Learning From Nature
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 6.11.2018
The more I observe nature, the more I am fascinated by its beauty and designs. No wonder our ancestors spent so much time observing, contemplating, and mimicking nature in every aspect of their lives.
From the most intricate human organs like the brain and lungs, to the majestic oak tree and the vast river basins, they all seem to have the similar “fractal geometry” to permeate, flow, communicate, and grow effectively and efficiently.
Human beings have been trying to learn from nature for a long period of time. The flight of birds inspired the invention of the airplane, hang gliders, and the daring wing-suit. With the advent of instruments, mathematics, and computers, a deeper understanding of how nature works has helped us to design some very efficient buildings, automobiles, and load-bearing structures. Here are a few examples:
- Termites in hot Africa must keep the internal temperature in their mounds to within a few degrees of 87°F to grow fungus. The ingenious ventilation structure in the mounds gave a building architect some ideas for cooling the Eastgate Center in Zimbabwe without using air conditioners. Only fans and chimneys were used and this reduced energy usage by 90%.
- Mercedes-Benz designed a Bionic concept car in 2007 by morphing the shape of the boxfish. This “clumsy” looking shape helped to improve the car’s aerodynamics and reduced the wind drag by 30%.
- Stairs and roof supports in many majestic churches and museums have used structure designs similar to shells, bamboos, and trees.
If you observe carefully around you, I am sure you’ll find more intriguing marvels of nature which can teach you something about science, engineering, and life.
I wish you a lot of fun doing it.
向大自然學習
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
我越是觀察大自然、就越被它的美麗與設計所著迷。難怪我們的老祖先們花了許多時間觀察、思考及模仿它們在生命中各方面的特質。
從最複雜的人體器官，如大腦和肺部，像是雄偉的橡樹和廣闊的河流盆地，它們似乎都有類似”分形幾何”那樣，可以有效滲透、流動、交流和生長。
人類長時間以來，一直在努力向大自然學習。飛翔的鳥兒激起了飛機、滑翔翼、甚至是前衛飛行服裝的發明。隨著儀器、數學及電腦的出現，讓我們更深入地了解大自然是如何運作、進一步幫助我們去設計一些非常具有高效能的建築、車輛及承重結構等。我們舉例來說：
- 在炙熱非洲的白蟻，必須將土堆裡的溫度維持在華氏87度，以利真菌的生長。白蟻巢穴巧妙的通風設計，提供了建築師靈感，讓位於辛巴威的東門購物與辦公中心，不需要空調也能自然調適室內溫度。只使用了風扇及煙囪更省下了90%的能耗。
- 賓士汽車在2007年設計了一款Bionic的仿生概念車，就是模仿箱魨(Boxfish)的形狀。這種魚看起来似乎笨拙的外型，却能讓汽車改善了流體動力，減少30%的風阻。
- 許多雄偉教堂與博物館的樓梯、以及屋頂支架，都採用類似貝殼、竹或樹木的結構來設計。 又轻巧又结实耐用。
如果你仔細觀察你的周遭，相信你定會發現更多有趣的自然奇蹟，可以讓你學習到不論是在科學、工程或生活各方面都很有用的新观念。
祝各位能很開心的去觀察，探讨，学习，实行！
