Connecting, people, systems, or ideas can be challenging but it is not unprecedented. We find in the natural world nimble connections between distinct elements—in unexpected ways. One thing’s waste is another’s dinner. These connections are indirect: we may or may not be seeing them. But when we step back, let go of old narratives and find inspiration in the new, in everyday intersections, we start seeing overlaps and patterns.
Scott Doorley and Carissa Carter give an example of this in Assembling Tomorrow. Concrete, they share, is the most popular building material in the world. Producing it is a carbon intensive process. Despite many efforts to make it durable, gravity, weather and shifting ground eventually crack it, leading to leaks, corrosion and collapses. However, a group of researchers at the University of Delft saw a connection. They added a little bacteria and calcium lactate (the bacteria’s food) to a concrete mix. The bacteria lied dormant until a crack happened. Rainwater released the food for the bacteria; the bacteria grew; filled the open crack; and, when hit the air, hardened and healed the crack.
New connections make shape shifts. They are around us: in the natural world (how does the tree cling to the rock?) and in the interfaces in the human-made world (how does the pen mark the paper?).
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