Name: Xploration Nature Knows Best
Uploaded: 2021-07-01T17:01:23.000Z
Description: Marine biologist Danni Washington hosts this series that explains how nature has helped to inspire technology that people use on a daily basis.

Marine biologist Danni Washington hosts this series that explains how nature has helped to inspire technology that people use on a daily basis.

Total Content Digital - Non-Combat

Birds were the inspiration for the first airplanes, but, in this episode, host Danni Washington takes a look at how exactly that connection succeeded. She'll fly planes in tight formation to mimic the birds flight patterns, and even jump out one!

Nature That's 'Plane' to See

Lately, we've been turning toward nature more to create our buildings, not just the materials, but in the way they're constructed!  In this episode, join host, Danni Washington, as she tours the 'living building' known as the Bullit Center.

Bio-Based Building

Every species found in nature is a survivor, there's a reason they've been on the planet for as long as they have.  Host Danni Washington is trying to figure out what humankind can learn from them that we can use to protect ourselves.

The Science of Safety

The ocean covers more than 70 percent of our planet's surface and humankind has only explored about 5% of it. But the diverse wildlife from the areas we have investigated serves as a major source of inspiration for modern technology!

Under The Sea Inspiration

Electricity is a basic part of life. Besides fossil fuels, Nature has plenty of natural sources of power. One in particular overshadows all of the others; the sun!

How To Save Power

Nature can be very sticky! There are pesky plant birds that became an inspiration for velcro. A fish with his own suction cup. And the gecko which has inspired tech in many ways!

Nature's Sticky Inventions

Helicopters took a lot of their early inspiration from one of nature's most efficient fliers in the dragonfly and host Danni Washington's going to take one for a spin to see exactly how! She'll also take a look at how this insect and the wings of owls.

The Wonders of the Whirlybird

While inventors have been looking toward nature as inspiration for centuries, this science is just starting to come into it's own and was recently given a name... Biomimicry!.

Mastering The Mimicry

To many people the thought of sharks can be scary but they're actually a huge help to our oceans... and have inspired some awesome tech! Danni Washington will take the plunge and swim with sharks. What will we learn from the experience?

Swimming With Sharks

Animals in nature have other ways of communicating than you or I do and many of them are able to move collectively in packs called 'swarms'. Host Danni Washington takes a look at how today's scientists are studying this swarm behavior.

Studying The Swarms

Some of the world's strongest materials are naturally made like the silk spiders use to make their webs which, pound for pound, is actually 5 times stronger than steel. In this episode, the animal World makes us super strong!

Muscle of Mimicry

Drones are all the rage right now... and, thanks to nature, they're doing things that we never imagined! Join Danni Washington as she explores aerial drones that can perch on walls, dive in and out of water, and communicate in swarms!

Designing Drones

Robots are built for all kinds of things and, these days, their inventors are looking toward nature to see how animals can help them to do the things that humans can't! Join Danni Washington as she checks out tiny robots based on manta rays and more.

Automated Animals

See how nature makes our favorite physical activities a little better! Shark Wheel skateboarding and more.

Nature and Physical Activity

Whales have changed the way humans move on land. Today, we go whale watching to discover new inventions inspired by the humpback whale!

Whale Watching

Discover how microscopic bacteria can create organic fertilizer. She heads out to sea to explore '3-D' ocean farming. And a 'cool' solution to refrigeration is inspired by ants, elephants and kangaroos.

Food Goes Green

Host Danni Washington presents the amazing world of Bio-Hybrid science, where sea slugs become robots, spinach plants prevent explosions and jellyfish could help prevent heart failure.

Bio-Hybrid

Our oceans are almost as vast and unexplored as the far reaches of our solar system. Join host Danni Washington as she meets an inventor using squids to create a new kind of camera.

Sea Life Inspires Truth

Whether it's under the ocean, in the jungle, or up in the air, our animal friends can have a remarkable way of presenting themselves to the world.  Bionic boots inspired by the ostrich.  Clothing of the future that could last nearly forever.

Mother Nature Gets Fashionable

Host Danni Washington presents the latest robots, inspired by nature. In this new age of robotics, machines slither like snakes, robots with wings fly like birds and squishy mechanical creatures inch along like worms.

Robots and Drones

When it comes to biomimicry, the Animal Kingdom isn't the only place to look for inspiration! Uncover some of the different ways plants and fungi are inspiring new inventions and technologies - like a pair of baby shoes made from mushrooms.

Budding Ideas

The millions of species on Earth have spent billions of years learning to survive vast changes in climate.  Host Danni Washington follows scientists and inventors as they turn to Nature to help us cope with a warming world.

Mother Nature Takes on Climate Change

Explore the latest advances in medicine, all inspired by nature. Discover a glue made from synthesized mussel adhesive, a prototype for an artificial heart that is part spinach leaf and a new form of cardiogram based on an ivy plant.

Medical

Learn how biomimicry is being used for space exploration. Through virtual reality, visit the International Space Station, learns how a Mars Rover has been inspired by the inchworm and more.

Outer Space

Host Danni Washington experiences amazing new modes of transportation, all inspired by nature. There's a robot on wheels, patterned after sea urchins, that may someday roll on Mars. And a motorcycle inspired by shark skin.

Transportation

Test a new type of glass, inspired by spiders, that deters birds from crashing into it. And she visits a new type of farm that delivers better-tasting produce at a cheaper cost than traditional farms.

Xploration Nature Knows Best

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