LinkNotes: database

clipped from www.biomimicryinstitute.org

The Biomimicry Institute is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to nurture and grow a global community of people who are learning from, emulating, and conserving life's genius to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Learn more...

clipped from www.biomimicryinstitute.org

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new science that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example of this “innovation inspired by nature.”

clipped from www.biomimicryinstitute.org

Featured Case Study

The Biomimicry Institute Launches AskNature!

clipped from www.asknature.org

SELF-CLEANING;

PIGMENT-FREE COLOR;

LOW-POWER DISPLAYS;

Butterflies exhibit vibrant colors and stay clean using nano-scale structures on their wings. Designers and engineers have emulated this strategy to create self-cleaning coatings, fabrics and paints, and electronic display screens. AskNature can help you solve your design challenges.
Learn more

2008-06-03

Freebase -- Open Shared Database of The World's Knowledge

Freebase, a product of semantic web company Metaweb, is an open database of information. Unlike Wikipedia, which is a free form resource, Freebase is structured database, with concepts and relationships interlinked into a giant network.

clipped from www.freebase.com

What is Freebase?

Freebase is an open database of the world’s information. It is built by the community and for the community—free for anyone to query, contribute to, build applications on top of, or integrate into their websites.

How's Freebase different from Wikipedia? From GoogleBase?

Wikipedia and Freebase both appeal to people who love to use and organize information.
The difference lies in the way they store information. Wikipedia arranges
information in the form of articles. Freebase lists facts and statistics. Freebase’s list form is good not only for people who like to glance at facts, but also for people who want to use the data to build other web sites and software. Information in article form can’t be reused in the same way (though, obviously, articles are awesome for other purposes).

clipped from www.freebase.com