354
12 Sustainability in Science
Table 12.1 Biomimicry activity embedded assessment
Item
No (not biomimicry)
Yes (biomimicry)
Airplane wing
Yes, after bird wings
iPod
No
Sonar navigation
Yes, after bats
Hall of submarines
Yes, after shark and dolphin skins
Computer printer
No
Chair’s soft cushion
No
Solar cell
Yes, after leaves
Hard coatings for car
windshields
Yes, after abalone mussels’ mother of
pearl coating
biomimicry. The final column is regarding the plant or animal that the invention has
mimicked.
Apart from learning from nature’s plants and animals, students can gain insight
from its cycles and processes. Ask them to think of the numerous natural closedloop cycles, including the hydrogen cycle, water cycles, and others that are models
that recycle continuously, thus providing long-term sustainability (Lakhtakia and
Martín-Palma 2013). Ask them to think of a way that could enable people to do
something in a better way by imitating a natural process. After this simple classroom
activity, students should have a basic understanding of biomimicry.
12.10 Individual Matter: Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971 (see Fig. 12.2). He is an American
business investor and engineer. Currently, he is the founder and designer of Space
X, CEO of Tesla, Inc., and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. The Forbes List
of the World’s Most Powerful People ranked him position 21 in December 2016.
Musk was born in South Africa and taught himself computer programming at a
young age. He attended Queen’s University in Canada. He moved to the University
of Pennsylvania where he graduated with an economics degree from the Wharton
School. In 1995, he started a Ph.D. in applied material sciences and physics
at Stanford University. However, he dropped out after 2 days to undertake an
entrepreneurial career. Subsequently, he co-founded Zip2 that was acquired by
Compaq in 1999 (Gibbs 2014). He then founded X.com that merged with Confinity
in 2000 to become PayPal. In 2002, he founded SpaceX, where he is the lead
designer and CEO. He is also the co-founder of Tesla Inc. in 2003.
Furthermore, he is the inspiration behind the creation of SolarCity . This is a solar
energy organization that is currently a subsidiary of Tesla. In 2015, he co-founded
12 Sustainability in Science
Table 12.1 Biomimicry activity embedded assessment
Item
No (not biomimicry)
Yes (biomimicry)
Airplane wing
Yes, after bird wings
iPod
No
Sonar navigation
Yes, after bats
Hall of submarines
Yes, after shark and dolphin skins
Computer printer
No
Chair’s soft cushion
No
Solar cell
Yes, after leaves
Hard coatings for car
windshields
Yes, after abalone mussels’ mother of
pearl coating
biomimicry. The final column is regarding the plant or animal that the invention has
mimicked.
Apart from learning from nature’s plants and animals, students can gain insight
from its cycles and processes. Ask them to think of the numerous natural closedloop cycles, including the hydrogen cycle, water cycles, and others that are models
that recycle continuously, thus providing long-term sustainability (Lakhtakia and
Martín-Palma 2013). Ask them to think of a way that could enable people to do
something in a better way by imitating a natural process. After this simple classroom
activity, students should have a basic understanding of biomimicry.
12.10 Individual Matter: Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971 (see Fig. 12.2). He is an American
business investor and engineer. Currently, he is the founder and designer of Space
X, CEO of Tesla, Inc., and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. The Forbes List
of the World’s Most Powerful People ranked him position 21 in December 2016.
Musk was born in South Africa and taught himself computer programming at a
young age. He attended Queen’s University in Canada. He moved to the University
of Pennsylvania where he graduated with an economics degree from the Wharton
School. In 1995, he started a Ph.D. in applied material sciences and physics
at Stanford University. However, he dropped out after 2 days to undertake an
entrepreneurial career. Subsequently, he co-founded Zip2 that was acquired by
Compaq in 1999 (Gibbs 2014). He then founded X.com that merged with Confinity
in 2000 to become PayPal. In 2002, he founded SpaceX, where he is the lead
designer and CEO. He is also the co-founder of Tesla Inc. in 2003.
Furthermore, he is the inspiration behind the creation of SolarCity . This is a solar
energy organization that is currently a subsidiary of Tesla. In 2015, he co-founded