial uses. Now, according to British science writer Forbes, researchers have used the electron scanning microscope to crack the mysteries of many plants and animals—including the gecko—by studying them at the nano level. For example, studying the dirt-repellent surface of the lotus—an age-old symbol of purity in Asia, rising spotless out of muddy water—led to the invention of self-cleaning glass. Attempts to spin spider-quality silk for a wide range of purposes, including snagging jets as they land on aircraft carriers, have been less successful (one group used genetic engineering to try to create the basic elements of spider silk in goats' milk). The folds of origami mirror the natural folding process of leaves, which in turn has led a Japanese designer to create a better map: it always folds up correctly. Readers interested in how invention imitates nature, and vice versa, will find much to savor. 69 illus. (May 29)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

At its inception, nanotechnology consisted of the brute miniaturization of machines; however, in the past decade, it has been branching out, imitating elegant solutions to the challenge of survival that eons of biological evolution have devised. Forbes presents technologists' pure research into nano-anatomy, followed by their applied and, many entrepreneurs hope, commercial mimicry of nature's ingenuity. Some applications are already on the market: self-cleaning paint and glass inspired by the way water balls off a lotus plant. Fabrics are ripe for a nanorevolution, as Forbes guides readers to the possibilities for threads presented by the iridescence of butterflies and the superstrong webs of spiders. As he takes up discrete fields (including self-assembly, flight, and architecture), Forbes acknowledges the ambivalence some feel about atom-size technologies. Reassuring the worried with the potential environmental friendliness of bio-inspired design, Forbes turns in an informative, positive account of the state of the art. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393062236
• ISBN-13: 978-0393062236
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a UK-based writer, journalist and editor with a longstanding interest in the relationship between art and science. I've written columns and reviews for many magazines and newspapers, including the Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, Scientific American, New Statesman, Listener, Modern Painters, New Scientist, Vole and World Medicine. Before becoming a freelance writer and editor I was an editorial assistant at the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1974-9) and a natural history desk editor for Equinox publishers in Oxford (1979-84). From 1986-2002, I was Editor of the UK's foremost poetry magazine, Poetry Review, published by the Poetry Society. I wrote a series of articles on Bio-inspiration for the Guardian (2001-3) and for the last 10 years I have been researching current biological subjects, culminating in the two books: The Gecko's Foot and Dazzled and Deceived.

Dazzled and Deceived is about mimicry in nature, art and warfare. My interest began 25 years ago when I was working as a desk editor of natural history encyclopedias. I was fascinated by butterflies that perfectly mimic leaves, leafy sea dragons indistinguishable from seaweed, harmless milk snakes that copy the red, yellow and black banding of the toxic coral snakes. I say "copy" but they don't quite manage it, as this ditty makes clear:

Red next to yellow
Kill a fellow.
Red next to black,
Venom lack

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fairly unique topic, Well-told, June 20, 2006

By 

Sreeram Ramakrishnan (Lynnfield, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gecko's Foot: Bio-inspiration: Engineering New Materials from Nature (Hardcover)

In one of the few books ("Pulse" is another good choice) that focus on bio-inspired processes and products, Forbes explains some interesting applications inspired by lotus, desert beetles, spider silk, and a whole bunch of other examples from Nature. Each chapter focuses on one specific product or theme and hence is fairly independent of the other chapters and can be essentially read in any specific order. The discussion does sometimes may get too technical for a non-science background reader, especially some of the diagrams. However, the discussion in itself is very clear and the reader obtains a good sense of appreciation of the products being envisaged from a particular "inspiration". Excellent information. A must read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Subject, Odd Sentence Structures, November 30, 2008

By 

Bookmeister - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gecko's Foot: Bio-inspiration: Engineering New Materials from Nature (Hardcover)

A very interesting and engaging subject, which warrants one to take a closer look at things close by. The format is basically that of reporting the subject, which is fine, but the style is very indirect at times. You could write, "The large house on the corner is red", or you could follow this book's style and write something like, "The main structure, not withstanding its size, which would not be small, was inhabited by those preferring a red exterior and view of a street crossing". Certainly it is just a matter of style. I appreciate the fine efforts made in each chapter on this exciting field of science and technology, and you will be surprised by the applications that can be made of overlooked nature.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting topic., August 15, 2006

By 

Joshua C. Williams "chance20_m" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gecko's Foot: Bio-inspiration: Engineering New Materials from Nature (Hardcover)

This book is about bio-inspiration for human technology. It is a very interesting subject, but I had some problems with the execution. For example, the chapters seemed to jump arounds a bit, I didn't get a sense of "flow" from chapter to chapter. There were also some factual errors, the most noticable to me being that "helicopters don't fly in the grand canyon". Since I have done so on a tour, I know this statement to be false. Additionally, the author doesn't go very deeply into the science behind the topics he covers. I suppose he may have just been trying to keep it simple, but anyone buying this book is probably a science nerd, and a little more technical information would be welcome.