Day 2: Of Buzzing Bees and Brainstorms

There was a great feeling of anticipation in the air, as we all gathered today for our 2nd day of the course. It was to be the day that we would have a wholesome immersion into the field of Biomimicry through the lecture of Dr. Videler, a renowned Bionics expert. Just the other day, my friends and I had the opportunity to discuss the semantics behind the use of terms such as Biomimicry, Biomimetics and Bionics to be meaning the same subject with Dr. Appelman. And it was the day we got to know why.
After another interactive session with Dr. Cheng on Being-Here.net, we had got to understand a lot better the purpose behind the use of that website. I was enamoured by the kind of work and concepts people have decided to share on that site. I found quite a few great articles which re-enforced my belief that Biomimicry and the concept of Presence really did need to have a social component. One of the articles that caught my eye was the one where a researcher described an incident where he met a man on his daily commute, who tried to make his fellow passengers smile or laugh. As all of us often feel the stress of our day to day lives, it was nice to know of such altruism. It inspired me. And I felt nice speaking about it when I was randomly chosen to do the same. We all do great things in our own way, but the simple act of making someone smile for no reason is a good deed that surely deserves to be emulated.
The Afternoon session was where we got to see Dr. Videler in action as he so enthusiastically explained his love for the field of bionics through many interesting factoids about honey-bees and how creatures big and small communicate. I for one, was very delighted to see how he demonstrated the Waggle dance, I wish some day that I too remain that enthusiastic about the field of Nanobiotech which I hope to keep pursuing.
And then rang the gong. It was the most awesome part of the day, the Brainstorming session. I enjoyed taking part in that rapid give and take of ideas with my course-mates. I loved being able to put across my ideas and getting to know their takes on final focus points. I was assigned my group on Food/Waste, a topic I willingly took up. As a Chemical Engineer by qualification I felt at ease with it and was happy to hear my group’s take on this topic. We managed several useful minutes of discussion where I was convinced that we can do really well with what we have. Of course, it isn’t truly done till we present, but knowing that my group seems as enthusiastic about it as I am gives me added incentive to make the coming days, truly worthwhile.