Part of the Hawksmoor Group
Part of the Hawksmoor Group
Many innovations are inspired by the natural world around us, and there is a wonderful programme currently on the BBC World Service, “30 Animals Which Made Us Smarter”, which illustrates this.
Helpfully each episode is just 10-12 minutes long!
The episode I am highlighting here is about how a Belgian physicist called Jean-Pol Vigneron imagined a breakthrough in LED light efficiency by studying fireflies. By examining how the fireflies shine so brightly, he structured LED lights in such a way that they could emit 50% more light.
More light for less electricity, and so a lower carbon footprint.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0787lhj
There is also an even shorter animation episode here:
