Nature’s Wild Ideas: How the Natural World is Inspiring Scientific Innovation

A lively and endlessly fascinating deep-dive into nature and the many groundbreaking human inventions inspired by the wild.

When astronomers wanted a telescope that could capture X-rays from celestial bodies, they looked to the lobster. When doctors wanted a medication that could stabilize Type II diabetic patients, they found their muse in a lizard. When scientists wanted to drastically reduce emissions in cement manufacturing, they observed how corals construct their skeletons in the sea. This is biomimicry in action: taking inspiration from nature to tackle human challenges.

In Nature’s Wild Ideas, Kristy Hamilton goes behind the scenes of some of our most unexpected innovations. She traverses frozen waterfalls, treks through cloudy forests, discovers nests in the Mojave desert, scours intertidal zones and takes us to the deepest oceans and near volcanoes to introduce us to the animals and plants that have inspired everything from cargo routing systems to non-toxic glues, and the men and women who followed that first spark of ‘I wonder’ all the way to its conclusion, sometimes against all odds.

While the joy of scientific discovery is front and center, Nature’s Wild Ideas is also a love letter to nature – complete with a deep message of conservation: If we are to continue learning from the creatures around us, we must protect their untamed homelands.

‘An impressive look at the myriad human innovations that have been derived from animals and plants…Fans of Helen Scales won’t want to miss this.’ – Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘This extraordinary book tells the story of tens of the ways in which scientists are working to learn from nature to solve humanity’s grand challenges. The book is exceptional; there is nothing quite like it. One is left eager to look for other, new solutions, of which there will be many given that there are millions (and some argue trillions) of species on Earth and that we have so far learned the lessons from just a few.’ – Rob Dunn, author of A Natural History of the Future and Never Home Alone

‘Kristy Hamilton’s Nature’s Wild Ideas is replete with beautifully crafted sentences and with genuinely insightful observations that inspire readers to stop, take a breath-and think. Very few people can write on this level.’
– Wendy Williams, author of The Language of Butterflies and the New York Times bestseller The Horse

‘As an engineer and educator teaching a core competency course called \”Bioinspiration\” at a liberal arts college, I highly recommend this book as a must-read for everyone including my students to learn from the brilliance of nature’s problem-solving skills and cherish it as an unlimited source of inspiration now and forever.’ – Rafael (Yong-Ak) Song, Program Head, Bioengineering, New York University Abu Dhabi

‘Witty and delectable, Kristy’s writing takes complex issues and boils them down into bite-sized, digestible portions. Her writing takes us on a journey around the planet (and beyond!) as we explore our own evolutionary histories, and the many species whose lineage continue to influence humanity’s greatest technological innovations. From the Rocky Mountains in Montana to the mussel-laden waters of Washington State, Nature’s Wild Ideas enriches and engages our senses to make us, the reader, feel as if we are a fly on the wall of Kristy’s extensive research and reporting.’ – Madison Dapcevich, Science Journalist and Staff Writer for Snopes

‘Delightful…It takes a skilled journalist like Hamilton to bring highly technical vignettes of scientific innovation to life with such warmth and wit.’ – The Guardian

Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Imprint: Greystone Books US
Publication date: 01/01/2024