Transdisciplinarity and Biomimicry

On Transdisciplinarity

In my contribution on “Science as Utopia” at the Preparatory Meeting last year, I touched upon the concept of transdisciplinarity, pointing to the fact that research is moving beyond its disciplinary limits. Let me add a few remarks and observations to this concept. In the course of a long institutional route, our academic system has become disturbingly unfathomable.1 This is the case not only ...

Biomimicry in biomedical research

NEWS NEWS aND ViEWS Biomimicry (literally defined as the imitation of life or nature) has sparked a variety of human innovations and inspired countless cutting-edge designs. From spider silk-made artificial skin to lotus leaf-inspired self-cleaning materials , biomimicry endeavors to solve human problems. Biomimetic approaches have contributed significantly to advances biomedical research durin...

Transdisciplinarity: Between mainstreaming and marginalization

Biomimicry and the culinary arts.

We present the results of a recent collaboration between scientists, engineers and chefs. Two particular devices are developed, both inspired by natural phenomena reliant on surface tension. The cocktail boat is a drink accessory, a self-propelled edible boat powered by alcohol-induced surface tension gradients, whose propulsion mechanism is analogous to that employed by a class of water-walkin...

Transdisciplinarity Needs Systemism

The main message of this paper is that systemism is best suited for transdisciplinary studies. A description of disciplinary sciences, transdisciplinary sciences and systems sciences is given, along with their different definitions of aims, scope and tools. The rationale for transdisciplinarity is global challenges, which are complex. The rationale for systemism is the concretization of underst...