3.A24 Freshman Seminar: The Engineering of Trees, Spring 2003

Gibson, Lorna J.

Author(s)

Gibson, Lorna J.

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Alternative title

Freshman Seminar: The Engineering of Trees

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Abstract

Why are things in nature shaped the way they are? Why can't trees grow taller than they are? Why is grass skinny and hollow? Why are some leaves full of holes? These are the types of questions Dr. Lorna Gibson's freshman seminar at MIT has been investigating. We invite you to explore with us. Questions such as these are the subject of biomimetic research. When engineers copy the shapes found in nature we call it Biomimetics. the word biomimic comes from bio, as in biology and mimetic, which means to copy. Join us as we explore and look for answers to why similar shapes occur in so many natural things and how physics change the shape of nature.

Date issued

2003-06

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36825

Department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Other identifiers

3.A24-Spring2003

local: 3.A24

local: IMSCP-MD5-589a1038c70bf24c96311956531d4ebb

Keywords

freshman seminar, service learning, biomimetic research, Biomimetics, biology, mimetic, physics, nature, natural engineering, wood, trees

Collections

MIT OCW Archived Courses