The art of “biomimicry” has served engineers well over the centuries, perhaps starting with Leonard da Vinci’s famous flying machine designs based on his observations of bird flight. An article in a recent issue of Wired Science is well worth a quick look for some stunning examples of this principle at work today.

The photo-essay “Mother Nature as Engineer: 9 Design Tricks Borrowed From Biology” provides a thought-provoking survey of how modern engineers are still learning lessons from the natural world and finding new paths to smarter, more efficient product designs.

On the living planet, of course, evolution provides validation of Mother Nature’s models. Only the fittest—those species in which ongoing mutations provide design changes best suited to their environment—survive to reproduce.

In the design-software world, you could actually extend this metaphor to SIMULIA’s Isight process automation and optimization technology! By proving the effects of incremental changes in your design, within desired parameters, Isight lets you eliminate “failures” and “evolve” your way to the optimum solution. By incorporating Abaqus, Tosca and fe-safe tools in your Isight workflow you will arrive at the optimum design configuration that answers every question, including:

• Is it light enough?
• Is it strong enough?
• Can we produce it cost-effectively?
• How long will it last?

Maybe your next solution for thermal cooling or reducing contact friction is just outside the office window or waiting to reveal itself on that coastline or forest walk you are planning. And you can put your ideas through the test of evolution in ways that Mother Nature would approve of.