Repackaged with a new afterword, this "valuable and entertaining" (New York Times Book Review) book explores how scientists are adapting nature's best ideas to solve tough 21st century problems.

Biomimicry is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Janine Benyus takes readers into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; harness energy by examining how a leaf converts sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; and many more examples.

Composed of stories of vision and invention, personalities and pipe dreams, Biomimicry is must reading for anyone interested in the shape of our future.

Biomimicry is a revolutionary new science that analyzes nature's best ideas--spider silk and eyes, seashells and brain cells, photosynthesis and DNA--and adapts them for human use. Janine Benyus takes us into the lab and out in the field with the maverick researchers who are discovering natures ingenious solutions to the problem of human survival: studying leaves to learn how to make microscopic solar power packs that will clean up toxic spills and light our homes; harnessing DNA's coding power to make blindingly fast computers; discovering miracle drugs by observing what animals eat; and much more. The answers are there for the finding, poemlike in their elegance and economy.

Anyone interested in the people and ideas that are shaping our future must read this book to know where the most exciting revelations lie -- -literally all around us.