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Biomimicry with Billy Almon
Many modern inventions were inspired by nature.
For as long as humans have been solving problems, we’ve looked to nature for inspiration. In some cases we’ve even imitated other organisms in our inventions through a process called biomimicry, says Billy Almon, a futurist and biomimicry expert. Billy discusses how the Wright brothers modeled their early airplane designs from the flight mechanics of turkey vultures and how there’s still a lot we can still learn from nature: our first teacher. Learn more in the latest season of Bring Birds Back!
BirdNote®
Biomimicry with Billy Almon
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
For as long as humans have been solving problems, we’ve looked to the living world for inspiration. We’ve even got a word for it:
Billy Almon: Biomimicry is a term that comes from the Greek bios meaning life and mimesis meaning to imitate. And so the idea is problem solving and innovation and design where we are imitating what nature has already created.
That’s Billy Almon, a futurist and biomimicry expert, who says that lots of modern inventions incorporate elements of biology — like airplanes!
Billy Almon: That's an example of mimicry of form. So, the Wright brothers, they actually studied turkey vultures and the aerodynamics of their wings as they were working on their first iterations of the airplane.
Nowadays, biomimicry is helping engineers design state-of-the-art technology, like energy-efficient vehicles and climate-resilient architecture. And Billy says there’s still a lot more we can learn from nature: our first teacher.
Billy Almon: I do believe that nature holds, maybe not all solutions to all things, but I think a lot of what will be will be based on our continued understanding and exploration of the natural world.
Learn more about biomimicry in the latest season of Bring Birds Back, available in your favorite podcast app, and at our website BirdNote.org. I’m Jazzi Johnson.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote August 2025
Narrator: Jazzi Johnson
ID# PodBBB-39-2025-08-01 PodBBB-39
Jazzi Johnson
Narrator