Spider Silk will be Commercialized in 2015
Julia WeberCompany AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
Company AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
Are we creating the penicillin or the asbestos of the 21st century? In the months preceding our Nano Supermarket Project , we share some speculative nanotech products with you. …
It might be possible to grow a new heart in labs using spider silk.
In a previous post we have reported on spider silk, it's applications and the way it is produced. Adding the gene responsible for the production of the spider silk protein to …
While some of us might have heard of the humorous but fictional ' spider pig ,' spidergoats are the real deal. Although you might expect to see them lounging in giant webs or …
Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania are creating electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body, through the use of thin, flexible silicon electronics on …
In future electric cables could be made ??of spider webs. 100% natural electric cables, sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s possible! Researcher at Na tional High Magnetic Field …
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.
It looks like spiders are learning from the web and use peer-to-peer technology to build their web: "Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web …
Time to add another superpower to insect silk, which already includes bulletproof skin and implantable microelectronics . Recent research indicates that silk may be an ideal …
Imagine how much easier the job of window cleaners would be if they could simply scale walls like Spider-Man instead of using elevators, ladders and other gear. Ever since the …
The Spider Dress is programmed to define and protect the personal space of the wearer.
In the 1960s, Dr. Peter Witt gave drugs to spiders and observed their effects on web building. Meet the cocaine, LSD, and the crack spider. Corny Alert!
Recent work of artist Jalila Essaïdi exemplifies of how science and art can meet and create meaningful inventions for society. Jalila Essaïdi used the spider silk produced by …
We present for the real sneaker heads amongst us, six new futuristic pieces of footwear. Going from pineapple leather to self lacing 'Back to the Future' Nikes.
Joyce Hwang discusses the challenges for designers, and gains for citizens, of living in a truly biosynthetic city.
From flocks of birds to fish schools in the sea, or towering termite mounds , many social groups in nature exist together to survive and thrive. This cooperative behaviour can be …
Biotechnology is nearly as old as humanity itself. The food you eat and the pets you love? You can thank our ancestors for kickstarting the agricultural revolution, using …
What do in-vitro human skin, spider silk and cow manure have in common? They are all unlikely materials that can cloth, protect and inspire humans, as realized by award-winning …
Biosensors, cultivated meat and spider’s silk. For synthetic biologist and Next Nature ambassador Nadine Bongaerts, these are all advances towards a new world, where polluting …
We recently talked with Suzanne Lee about the textile industry and technology, growing leather in the lab, and the use of new alternative materials in the future of fashion.
As we are calling for debate-provoking nanotech products that might hit the shelves of the Supermarket in the next ten years , some products much crazier than the ones we could …
Julian Melchiorri created a synthetic biological leaf that absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant.
The first time I explained biomimicry to a stranger was not in a talk or a workshop but in a big-box bookstore just after Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature had come out. I …
The most wonderful time of the year can turn stressful quite easily when you run out of exciting gift-ideas. Don't worry, we got you covered.
Finding realistic solutions to the humanitarian and environmental issues in the textile and fashion industries.
In March, Mazda recalled 65,000 cars, not because of any structural faults in the vehicle, but because the engineers had inadvertently created the perfect habitat for a tiny …
As early as 2009-10 , researchers were looking at Twitter data mining as a way to predict the incidence of flu. At the time, the H1N1 virus, or “swine flu,” had made the jump from …
Scientists are using virtual reality environments to help people quit smoking.
We humans are changing. We have become so intertwined with what we have created that we are no longer separate from it. We have outgrown the distinction between the natural and the artificial. We are what we make.
We met Anouk Wipprecht and talked about smart fabrics and accessories that can listen to our body, therapeutic fashion and the future of dressmaking.
Frequent readers of this website might be familiar with our claim that Next Nature emerges from a fusion between the Born and the Made. But now we can add another: the fusion of …
We humans simply feel more comfortable with technological change when it comes in a familiar form that refers to an existing and accepted object, habit, value, tradition or intuition.
Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade and Cooper Hewitt in New York present the comprehensive exhibition NATURE - in which internationally renowned designers, artists and inventors …
In the countdown to the Biggest Visual Power Show 2008 in Los Angeles we post some video's of earlier presentations. The Powershow 2003 in Paradiso, Amsterdam had the world …
The shrinking size of electronics allows for the implantation of increasingly sophisticated electronic devices in the human body, paving the way for new prosthetics and …
Are we creating the penicillin or the asbestos of the 21st century? In the months preceding our Nano Supermarket Project , we share some speculative nanotech products with you. …
An interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".
By attaching to the vagus nerve, a chip can contribute to "natural" weight-loss.
Inspired by the movement of spider webs in the wind, Dutch designer Jeroen Van Der Meij created Breathing Lights.
Zebrafish can regrow fins. Is there a possibility we can regrow bones in the near future?
Read Nicholas Carr's essay on the transhumanist dream of having wings.
The South Beach diet. The Atkins diet. Eating paleo. Cutting out gluten. Going vegan. The list of fad diets and health crazes goes on, yet health statistics in the US and around …
Phytoplankton are microscopic algae living throughout the ocean’s surface waters. They can’t swim and are at the mercy of the currents and tides. Despite their small size, …
The pictures of the Next Nature Biggest Visual Powershow , in Zollverein are now online! Powershowmaster Koert van Mensvoort and Claudia (most advanced robot in the world). …
At the Biggest Visual Power Show 2006 , held in Zollverein, Germany, over twenty artists, designers, filmmakers and philosophers gave their view on Next Nature. Click to watch the …
For the Venezuelan Magazine Platanoverde , Gabriela Valdivieso y Lope Gutiarrez-Ruiz interviewed artist/scientist Koert van Mensvoort and discussed some of the idea's behind Next …
It is a home to crawlers, virusses, search engines, gamers, spammers, chatters, twitters, bloggers, worms and spiders. If calling it alive goes too far, it's still safe to say …
Nice one. I wonder if that wicked spider crane really exists.
Green electricity, Organic Shampoo, Jaguar convertibles, Red Bull, Bio Beef, Alligator gardening tools, Camel cigarettes and Puma sneakers. Once you develop an eye for it, it is …
In this simple but effective guerilla poster action by Moiré , stacks and pillars were disguised as sycamore trees to give the streets of Tokyo that ever so natural look. …
The border between the first and the second category is fluid. With the products in the second category, the link is more content oriented. For instance, by calling a sneaker …
In 1961, the name of Marshall McLuhan was unknown to everyone but his English students at the University of Toronto – and a coterie of academic admirers who followed his abstruse …
When fruit flies die, they don't go to heaven, but they do get to go to outer space. At least that's the conceit of artist HsienYu Cheng's Collector: Afterlife , which zaps bugs …
On June 10, the digital currency Bitcoin lost 30% of its value in a few hours, dropping from US $28.92 to $20.01 per coin. Bitcoins are a largely untraceable form of money, …
Remember the Information Decoration essay which argued our so-called information society barely employs our human bandwidth, as most of the data in our lives is presented in …
The children looked startled. 'Leaving?', Askr asked. 'But it's not time yet!', Embla said. Manko had no clue of what was going on. Not yet time for what? The red ball turned …
Earth has had a geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere for a few billion years. Only within the last several thousand years has earth gained a global noosphere, the intangible …
Intuitively we expect the 100% organic green clothes to be more environmental friendly and sustainable, but is this really the case? The color of cotton is brown by nature, not green. Most manufacturers use chemicals to bleach and paint the cotton.
We call upon designers, technologists and artists to submit their speculative nanotech products for the next round of the NANO supermarket.
From sleek fashion to life-saving medicines. During the forthcoming Dutch Design Week , our lustrous NANO Supermarket debuts a new line of speculative nano products that might hit …
Military action accidentally restores a lost ecosystem.
Submit your speculative product to the NANO Supermarket and win 2500 euro.
A entomologist gives another explanation for that famous fruit fly with ant-patterned wings: it's not evolution, it's human error.
In glass capsules endangered rainforest flora will be able to survive regardless of what happens to their natural habitat.
Researchers Fernandez and Ingber imitated chitin in order to produce durable, biodegradable plastics.
The elderly may toss their walkers for this robotic suit.
Birds are fascinating creatures, but for farmers, airport staff, and waste management specialists, they can prove to be a profound nuisance. How to deal with a flock of birds …
On January 17 1803, a young man named George Forster was hanged for murder at Newgate prison in London. After his execution, as often happened, his body was carried ceremoniously …
We live in a world of fast or disposable fashion. This industry is increasingly impacting the environment due to the use of toxic chemicals, water and energy consumption, heavy …
When I was a kid, my parents took me to the beach every summer. We’d swim in the ocean and play on our inflatable raft in the surf. When the tide was low, I’d build a sand castle …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …
In 1953, a Harvard psychologist thought he discovered pleasure – accidentally – within the cranium of a rat. With an electrode inserted into a specific area of its brain, the rat …
The skies in Beijing turned orange recently, thanks to what was widely reported as a massive sandstorm . The problem, at least in terms of public health, is that it was not …
What if we can use tattoos to measure the concentration of certain components in your blood? Scientists developed a film that can detect the amount of oxygen.
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your …
Wondering how next natural furniture may change your way of life? Will we feed our lamps? Grow chairs? Talk with our tables?