[FOCUS] Biomimicry and Observing Nature to Find Solutions to Solve Environmental Problems

Speaker: 00:00:00

. And those detriments gets

released when the CLO gets washed.

2

: 00:00:04

Yeah, correct.

3

: 00:00:05

Into the water stream.

4

: 00:00:06

Yeah.

5

: 00:00:06

Yeah.

6

: 00:00:06

In the water streams.

7

: 00:00:07

And that ends up in, you

know, in, in waterways.

8

: 00:00:12

Yeah.

9

: 00:00:12

I love it.

10

: 00:00:13

That's a great one.

11

: 00:00:14

Wow.

12

: 00:00:16

Well, I think I, I've got one more that

I, you know, again, as it, any of our

13

: 00:00:21

listeners I'm sure can sort of tell,

like, this is a, a favorite topic for me.

14

: 00:00:26

Andel, um, I don't know, growing up on

a farm with all these different animals

15

: 00:00:31

and, and like, I think that's just part

of where like my love of, of seeing

16

: 00:00:35

things and like figuring out how to like

reuse the idea in another way comes from.

17

: 00:00:41

So, uh, this, uh, while I grew up

on a farm and we had a variety of

18

: 00:00:45

animals, we never had camels, but

I wanna talk about some cool things

19

: 00:00:50

coming out of camels or rather in and

out of camels and how that happens.

20

: 00:00:54

And again, a huge shout out and

thanks to the 30 animals that

21

: 00:00:58

made a smarter podcast, you all,

everyone please go check it out.

22

: 00:01:01

The link will be in the show notes.

23

: 00:01:03

Um, it's a phenomenal podcast.

24

: 00:01:05

I'm sure you'll enjoy

it, uh, as much as I do.

25

: 00:01:08

So camels, they also

happen to be remnants.

26

: 00:01:12

Um, so, uh, they also go through

an interesting digestion process.

27

: 00:01:17

But instead of talking about that

today, I wanna talk about actually

28

: 00:01:20

how they breathe through their nose.

29

: 00:01:23

And the way they breathe

through their nose.

30

: 00:01:26

You know, while we humans as mammals

have sort of, you know, principally

31

: 00:01:29

two main breathing, uh, passageways,

the camels have these sort of very

32

: 00:01:37

bif, not a bifurcated means too, like,

like these mini different pathways that

33

: 00:01:41

move through their, their nostrils.

34

: 00:01:44

So that, um, in summary, and I'm not

doing this perfect, uh, justice, but in

35

: 00:01:49

summary, as air moves in, Hot desert air.

36

: 00:01:53

The air moves across, um, uh, wet

mucus membrane, a whole series of

37

: 00:01:59

different pathways, mini sort of little

mini nostril branches that move up

38

: 00:02:04

through, um, the, the camel's snout.

39

: 00:02:08

And it moves across this wet mucus

membrane section that has little,

40

: 00:02:14

uh, hairs and things that sort

of create a ton of surface area

41

: 00:02:17

that the air is moving across.

42

: 00:02:19

And because it's moist,

A few things happen.

43

: 00:02:22

One, the moisture, uh, in the

nostril is converted into, uh,

44

: 00:02:29

moisture in the air, the hot dryer

that's coming in from the desert.

45

: 00:02:33

That creates a cooling effect, right?

46

: 00:02:35

Just like when we sweat and our

sweat is evaporated into the air,

47

: 00:02:39

that evaporative effect creates a

cooling effect that helps cool down.

48

: 00:02:44

The, uh, the air and helps cool

down that they're breathing in.

49

: 00:02:49

So it's coming in hot.

50

: 00:02:50

The air is getting cool

as it goes through.

51

: 00:02:52

It's actually also cooling down the

flesh nearby, which is where the blood

52

: 00:02:57

is flowing, past that, up to the brain.

53

: 00:02:59

So it helps keep their brain extra cool.

54

: 00:03:01

So to keep it an optimal operating

temperature, which for brains

55

: 00:03:05

is even more important than

most of the rest of your organs.

56

: 00:03:09

And so that one thing

that's awesome happens.

57

: 00:03:11

So the air is cooled down

as it goes down into the.

58

: 00:03:14

Camel's lungs and chest cavity.

59

: 00:03:17

And then as they exhale, so that

air is now both humidified, so it's

60

: 00:03:22

not drying out the lungs and it's

cooled down, so it's not heating up

61

: 00:03:26

their inner chest cavity as much.

62

: 00:03:29

And then as the exhale goes through

different pathway where there's a whole

63

: 00:03:35

process in this part, without getting

into the science, I won't explain as well,

64

: 00:03:38

but it's essentially doing the reverse.

65

: 00:03:41

And it passes it through again, a high

surface area process where they've got a,

66

: 00:03:46

a sort of series of, um, things happening

in the nostril that is absorbing that

67

: 00:03:52

water back out of the exhale breast.

68

: 00:03:55

So if we all think about for a minute,

like being in a cold, wintry kind

69

: 00:03:59

of location and you breathe out and

you see that big sort of what looks

70

: 00:04:02

like a steam cloud, it's a water

vapor cloud as you breathe out.

71

: 00:04:07

Cuz when we exhale it's very humid.

72

: 00:04:10

And then that is getting chilled quickly

in the air and turns into this like cloudy

73

: 00:04:14

thing in front of us in, in cold weather.

74

: 00:04:16

So camels as they are exhaling,

are recapturing up to 70% of that

75

: 00:04:21

moisture that they're, that normally

we as a human, that would all be

76

: 00:04:26

exhaled as lost moisture, which is

a significant amount of where the

77

: 00:04:31

water we drink, right Here's my water.

78

: 00:04:33

As we drink water and we hydrate our

body, we lose a lot of it through.

79

: 00:04:38

Respiration through how we breathe

out and losing our moisture that way.

80

: 00:04:43

And it's not all through

perspiration, sweating.

81

: 00:04:47

So there are some people in, in

leaky, this is like a, an interesting

82

: 00:04:51

sort of compliment to this.

83

: 00:04:53

There can be for some kinds

of biomimicry and technology,

84

: 00:04:58

lots of, um, tech, different

technologies needed to come together.

85

: 00:05:03

As you were describing to help

execute on that biomimicry, right?

86

: 00:05:07

Like nanoscale, construction,

printing, cutting, like that.

87

: 00:05:12

There's a whole level of many

other technologies that have to be

88

: 00:05:15

developed and perfected to achieve

that biomimicry in this case.

89

: 00:05:19

Part of what I love about this, uh,

example is there are, um, some architects

90

: 00:05:25

who were experimenting with this concept.

91

: 00:05:28

And they were doing it with very

simple little boxes where they

92

: 00:05:34

essentially created airflow book two

directions, like inhaling and exhaling.

93

: 00:05:41

Then again, in the interest of

time, go check out the pod, the

94

: 00:05:44

other podcast for the full context.

95

: 00:05:46

But here what they did is they basically

proved using just uh, uh, you know,

96

: 00:05:52

physical construction materials and.

97

: 00:05:55

Things like water dripping on burlap,

you know, to recreate this process flow.

98

: 00:06:02

And they were able to demonstrate

very quickly that, oh, we can recreate

99

: 00:06:07

this, uh, uh, example of how physics

is working to both as air comes in.

100

: 00:06:14

Cool it, and then as it goes back out,

take back out that moisture as it as it

101

: 00:06:19

leaves the, you know, in this case a box.

102

: 00:06:23

And so they played around with it.

103

: 00:06:25

It worked.

104

: 00:06:26

They used, they put some things up

on the south side of buildings there

105

: 00:06:29

in, um, somewhere in the Middle East.

106

: 00:06:32

I don't remember the country

it was in at the time.

107

: 00:06:35

And so they went through this

process very interesting.

108

: 00:06:38

And now they're starting to deploy this

already in like full scale buildings that

109

: 00:06:43

are being built where they're creating.

110

: 00:06:46

An exhale part of the building up

high in the roof where the air is

111

: 00:06:51

moving naturally through convection,

up and out of the building, but

112

: 00:06:54

they're recapturing moisture, but

then down in a different area.

113

: 00:06:57

They're breathing in outside

external hot dry air, but going

114

: 00:07:03

through this cooling process.

115

: 00:07:06

Right, which.

116

: 00:07:07

For me growing up, like these were

sometimes sort of called swamp coolers.

117

: 00:07:10

That was like a, a phrase for sort of

using water to, uh, the evaporation of

118

: 00:07:15

water, to cool air, but it's this specific

methodology of how they're doing it that's

119

: 00:07:20

creating cool air, coming into a building

with no, without pumps, air conditioning,

120

: 00:07:28

condensation, electricity, like all these

things, you know, are, it's not consuming

121

: 00:07:33

nearly as much energy to cool a building.

122

: 00:07:37

And so places in location, hot locations

like Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi, or all

123

: 00:07:43

throughout, you know, this sort of very

hot and dried parts of the world, can

124

: 00:07:48

look to this new technology in their

architecture inspired by the inhalation

125

: 00:07:54

and exhalation of the camel nostril.

126

: 00:07:56

Um, so coming to a building

near you, camel nostril cooled

127

: 00:08:00

air, this is fascinating.

128

: 00:08:03

I, uh, Yeah, I, I was familiar with

the swamp coolers, but for me, what's

129

: 00:08:09

really interesting is the retaining

moisture in, uh, from the air because I

130

: 00:08:17

was escaping and that reminded me there

was, uh, exhibition while ago by Bruce

131

: 00:08:26

Mao and called Massive Change and one

of the pieces in that exhibition, It

132

: 00:08:33

was very large, almost like a beehive

that you can put in the desert and

133

: 00:08:42

it will create about half a gallon or

a gallon of water in Sahara Desert.

134

: 00:08:50

And so I was thinking, oh,

that's, that's where the capture

135

: 00:08:55

of the, that's interesting.

136

: 00:08:57

Fascinating.

137

: 00:08:59

Yeah.

138

: 00:09:00

Yeah.

139

: 00:09:00

I think that nature is really cool.

140

: 00:09:02

There's so much we can learn from

Mother Nature, and I really think that

141

: 00:09:06

we can make so many more interesting

conversations on the topic of biomimicry.

142

: 00:09:12

Yeah, we should do that again.

143

: 00:09:14

Really?

144

: 00:09:15

I think so.

145

: 00:09:16

I think, yeah, I think you're right.

146

: 00:09:17

Lakey.

147

: 00:09:17

We've got, we've gotta revisit this one.

148

: 00:09:19

There's so many more things out there.

149

: 00:09:20

Yeah.

150

: 00:09:21

Well, and maybe we list, we ask

our listeners, you know, what

151

: 00:09:24

are their examples of Biore that

they've seen in their lives?

152

: 00:09:29

Or that they're dabbling

with in their professional or

153

: 00:09:31

experimental side of their life.

154

: 00:09:34

Um, yeah, maybe, maybe we'll learn

about some new things from our

155

: 00:09:37

listeners and if they want to talk

about this on the show, they'll welcome.

156

: 00:09:43

Yeah.

157

: 00:09:43

Welcome to the conversation.

158

: 00:09:45

Well, this has been a lot of fun.

159

: 00:09:48

Thank you for suggesting

this topic, leaky.

160

: 00:09:50

Was it you that suggested

this one, Christina?

161

: 00:09:54

Where's Christina?

162

: 00:09:55

Oh, Christina, thank you.

163

: 00:09:56

What a great one.

164

: 00:09:57

That's my, one of my favorite design

pieces in all different design theories,

165

: 00:10:06

so we should definitely do a sequel.

166

: 00:10:08

Great.

167

: 00:10:09

Well, thanks everybody.

168

: 00:10:11

Thank you.

169

: 00:10:11

Bye.

170

: 00:10:11

Thank you.

171

: 00:10:12

Bye.

172

: 00:10:13

Bye-bye.

173

: 00:10:16

You've been listening to Carbon

Sessions, a podcast with carbon

174

: 00:10:19

conversations for every day with

everyone from everywhere in the world.

175

: 00:10:24

We'd love you to join the Carbon

sessions so you too can share your

176

: 00:10:28

perspectives from wherever you are.

177

: 00:10:31

This is a great way for our community

to learn from your ideas and

178

: 00:10:34

experiences, connect and take action.

179

: 00:10:38

If you want to add your voice to

the conversation, go to the carbon

180

: 00:10:42

almanac.org/podcast and sign up

to be part of a future episode.

181

: 00:10:48

This podcast is also part of

the Carbon Almanac Network.

182

: 00:10:52

For more information to

sign up for the emails.

183

: 00:10:55

To join the movement and to order

your copy of the Carbon Almanac,

184

: 00:10:59

go to the carbon almanac.org.

185

: 00:11:02

Be sure to subscribe and join

us here again, as together

186

: 00:11:06

we can change the world.