NatureTech - Episode 03: Lifepower

Description

Nature has to be efficient in the way it processes information and uses energy so when scientists began to look at nature with biomimetic eyes, it's not surprising that they started to see entirely new visions for our future. Nature's power stations are everywhere -- in the form of leaves. They run on sunlight and their main waste product is oxygen. Now scientists have succeeded in building an artificial leaf, which could produce hydrogen -- the fuel of the future -- powered by nothing but sunlight. And when we park out new non-polluting cars at home or work, what will the buildings be like? For that, scientists are looking at prairie dogs and termites. In Namibia we watch scientists laboriously fill a 3 metre high termite mound with latex, then, under the burning sun, shave away a few millimetres of the mound at a time and photograph it. The end result is the first ever complete 3D model of a termite mound, and it reveals some remarkable stories of how the termites control temperature, carbon dioxide and humidity in the nest. Understanding this, there's no reason why we can't build our own tower blocks on the same principles.

NatureTech, a multi-award-winning series, explores "biomimetics" - the science of looking to nature for answers to modern problems. Why are blossoms never dirty and can we also make our cars that way? Why can geckos walk on the ceiling and can we use their tricks to create better adhesives? Why is the spider's web tougher than steel? Exciting new developments in computer technology, chemistry and physics are now enabling us to understand Nature's designs better than ever before. Scientists are not simply trying to copy nature -- they are taking hints, extracting principles and applying winning designs of evolution in a new, human context. Visually, this series is an attractive, fast-paced mix of stunning natural history shots, computer-assisted design and CGI graphics of futuristic inventions, ultra-modern, spacy architecture and high tech as well as scenes of the world's leading designers and engineers at work, all created by the team that made "Limits of Perception".

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