Pulse: How Nature is Inspiring the Technology of the 21st Century

Nothing less than a blueprint for a new way of living: a global movement which aims to marry the fruits of technology with the essential truths of Mother Nature Bridges made with spider silk; ships that swim like fish; rubber as supple as a dragonfly's wing - innovations like these are at the forefront of the concept of 'the new biology'. A way of using nature as a model for human designs, the new biology is a growing force in many different fields, and will have enormous impact on the development of the twenty-first century. Companies like IBM, Volvo and AT&T are already exploring how we can learn from and use properties that exist in nature, and how to improve cost-efficiency by using concepts like 'design for disassembly', whereby each component of a product can be recycled at the end of the product's natural life. Waste products, too, are increasingly being used as raw materials, so one industry's rubbish is another's power. Creating 'industrial ecologies' like these lies at the heart of the new biology: a new way of thinking for a new millennium. The essential introduction to this idea, PULSE is a fascinating look at how we might be living in the 21st century.

About the Author :
Early on, Robert was a conceptual artist, a commercial and fine art photographer, worked as a draftsman for architects, and designed 'supergraphics' for walls and other large public spaces. Later, he published a glossy entertainment guide called New York Jazz. He also conceived and co-produced the first Greenwich Village Jazz Festival, a ten-day event that included the largest concert ever held in Washington Square Park, with twenty-five thousand people in attendance. Still later he worked as a researcher for periodicals ranging from Sports Illustrated and Fortune to Vanity Fair and The New York Times; was for many years a contributing editor and feature writer for Audubon Magazine; spearheaded a real estate effort that raised some four million dollars in federal funding toward a green community plan in upstate New York; and has now, some might say inevitably, become the writer of a book that reports on almost everything else. Author Location: New York, NY

Review :
An ambitious book that covers many different scientific disciplines - INDEPENDENT Frenay is essentially right that the world is becoming less machine-age and more eco-system-like - SUNDAY TIMES A massive, exhilarating account of the new, intersecting horizons of biology and technology . . . A grand sermon on the way ahead, it's good value for anyone thinking about our future - GLASGOW HERALD