Nature Knows Best

It's no secret that birds were the inspiration for the first airplanes but, in this episode, host Danni Washington takes a look at how exactly that connection succeeded. She'll fly planes in tight formation to try to mimic the energy-efficient flight patterns of migrating birds and look at how engineers are inventing wings that change their shape while in flight to mimic flying squirrels.

Lately, we've been turning toward nature more and more while creating our buildings, not just for the materials, but in the way they're constructed! In this episode, join host, Danni Washington, as she tours the "living building" known as the Bullit Center. This six-story structure mimics a tree; creating its own energy, collecting its own water, and even recycling its own waste.

Every species found in nature is a survivor, there's a reason they've been on the planet for as long as they have. So, host, Danni Washington is trying to figure out what humankind can learn from them. She'll explore how fish are helping us to build better armor and how woodpeckers are assisting us to address a top safety concern in the form of concussions.

The ocean covers more than 70 percent of our planet's surface and humankind has only explored about 5% of it. But the diverse wildlife from the areas we have investigated serves as a major source of inspiration for modern technology! Host Danni Washington uses this episode as an opportunity to continue the investigation, heading under the sea to explore a reef that's full of life!

Electricity is a basic part of life. Besides fossil fuels, nature has plenty of natural sources of power. One, in particular, overshadows all of the others, the sun.

Nature can be very sticky! There are pesky plant birds that became an inspiration for Velcro. A fish with his own suction cup. And the gecko which has inspired tech in many ways!

Helicopters took a lot of their early inspiration from one of nature's most efficient fliers in the dragonfly and host Danni Washington's going to take one for a spin to see exactly how! She'll also take a look at how this insect and the wings of owls.

While inventors have been looking toward nature as inspiration for centuries, this science is just starting to come into it's own and was recently given a name, Biomimicry! Join Danni Washington as we visit all the new places where this science is taking hold, from schools, to zoos, to national conventions like the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington D.C.

To many people the thought of sharks can be scary but they're actually a huge help to our oceans and have inspired some awesome tech! Danni Washington will take the plunge and swim with sharks, relaying how their skin is being used to fight germs and their senses can help build better robots! Danni goes surfing to reveal how scientists are developing wet suits that are invisible to sharks!

Animals in nature have other ways of communicating than you or I do and many of them are able to move collectively in packs called "swarms". Host Danni Washington takes a look at how today's scientists are studying this swarm behavior to make better robots that will help in our factories, to collect things on other planets, or to make better autonomous cars!

Some of the world's strongest materials are naturally made like the silk spiders use to make their webs which, pound for pound, is actually 5 times stronger than steel. In this episode, Danni Washington will look into how we're looking toward nature to make our other things stronger, like glass, metals, and even ourselves!

Drones are all the rage and, thanks to nature, they're doing things that we never imagined! Join Danni Washington as she explores aerial drones that can perch on walls, dive in and out of water, and communicate in swarms!

Robots are built for all kinds of things and, these days, their inventors are looking toward nature to see how animals can help them to do the things that humans can't! Join Danni Washington as she checks out tiny robots based on manta rays that are helping to fight heart problems and robots that are learning to run as fast as our speediest animals.