Polymers have shaped modern products, with copolymers diversifying applications by increasing the complexity of their components 603 . However, copolymers are typically limited to 2-5 monomers with simple assembly patterns, such as random and alternating blocks, or graft. Biology achieves higher complexity by freely assembling twenty monomers, along with noncanonical amino acids 604 , post-translational modifications and multimerization 605 . This combinatorial genetic code generates all proteins and biological materials, of the molecular landscape 606 (Fig. ). Biomimicry first explores naturally selected optima, or peaks on a molecular landscape, and applies them to engineer superior materials 222 using existing biological machinery and synthetic approaches 602 . Spatiotemporal control over chemical reactions and materials processing conditions is precisely regulated in biological systems, using nanoscale bioreactors, including membrane-less organelles 232 . More than materials, the biological machinery itself is selforganized from the bottom-up, maintained through homeostasis and self-repaired 229 . Using existing developmental trajectories, complex production units can emerge from lower scales of organization 215 . For instance, only a few genes in Drosophila initiate the complex development of a limb, while altering solely the bioelectric field in flatworms affects their whole body plan 241 . A single seed encodes the blueprint for complex plant development. Similarly, self-microfabrication seeks to grow intricate systems from minimal inputs , blending high-tech development with low-tech implementation ('high-dev lowtech'). By engineering the conditions of emergence , living machines self-organize and produce hierarchical biological materials 2 differently than conventional machines 608 .