JFS Bio-mimicry Interview Series: No.1
Technologies Learned from Living Things: Concepts and Examples - Front Line Reports First interviewee: Manabu Akaike

To introduce our new JFS Bio-mimicry Interview Series, we bring you a memorable interview with Manabu Akaike, president of Universal Design Intelligence Inc. In his book "Nature-Tech -- A Snail Can Tell (available in Japanese only)," Akaike advocates Nature-tech, technology learned from nature.

Q. What is Nature-tech?

Our scientific technology has so far focused on synthetic chemicals created by consuming energy under conditions of high temperature and pressure. This approach obviously has extremely high entropy and a tremendous impact on the environment. Meanwhile, living organisms in nature create remarkably sophisticated products using only light elements such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, which exist in nature under conditions of normal ambient temperatures and atmospheric pressure.

We need Nature-tech, designs we can learn from other living things. Nature-tech requires an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses basic science, applied science, and engineering.

Q: What led you to this idea?

I have always been genuinely intrigued by the way living creatures manufacture their productions. I specialized in embryology in graduate school and studied genetic mechanisms and cytogenesis, the process that induces organ formation. Later on, when I was assisting Professor Makoto Sahara (Director of the National Museum of Japanese History) with his analysis of relics from the Jomon Period (13,000 B.C. to 300 B.C.), a small woven basket that had been lacquered was discovered.

Japanese lacquer, which forms a tough covering through the action of enzymes with light, is a typical example of Nature-tech. I was struck by the discovery that Japanese people in ancient times possessed the technology to apply the functional capabilities of other living creatures. Another factor leading me to the idea of Nature-tech was an awareness of the challenges ahead for business. The technologies developed by living things for survival in special environments constitute an enormous resource for industry.

For instance, Leonardo da Vinci sketched an outline of a helicopter inspired by hovering bees. Parachutes took their cue from spiders, and gliders from praying mantises. The Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), a research project initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, aims to design a flying machine that imitates insects called thrips, which grow hair on their wings, a completely innovative concept in this field.

Citing another example, Shunji Yamanaka and his team are currently developing a next-generation automobile, called the "Hallucigenia 01." This project is an attempt to create a truly mobile vehicle that can run sideways, turn on a dime, descend and ascend steps, and so on, by decentralizing the drive, or the central processing unit (CPU) that controls the vehicle. http://www.lleedd.com/hallucigenia/top.html (Japanese)

This idea follows the dispersive microanatomy model of Hallucigenia, a crustacean that lived 550 million years ago. These examples show that there are infinite possibilities for learning new designs by studying living creatures.

Q. What else are you watching in this field?

Micro-machines, or nano-robots, are being developed to deliver and administer drugs directly to the affected area of the body. However, because these miniscule devices are greatly affected by physical forces such as viscosity and surface tension, a new type of propulsion system needs to be developed. Dr. Yukio Magariyama, chief scientist at the National Food Research Institute, is focusing his research on a type of nematode, or spirochete, that can swim freely despite its micro-size. By studying this organism's motion, Dr. Magariyama hopes to learn how to utilize the mechanism by which the nematode's mobility improves as resistance increases.

I'm also paying special attention to Dr. Takayuki Nagashima, assistant professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, and his research on new ways of using silk. Dr. Nagashima has scientifically verified that silk, especially silk produced by wild silkworms, has high ultraviolet (UV) ray blocking capabilities.This finding has led to the manufacture of parasols and cosmetics using wild silk that can block almost all UV radiation. Furthermore, research on analyzing wild silk structure at the nano-level is underway with the aim of creating wild silk artificially.

Another study I find interesting is being conducted by the National Institute of Aerobiological Sciences and Meiji Seika Co., and focuses on the cellulolytic enzyme, or cellulase, of termites, which eat decomposed wood. I'm also watching anti-cancer drug research being done by Professor Koichi Suzuki of Iwate University. Professor Suzuki's research uses diapause hormones excreted by butterflies when they transform from a larvae into an adult.

Q. What do you think will be the key to greater interest in technology learned from living things in future?

The research involving the Hallucigenia crustacean I mentioned just now is the outcome of collaboration between an engineer and a designer. This illustrates that two essential factors will be participation of biologists and other scientists involved in basic research, and collaboration among different fields of expertise.

It will also be important to utilize the outcomes of Nature-tech research not just for a single application or over the short term, but also for multiple applications and over the medium- to long-term. Single-use applications, such as making biodegradable plastics by extracting lignin from woody biomass or generating power by producing methane gas from livestock waste, are very limited.

Rather, a cascading business approach could be developed that incorporates established industries and the society at large. For instance, Japanese cypress wood thinned from tree plantations can be chipped for use in manufacturing highly functional tatami mats. When the mats are discarded, termite cellulase can be used to decompose it into useful material. After that, it can be used as a biomass energy source, or converted into another useful material using biotechnology.

This new type of approach can offer secondary and tertiary uses with value being added each time, minimizing costs and energy consumption and blending into the current social and industrial structure. We can learn from natural technology that has survived and proven to be safe and functional over 3.7 billion years of organic evolution. This initiative will contribute to building a society in which synthetic chemicals are no longer created, and global resources external to the local ecosystem are no longer carelessly brought in.

(Interviewer Kazunori Kobayashi)

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Identifying Technologies that Learn from Nature -- Introducing the "JFS Biomimicry Project"

"How would it be to fly like a bird?" Pursuing this question, the Wright Brothers became the first to succeed in developing an aircraft. They carefully studied how birds fly, and discovered that the upper and lower sides of a bird's wing are curved differently. They then applied this finding to the design of an aircraft wing. Earlier, it was the Leonardo da Vinci who wondered, "How can bees hover?" He then observed carefully how bees use their wings and drew sketches that would inspire future helicopter designs.

Life forms, in order to survive even in the harshest environments, have been developing "technologies" for the last 3.8 billion years. Humans also started inventing various technologies, a process that accelerated especially after the Industrial Revolution. But nature's wisdom, having tested itself against the time of 3.8 billion years, is beyond our imagination. Take the example of a tiny humming bird that can fly across vast expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. Or the abalone, which needs no synthetic glue to attach to and detach from any rock. Or the snail that keeps its shell clean without using any detergent. Or the sequoia tree that draws several tons of water through its hundreds of roots, powered only by sunlight, and of course, needing no pulley or lever. They do all of this without consuming a drop of oil. How on Earth can this be possible?

These questions stimulate our minds and build an interest in science. And researchers and companies intrigued by these questions are moving into actual research. One of the many questions researchers are now grappling with is "How can we weave a fiber like a spider?" Recent research found that a spider's thread is 10 times stronger than steel of the same weight. How is it possible to weave such a strong fiber under normal temperature and pressure, without consuming a large amount of energy? To answer this question, researchers are studying the micro-structure of a spider's body and the nano-scale mechanisms of fiber making.

Another question that researchers are trying to answer is "How can we air condition our buildings like a termites control their nests?" A termite nest can maintain its own internal temperature and humidity at a stable and constant level, without the help of an electricity-powered air-conditioner. Learning from its ventilation and humidity control mechanisms, new buildings and houses that need virtually no energy for air-conditioning are being developed. Research activities such as these that learn from Nature are being conducted not only in engineering and chemistry, but also in robotics, medicine, energy, and many other fields.

Technologies developed in the process can solve human problems while dramatically reducing environmental impacts associated with them. Many inspiring examples of these "learning from nature" technologies are explained in books entitled "Biomimicry" by Ms. Janine Benyus, and "Nature-Tech (available in Japanese only)" by Dr. Manabu Akaike.

Launching the "JFS Biomimicry Project"

Inspired by their work, we at Japan for Sustainability (JFS), with the mission of helping form a sustainable society, have launched our own "Biomimicry Project." Supported by the Hitachi Environmental Foundation, this project's aim is to study and communicate about the state of technology in a sustainable society. In order to help spread the word about "technologies that learn from nature" throughout the world, this project will try to identify, understand, and categorize pioneering efforts and communicate them to the general public, particularly to engineers and children. In the process we would like to foster a new level of understanding about technology, and connections among researchers.

Specifically, we plan to do the following:

1. Identify, understand, and categorize pioneering examples and make them available on our website (spring 2005 onward)
Much interesting research is going on along the lines described above. We would like to compile information in this area and present it all in one place at our website, so that engineers, children and anyone else can access the information and be inspired.

2. Conduct interviews with technology pioneers and report about them on our website (winter 2004 onward)
We will conduct interviews with journalists and researchers who are studying the latest developments in the field and run a series of articles on our website. In the interviews we will ask such questions as "How did you encounter this field and in what way were you first interested?" "What is the main focus of your research and why?" and "What is needed for this field to expand in the future?" Our reports will cover not only specific examples but also profiles and worldviews of the people involved.

If you know some examples of technologies and research along this theme of "learning from nature," please let us know so that we may include them in our reports.

This is the basic information we are looking for regarding each example: 1. Life form to mimic or learn from (e.g., spiders)
2. Action that it performs (e.g., weaving of fibers)
3. Results of research, including products and technology
4. Natural processes or principles involved
5. Problems in society that the technology can address (e.g., the potential to manufacture strong, bio-degradable fibers without using a large amount of energy)
6. Source of the information, or name of researcher
7. Your name and email address

Thank you for reading, and please watch JFS for the upcoming interview series and reports of innovative cases!

(Staff Writer Kazunori Kobayashi)

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