Page 192 - Biomimetics: Technology Imitates Nature

Biomimetics: Technology Imitates Nature

Wasps and the Paper Industry

A series of chemical processes turn logs of
wood into a kind of pulp that can later be
made into paper. However, the natural inven-
tors of paper are actually wasps.
To build their nests, wasps use paper that
they make by mixing their saliva with shreds of chewed wood. Our fur-
niture industry makes chipboard in exactly the same way, although using
glue instead of saliva. 134
Any wasp resembles a particularly efficient tree-processing and pa-
per making factory. However, all of the processes carried out by large in-
dustrial complexes,
wasps perform with-
in their own tiny
bodies. The paper
industry still has a
lot to learn from
wasps!

This diagram shows the
various processes in pa-
per manufacturing. If just
one of these stages were
skipped, no paper could
be produced. The equiva-
lent to all these processes
is carried out in the tiny
body of the wasp, just a
few centimeters long.

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