Aug 14, 2008-- "Nature is nothing if not extravagant. Responding to unique local conditions, ants have evolved into nearly ten thousand species, several hundred of which can be found in the crown of a single Amazonian tree. Fruit trees produce thousands of blossoms -- an astonishing abundance of blossoms -- in order that another tree might germinate, take root, and grow. Over the past 150 years, however, human ingenuity has resorted more to brute force rather than elegant design. But a renewed emphasis in recent years on design inspired by nature means we can still express the extravagant gesture of life on Earth in the marketplace, in the human community, and in the natural world." This Ode Magazine article shares more. (3387 reads)