Talking non-human nonsense with Nonhuman Nonsense
Ruben BaartNonhuman Nonsense is a research-driven design and art studio existing somewhere between utopia and dystopia. They wonder upon our relationship with the non-human, embracing …
Nonhuman Nonsense is a research-driven design and art studio existing somewhere between utopia and dystopia. They wonder upon our relationship with the non-human, embracing …
Researchers at the University of California discovered that bots now excel at solving CAPTCHAs faster and more accurately than humans.
Computer-controlled players in video games can usually be spotted for their repetitive, illogical or unemotional behavior. Unlike humans, non-player characters (NPCs) don't get …
' Team Human ' is a manifesto—a fiery distillation of media theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilization and human nature. In one hundred lean and incisive …
Principle number four: Humane technology should resonate with the human senses, rather than numbing them. If you're an office worker or a video game fanatic , you may spend most …
Humans and other hominids have a reputation for bringing about mass extinctions. Homo erectus has been blamed for the disappearance of many African carnivores, our ancestors …
Buckle up for a new video from our favorite performance philosopher Jason Silva: To Be Human Is To Be Transhuman.
Humanity has for a long time considered itself the most important species on the planet. We are quite happy to share the world with other species, but we think we know who's in …
NNN director Koert van Mensvoort writes a letter to humanity.
Nowadays mechanical intelligence is often chosen over that of our own human capabilities. But there was a time where our computers were still not always a match against our own …
And now for the sixth and final principle: Humane technology improves the human condition and helps people realize the dreams they have of themselves. No matter what your …
AI sure knows how to throw a banger of a dinner party. One that guests will never forget - or outlive. When New Zealand grocery store chain PAK’nSAVE introduced their new …
Our second principle: Humane technology revives human intuitions, in particular those we might have forgotten about. 'Conventional' technology aims to overcome our hominid …
The third principle of humane technology: It should take human values as a cornerstone of its development. Technology doesn't have to be expensive or electronic to be humane. …
When you look through a super-telescope, you can still see the planet Earth. Once called the blue planet, she now looks red and parched. We had no choice but to abandon her… On a …
New technologies – from artificial intelligence to synthetic biology – are set to alter the world, the human condition, and our very being in ways that are hard to imagine. The …
We must be mindful about how we engage with technology: what we use it for, why, and whether it helps us or hinders us. Sometimes our tech seems to be flowing in inhumane …
Around the world thousands of people are on organ donor waiting lists. While some of those people will receive the organ transplants they need in time, the sad reality is that …
Stick-on shoes, wakeup lights, bionic limbs: these are examples of humane technology. But what exactly does this mean? It can best be explained in contrast with its opposite. …
We must be mindful about how we engage with technology: what we use it for, why, and whether it helps or hinders us. Sometimes our tech seems to be flowing in inhumane directions, …
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 …
In 1486, six years before Columbus dropped anchor in the New World, the 23-year-old Italian nobleman Giovanni Pico della Mirandola penned a passionate discourse on the unique …
Technology can help us to connect with our surroundings. Think about the microscope: it revealed ecosystems beyond our visual reach allowing us to look at the smallest inhabitants …
What if design began to put everything but the human first? The needs of the human not paramount to the design process, but instead the other entities that we cohabit planet earth …
Lately it seems that every movie, book and video game we see is about future apocalypses. Science articles are also painting a grim future for Earth and its inhabitants. If it’s …
Humans have been changing the composition of the atmosphere for years, resulting in concerns such as air pollution and extreme climate events. According to Filips Stanislavskis , …
The nature of humanity in the twenty-first century is, according to sociologist Steve Fuller, a ‘bipolar disorder’ beset with dualisms of identification such as divine/animal, …
There seems to be a green shift happening in Dutch Design, where the traditional vision is slowly sprouting into a newer, more refreshing one. The biodesigners are emerging from …
Meet Humanity beyond Race, it's Beautiful
Dutch mechanical-engineer Jarnos Smeets dreams of flying like bird. Nothing new really, many people have had this dream for ages. Yet being an engineer and all, Jarnos is seriously propelling his dream towards a reality.
Occupying the 52nd floor of Tokyo’s Mori Tower, Mori Art Museum is internationally renowned for its visionary approach and highly original curation of contemporary art. The …
The artificial womb is on the verge of becoming a reality, but how it will affect our culture is for us to decide.
As we go about our daily activities, we may lose sight of our connections with nonhuman life. Here are three exhibitions to encourage you to step outside of your everyday and …
Written by Kevin Kelly , published in The Technium . I claim that technology has its own agenda. What is the evidence that technology as a whole, or the technium as I call it, is …
The textile industry is the second largest polluter in the world that leads to a chain reaction of nasty results: loss of biodiversity, water pollution and soil erosion are just a …
Heartbeat of the Earth aims to make the climate change crisis more relatable and visually striking to spark public reactions and attention.
Pair-bonding sets humans apart from our relatives. But where did it come from?
The SAVE THE HUMANS! book is now available on our web shop.
Featuring different cities at night, the Next Nature Glowing Planet T-shirt highlights the enchanting beauty of our glimmering world.
Scientists keeping a human embryo alive in lab for 13 days for the first time.
A team of researchers are currently investigating the fusion of human brain cells with artificial intelligence. Creepy or innovative?
Is human activity altering the planet on a scale comparable to major geological events of the past? Scientists are now considering whether to officially designate a new …
In Ngogo, Gombe and elsewhere in Africa, bands of male chimpanzees regularly make organized raids on neighboring troops and batter their enemies to death. These grim, warring …
The definition of the noosphere as "the sphere of human thought on earth" is woefully anthropocentric. It ignores that fact that our fellow sentient organisms have noospheres of …
Wu Tzu-ning presents a posthuman reality from genetic engineering to digital afterlife.
Human test subjects felt empathy for dinosaur robots being cuddled or abused.
In 2016 a team of biologists has successfully kept a human embryo alive in the lab for 13 days, breaking the previous record of nine days.
Interview witth TEDx on how people are technological by nature, yet how we also need humane technology to remain human, or become even more human than we are today.
We tend to think of plastic as a cheap, inferior and ugly material used to make children’s toys, garden furniture and throwaway bottles. But as an experiment, imagine for a moment …
Eating meat has made us who we are today: evolved, intelligent humans, able to use a verbal language.
Read the Letter to Humanity in Morse Code.
On the occasion of the Earth Day, 22 April 2017, philosopher Koert van Mensvoort wrote his Letter to Humanity.
Global warming is "very likely" a human-caused problem that will last for centuries and require concerted international action to reduce its potentially devastating impacts, a …
We call upon you, dear readers, to participate in a new publication from the Next Nature Network: SAVE THE HUMANS!.
By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times , December 11, 2007 The pace of human evolution has been increasing at a stunning rate since our ancestors began spreading through Europe, Asia …
What are the characteristics of the perfect leader? The answer could be found looking at nature.
Next Thursday, February 11, the Hoxton Hotel in Amsterdam dedicates an evening to our newest publication: 'Save the Humans!'
Intensive agriculture may be nourishing most of the Earth’s inhabitants, but it’s doing the opposite to earth itself. Its dependence on singular crops, heavy ploughing machinery, …
Scientists in the UK applied for permission to create part-cow, part-human embryos for research aimed at treating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The embryos created …
Humans are the only species on earth that cooks its food. Not only do we cook our food, but we usually find the flavor of cooked foods preferable to the raw version. Compare the …
All too often, technology frustrates us. It forces our behavior into constrained pathways. Even more insidious, technology can knock us out of alignment with our values, goals or …
Principle number five: Humane technology doesn't outsource people, but instead empowers them. How healthy or humane is it to have an escalator to the gym? Humane technology should …
The human body as an instrument is a cool example of how culture and nature are merging. Calvin Harris used a giant human synthesizer to perform his single. The material used is …
The increasing ‘liveliness’ of machines and accessibility to the virtual world has raised questions about whether it is possible to uncouple the mind from the body in through a …
Nissan’s Engineers Are Creepily Trying To Replicate Human Skin
For our new book "Save the Human" we invite you to submit quotes that question the autonomy of mankind in the digital computer era and study the future of the independent creative spirit.
Company Blue Frontiers wants to build 7.500 square meters of floating city made up of linked platforms, starting 2018. They hope to complete it by 2020.
Imagine being 16 and studying for a job that soon won't exist. What kind of future is that? New occupations will come thanks to robotization.
This question is an excerpt from the Pyramid of Technology toolkit In the late nineties, the Tamagotchi egg was released. A small egg-shaped device that contained a digital …
Lots of clouds this week. The peculiar picture above shows the eruption of mount Pinatubo in 1991, which apparently resulted in a certain amount of global cooling (next to some …
Arne Hendricks thinks we can solve the ecological crisis by shrinking every human on earth to 50cm tall: http://bit.ly/sxxNr1 #powershow
The American Chemical Society has announced a new method of producing gelatin that sounds like good news for cannibals and the canni-curious. Researchers are able to create …
So you thought the Internet was made by and for people? Think again. A study by Incapsula , a provider of cloud-based security for web sites (mind you where this data comes from), …
Krill, those tiny members of the ocean's planktonic community, have an importance disproportionate to their size. They are a vital food for whales, penguins and increasingly, …
Historian Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a journey through the whole human history.
Scientists have been trying to develop GM pigs that could be used to solve the shortage of organs for transplant patients.
If we'll ever get to go to Mars as tourists , we wouldn't get lost. Ordnance Survey , the official British mapping agency, recently released a new detailed map of the Red Planet. …
In 16th and 17th centuries, some medical theory believed that a miniature human body can be produced in a flask by an alchemist.
Toregem Biopharma designed an antibody drug that can possibly regenerate teeth using the body's own tissues.
I never expected anthropomorphobia to be evoked by a fish! This hybrid species fish was born between a carp and a leather carp in the pond of a personal house in Chongju. Each of …
"We live in a time where everything or everyone can be upgraded or ‘pimped'. After the worldwide acceptance of plastic surgery, it was time to subject our worldly possessions …
All living creates produce light by default, so do humans . Now researchers from US, China, Korea and Singapore collaborated have collaborated in order to create ultra-thin …
Alveoli in human lungs serve as the inspiration for designing better, stronger ways of storing compressed natural gas.
The food writer Bee Wilson, author of Consider the Fork , has put forth a surprising theory about forks and teeth that has received widespread online coverage. According to …
All humans on Earth put together are not enough to fill the Grand Canyon. We are so small yet so present.
Robots are coming to replace humans at work, are they a real threat to the world’s unemployed?
Three minutes in the mind of Juan Enriquez, director of Synthetic Genomics.
A musical robot able to improvise a jazz solo in response to an actual person performing jazz.
Is human cloning here? Chinese scientist is ready to clone people at his ‘replication factory’.
Go world champion Ke Jie has lost two games of 'Go' against Google's DeepMind AI system AlphaGo.
Designer Arianna Pezzano creates prosthetic nipples using keratine coming from the hair that cancer patients lose during chemotherapy.
Imagine a graveyard without tombstones, instead there are growing trees that contain genetic material of the deceased people burried there. Biopresence creates Human DNA trees by …
Think of this sonic vibe-technology inside any MP3 player ;)
What will the human race look like in 1, 2, 3, 4 million years? Will it be one human race? Will there be a human race? Impressions of future scenario's must come from scientists, …
Artist Nadine Jarvis fabricates pencils from carbon left over of cremated humans -- it's part of a larger "research project into post mortem." She notes that "240 pencils can be …
Starting next spring, a complete human-genome sequence can be ordered the Californian startup Complete Genomics for just $5,000, Techreview reports. Currently sequencing still …
Modern society seems to have transformed human nature into a pathology. Our emotions are controlled by drugs. We are forced to operate within a narrow bandwith of what are …
Anthropomorphobic object of the week. Created by Sarah Hatch .
For a while now printer ink is probably the most expensive liquid per litre on earth. Still we need our images so badly that we accept this fact. The Human Printer manages to make …
"It's time to recognize the Internet as a basic human right" its inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said.
AAAGCTCGGTTATAACCATCATTTTCCGAAGACCAGCTACAGCTCACTGCAATTT Gene expression technology is used to evaluate changes in genes being visualised in normal and transformed cells. Changes …
I think all Nature has a fractal structure, from Planet to Atoms. Website: Fractalary: Fractals from Planet to Atoms
This peculiar, half-human creature could be your cousin. No really; it is a sculpture by Patricia Piccinini entitled The Young Family , which, in turn, is part of a larger …
Fleshmap touch investigates the collective perception of erogenous zones. Hundreds of people ranked how good it would feel to touch or be touched by a lover in different points of …
As a gamer, I come across many visions of possible futures. But this trailer from the upcoming video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution , the third part in the Deus Ex series shocked …
The economic system and profit motive has been a driving force that steers and even dictates social change. Investors and stockbrokers have been a major influence to these social …
Clothing giant H&M no longer uses real humans in its online catalog. The company has admitted that it pastes real models' heads on computer-generated bodies. At least there's …
Part 10 in the 11 part series Anthropomorphism and Design . The hidden danger with interactive products is that they will become so good at fulfilling our needs that they start to …
Researchers in the US have been shocked to discover a beluga whale whose vocalisations were remarkably close to human speech.
Just when you thought the Second Life hype was long gone, meet Ukrainian body artist Valerie Lukyanova who aims to turn Second Life into First Life. They call her the Human …
Imagine the devastation when there are more Lego minifigs on Earth than humans...
The Human Hamster Wheel Desk is the latest result of workspace evolution. Office work has domesticated us!
A new biotech startup seeks to hack our cells to use solar energy instead of carbon and oxygen.
To thread the uncanny valley is a conscious choice for many artists and enthusiasts, as a means to evoke, through their work, powerful emotions, thoughts and everything in between.
De Motu is an interactive music app that let you experience your body through music and influence the sound with your own body.
This video by Nature explains the complexity of networks on our planet.
Artist Lauren McCarthy launched a project called LAUREN in which she embodies a eponymous human smart home assistant.
Under the title Human Nature, designing the equilibrium, eleven designers will answer questions about a future in which Humankind and Nature enter into a new relationship. An …
Gene editing is advancing at a faster pace than most of us can keep up with. One significant recent announcement was gene editing tool CRISPR’s application to non-genetic diseases …
Driving long distances without a passenger can be lonely. If you’ve ever done it, you might have wished for a companion to talk to – someone emotionally intelligent who can …
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) You dehumanize a man as much by returning him to nature - by making him one with rocks, vegetation, and animals - as by turning him into a machine. Both …
A tribute to the virtual world boomeranging back to the physical world by Mega64 . Or do you rather prefer the corny japanese gameshow version? Via Engadget ,
Why not use the human body to grow products for the medical industry? The designer Michael Burton envisions Future Farm where the body is used as a farm to cultivate clinical and …
Our peculiar image of the week was created by artist Levi van Veluw , who reinvents the classical fine art of landscape painting, by moving from the traditional 'oil on canvas' to …
Within our society, imitation and simulation are typically seen as inferior symbols of a distorted mediated culture – think of fake Rolexes, plastic Christmas trees, silicone …
Much attention has recently been devoted to 'gay' animals. It's not the fact that many species have enthusiastic homosexual lives that should be surprising – there are convincing …
Part 8 of the 11 part series Anthropomorphism and Design . Anthropomorphic products blur the boundaries between products and people. Ethical norms for people don’t usually apply …
In combining the classic feeling of handling a book with the interactivity of the computer, Waldek W?grzyn of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, has created a new human-computer interface.
Will writing software eventually replace journalists?
Artist Maja Smrekar modified yeast with her own DNA to produce human lactic acid.
Workers are completely controlled by algorithms in Amazon's fulfillment center
Warning, this video on the impact of automation on human labor might cause you to re-plot you professional career.
New media technology from South Korea: a gigantic human display compiled from supporters cheering their soccer teams . One pixel per supporter. See also: Skyscreen , A4 e-paper .
Dolphins in Port Adelaide, Australia, have been observed performing a remarkable trick : tail-walking, a trait so rare it has only been seen in the wild one other time. More …
Cake or death? Cake! The Slice cake is a (vegetarian) vision of the forms lab-grown meat may take in the future.
What does Barbie look like when she has the proportions of a normal 19-year-old?
Buckle up for a cinematic espresso shot from performance philosopher and NNN ambassador Jason Silva.
French performance artist hatches 10 hen's eggs in Palais de Tokyo.
Lyrebird is an AI model capable of synthesizing anyone’s voice from just a one-minute audio sample.
This unpractical yet not less pretty anthropomorphic furniture piece was created by photographer David Blazques . We are clueless on whether it is in permanent use, yet it serves …
Just a project for now, but a far more creative way to deal with unsightly public works than tree-shaped antennas.
There’s no place on earth untouched by human activity: This was clear as Lucas Foglia whizzed across the vast, white expanse of Alaska's Juneau Ice Field last summer. He was …
With the invention of the radio antenna in the late 19th century, we became a different species: Introducing the human insect. A species, able to communicate across oceans using …
What makes us human? And why do we sometimes fear artificial intelligence? And what about technological singularity - the moment in time when artificial intelligence outperforms …
The idea of colonizing Mars has become the big speculative future of humanity on Earth. But, artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg has radically different ideas to contribute to the …
Are you familiar with the affliction? Anthropomorphobia is the fear of recognizing human characteristics in non-human objects. The term is a hybrid of two Greek-derived words: …
What does the supermarket of the future look like? The Embassy of Food at Dutch Design week.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for many artists and designers, yet the urgency to connect to nature is more pressing than ever. Environmental issues such as …
Read Nicholas Carr's essay on the transhumanist dream of having wings.
We had the honor of hosting Bruce Sterling in our Next Nature Network headquarters to talk to him about the concept of the convergence of humans and machines.
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 …
Speculative designer Agi Haines' work focuses on (re)designing the human body, and speculates upon future scenarios.
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Would you like to see your work here? Get in touch …
Floris Kayak discusses online hoaxes and the future of technology.
Bioprinter creates bespoke lab-grown body parts for transplant.
Reduce, reuse, recycle. We know the drill. But how do we cope with a junkyard in space?
A psychiatrist argues that beer gave us civilization - but do intoxicants play a deeper evolutionary role than that?
A must-read to the Next Nature fan: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human (2009). Written by British primatologist Richard Wrangham, the author shares his hypothesis that …
Nature provided humans with an extensive set of sensory modalities, allowing our brain to constantly gather sundry inputs from the outer world. These sensory inputs help us …
The connection we share through the Internet has laid the foundation for a whole new digital infrastructure, in which blockchain technology is heralded by many believers for being …
Meet the 'Eco-Visionaries' , these are the architects, artists and designers who respond to some of the most urgent ecological issues of our times. This exhibition reveals how …
Sleep and dream like a koala, relax under biodiversity and feel the meditative effect of artificial wildlife.
Augment your physiology. Enhance your prospects. From neuro-electronics, to robotic-prosthetics and mind-altering pharmaceuticals.
Sen is a space television network that provides visuals from other planets in order to prepare us for our multi-planetary life.
New study suggests that the real environmental problem is embodied in the things we buy.
Is the use of personal devices becoming a replacement for the spectrum of emotions that make us all humans?
While Elon Musk may be trying to initiate efforts to colonize Mars, scientists on Earth are attempting to build an accurate digital twin of the planet to simulate in the future. …
Our bodies are microbiomes, suffering from our habit of cleanliness.
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 would use the idea of symbiosis as the basis for the next period of Earth’s history?
Nigel Gifford is developing a drone that will be relatively inexpensive, disposable and edible.
You are what you eat; a quite common message in the midst of our self-growth society. We have to eat well to become the best version of ourselves - more productive, healthier …
The ultimate personal hygiene product, feces odor tablets, is another Japanese innovation sold by the Takano Yori Beauty Clinic . These pills promise to make your excrement …
For the first time in history the world population counts more people who are too fat than too thin.
I remember the smoke the most. That pungent smell permeating the camps of tribal people. Everything they touch is infused with the lingering perfume of smoke – their food, …
If Neanderthals ever walk the earth again, the primordial ooze from which they will rise is an emulsion of oil, water, and DNA capture beads engineered in the laboratory of 454 …
Previously, experiences of time emerged from nature as given – offering seasons, the rhythm of humans, plants and animals. Nowadays, people integrate nature-time, body-time, inner-time, clock-time, and global 24/7 systems-time. Human beings, in past, current and next natures, have to deal with emergence and design of time in order to survive.
When techno–optimist and fellow at the Hybrid Reality Institute , Jason Silva, meets with Richard Doyle, author of Darwin's Pharmacy: Sex, Plants and the Evolution of the …
The Moon Gallery aims to set up the first permanent museum on the Moon. Soon launching to the International Space Station, full of ideas worth sending to the Moon. The gallery is …
A stunning pre-history of the anthropocene
Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids, laments the Rocket Man in Elton John’s timeless classic. In fact, it’s cold as hell. But that doesn’t seem to worry a new …
Pleun van Dijk is a speculative artist/designer who investigates the intimate relationship between human and technology.
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Want to see your work here? Get in touch and …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Do humans exist merely to make money and use resources? Vandana Shiva believes humans have a higher purpose.
Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek discusses the 'naturalization' of capitalism and how ecology became a new field of capitalist investment. He also argues that the ultimate …
Today we hold the ability to gather a lot of knowledge, thanks to science. We are able to watch, analyze, manipulate and change matter to the nano-level. This makes it tempting to …
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 …
Technology is nestling itself within us and between us, has knowledge about us and can act just like us.
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 …
How technology becomes nature in seven steps
We have entered the Anthropocene epoch, in which humanity and its instrumentalities are the most potent and influential geological force.
This project - the Next Nature Network - is about Nature's brand image. One might surmise that "Nature," being 100 percent all-natural, can't have any brand image. The facts …
Like it or loathe it, the robot revolution is now well underway and the futures described by writers such as Isaac Asimov , Frederik Pohl and Philip K. Dick are fast turning from …
Energy policy blah blah blah, life cycle analysis blah blah blah, energy return on energy invested, peak oil, carbon footprint, renewables, hydro, nuclear, blah blah blah blah …
The introductory essay from the Yes, Naturally book - available in our store!
'Big History' is a multidisciplinary study that seeks to put the human story into the context of a 13.8 billion-year story from the Big Bang to now.
What is the meaning of art on the moon? Artist on the Moon is the latest project from Icelandic visual artist Borghildur Indriðadóttir , who aims to perform for the stars and …
We recently spoke to Ilari Laamanen, to peel the outcrops of Momemtum9, and unveil the overlapping themes to the next nature philosophy.
Our deficiencies have always driven us, even among our distant ancestors, back in the last Ice Age. Having neither the speed and strength to hunt large prey, nor sharp teeth and …
For years, normality has been stretched nearly to its breaking point, a rope pulled tighter and tighter, waiting for a nip of the black swan’s beak to snap it in two. Now that the …
Make no mistake, you're not looking at the latest Barbie line: These are the The Pussycat Dolls. Formerly an LA stripper show burlesque show, now upgraded to be pop music …
In configuring our next nature, artists and scientists explore new languages that move beyond the Anthropocene - the era of human beings. These semantics would bridge the gap …
What does the merge of bodies and technology mean for the human? For cyborg Kai Landre, cybernetic extensions become body parts and not technology. Kai began his transition to a …
The way we currently build is not sustainable. We will have to develop a sustainable living environment that matches our human needs, intuitions and potential.
We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …
If we could extend our senses in order to perceive the planet in a deeper way, would our understanding and our behavior towards it be different? We caught up with cyborg …
Demand for life-saving organ transplantation is at an all-time high. In 2021, a record 41,000-plus organ transplants were performed in the U.S., with top numbers for kidney, liver …
Ten books that continue to inspire the next nature philosophy—gathered for you to read this summer.
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 …
From nutrients within an organism, to organisms within collectives, to populations within a territory and so on - nature offers models on how to deal with highly complex systems.
Are we alone in the universe? The famous Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) programme has been trying to answer this question since 1959. American astronomer Carl …
Scientists have discovered the effect of sunscreen on corals. We need to understand our impact on the world to understand its problems.
Invasive species become the animal symbols for a man-made world.
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 …
Digital and genetic techniques increasingly influence life. Our belief in progress through technology stands in the way of a moral debate on this development. By Rinie van Est We …
During the event The Biosphere Code, Stockholm University researcher Victor Galaz and colleagues outlined a manifesto for algorithms in the environment.
While aviation accounts for 2.4% of all emissions from fossil fuel use globally, two-thirds of the sector’s warming effect depends on something other than its CO₂ emissions. And …
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, …
If we want to bring down global CO2 emissions to zero, we will need technological innovation and massive infrastructure projects.
People in the world’s developed nations live in a post-industrial era, working mainly in service or knowledge industries. Manufacturers increasingly rely on sensors, robots, …
Visual artist Heleen Blanken explores the complex relationship between people, nature and technology.
A Dutch artist designs a Utopian eco-socialist online society.
The next step is to embrace and celebrate how cultural artifacts are escaping control, becoming autonomous, and forming the “next nature”.
Interview with Liam Young on his work in speculative architecture, the future, and our role in nature as humans.
There it is. A hefty hen, with its head up high and its beak out. And a gigantic VR headset over its beady little eyes. What does this battery hen see? ‘An experience of a free …
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 …
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 …
Imagine if everyone spoke a language that you don’t understand. It’s not a foreign language–it’s been spoken around you since the day you were born–but where as everyone else …
Let’s talk about the most controversial of "m words"—monogamy. And let’s have this conversation with in mind its prehistoric origins. Our modern picture of prehistoric societies …
The image of the whole Earth as seen from space has become a symbol of the environmental movement. Time for an update?
If we are to build a greener, fairer and more equal society in the wake of COVID-19, it’s time for rich countries to end their practice of dumping plastic waste in developing …
Imagine if you could power your kettle using the energy generated from the vegetable cuttings quietly breaking down in your kitchen’s compost bin. That reality might not be so far …
Global warming is a big challenge for warm-blooded animals, which must maintain a constant internal body temperature. As anyone who’s experienced heatstroke can tell you, our …
It’s widely known that the world has a plastics problem. What’s less widely known is that we have a similar problem with another kind of waste: electronics
Using the waste streams from the chemical industry and urine to make biocement.
At the edge of the woods along the motorway near the Dutch town of Bloemendaal, there stands a mobile telephone mast disguised as a pine tree. This mast is not nature: at best, it …
The history of art through the ages reveals a constancy that, by conscious or unconscious applications, provides us with an omnipresent correlation dealing with the …
Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
Every day brings fresh and ever more alarming news about the state of the global environment. To speak of mere “climate change” is inadequate now, for we are in a “ climate …
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 …
Then, as now, one person could literally change the course of history, with nothing more than an idea.
Uli Westphal's Seed Series is an ongoing attempt to document the seeds of all edible plants, one seed at a time.
One of the arguments that environmentalists use against factory farming and burning fossil fuels is that these activities are "unnatural" or that they "go against nature." But …
A respected astrobiologist argues that a radical new process called geoengineering might be the only way to save us from climate change.
Last month I had the opportunity to immerse myself in Tokyo’s newly opened digital art landscape, the Mori Digital Art Museum. The museum stands out for it enables virtual …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Want to see your work here? Get in touch and …
Assisted evolution raises complex questions. The practice involves human intervention to increase the rate of natural evolutionary processes. A technique that inevitably …
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 …
Our bodies are maps of our ancestor's social lives. We evolved, physically and behaviorally, in incredibly complex social groups. Such intense sociability may have favored the …
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.
The idea that AI can compose electronic music may sound a little off to people. It raises essential questions about creativity as a product exclusive to humans: can an AI be …
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 …
How will we stay healthy in the future? Can we utilize the power of design to move towards a more healthy society?
The coverstory of Next Nature Magazine investigates how the rise of virtual influencers on social media reveals a superorganism.
When Earth goes south, cowboys go all the way up. The Space Rush of 2020s has something to do with settler colonialism.
Steven Levy writes in Wired on the unexpected turn of the Artificial Intelligence revolution: rather than whole artificial minds, it consists of a rich bestiary of digital fauna, …
Google's PlaNet will be soon able to tell you where a photograph was taken by simply looking at its contents.
We talked with Bas Haring to discuss the conception, image and will of the robot. Read our conversation with him and update your ideas about robots.
A large-scale asian food market serving in vitro meat, a transatlantic expo on the future of nature and a travelling exhibition that explores our relationship with AI. These five …
Is social media ruining the world? Dramatic political polarization. Rising anxiety and depression. An uptick in teen suicide rates. Misinformation that spreads like wildfire. The …
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 …
There is a domain of creatures that diffusively encircles an entire planet. There are so many of them that they occupy every conceivable ecological niche. Yet, despite their …
Artist Arne Hendriks gave a lustrous talk on the possibilities of downsizing humanity to better fit the earth.
In this essay, anti-civilization, anarchist philosopher John Zerzan critiques the concept of 'next nature.' He argues that rather than freeing us, our self-domestication through …
In vitro meat has the capacity to transform meat production as we know it, introducing an entirely new way of thinking about and interacting with food.
As if stand-alone technologies weren’t advancing fast enough, we’re in age where we must study the intersection points of these technologies. How is what’s happening in robotics …
Humans often claim to be at the top of the food chain, but is that really the case? We are experiencing – now more than ever – our own fragility: an increase in natural disasters, …
When the first baby is born off-Earth, it will be a milestone as momentous as humanity’s first steps out of Africa . Such a birth would mark the beginning of a multi–planet …
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 …
Next Senses explores the unchartered territory of how we could experience the world with technology
Written by Werner Lippert & Peter Wippermann, Curators of the Entryparadise exhibition (26/8 until 3/12, 2006, at Kohlenwäsche, Zollverein) Design is about to undergo a …
The Singularity , as popularized by Ray Kurtzweil, refers to a near term, theoretical time when machine intelligence greatly surpasses our own. At this point we will experience a …
Technology helps us understand the unfolding of the Anthropocene.
A recent study demonstrated how artificial light is a serious threat to plant pollination. It puts plant reproduction in danger, as well as the whole ecosystem.
Scientists developed a procedure to repair your heart with a spinach leaf.
A gadget called HumanCharger promises "the sun in your pocket" to give you energy, by beaming light through your ears.
A team of German researchers published a study earlier this week indicating people can be duped into leaving a robot turned on just because it “asks” them to. The …
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 …
We live in turbulent times. Thanks to science and technology, we are able to perceive our environment down to the atomic level. We can read DNA, manipulate cells, cut and paste …
Some 10,000 years ago humans began to domesticate plants and animals. The birth of agriculture, one of the earliest technologies available.
John Zerzan, published in Green Anarchy issue #24 - Spring/Summer 2007 The rapidly mounting toll of modern life is worse than we could have imagined. A metamorphosis rushes …
The Made and the Born: Neo-Biological civillization, written by Kevin Kelly, excerpt from Out of Control : The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World, …
From chef, to nurse, and also lover. Get ready, a new generation of robots is going to invade our lives!
A road safety campaign in the Australian state of Victoria exposed an educational, yet confronting picture to raise awareness to the vulnerable human body on the road.
Interview with Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret.
Robots are getting stronger and smarter every day. They are taking over our whole lives. How long will I have my job before a robot steals it?
A rosy-cheeked kid learns her first words, cries when her babysitter leaves, smiles when she’s happy, but she’s not real. BabyX is an AI research-in-progress by a company named Soul Machines.
Over time, our bodies, our food and our environment have become more and more subject to design. As designers, we hold the responsibility and have the unique chance to envision …
Would you like a dog snout, cat eyes or fluffy bunny ears? The choice is yours. Virtual selfie filters have become a widespread phenomenon on social media platforms such as …
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 science fiction and popular science, 2030 is often suggested as the year in which our planet will run out of oil. Similarly, 2100 will be the year that, according to …
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 …
In 2020, scientists made global headlines by creating “ xenobots ” – tiny “ programmable ” living things made of several thousand frog stem cells. These pioneer xenobots could …
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 …
In conversation with architect Julia Watson, a leading expert on Indigenous technologies and author of 'Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism'.
We have identified eight key defining moments that tell the story of geodesign, from ancient insight to artificial intelligence.
Erich Berger has a 96 year old grandmother who is a cyborg. She features dentures, hearing aids, glasses, pace maker, a metal implant on the pinkie toe, and more. Quotes from the …
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.
Meet Amelia, the first robot to work along with human coworkers in a council job.
Researchers prove that pristine landscapes haven’t existed for thousands of years, therefore we should change or mindset before trying to save the planet.
Ecosexuality reconceptualizes our perspective on the biosphere by having consensual experiences with it.
How can we design a cryptocurrency for the better of humanity and ecology? In this last chapter of the crypto deep dive series , we will dissect two kinds of blockchain …
Last week, the gene editing world was hit by news the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. In a video on YouTube , Dr. Jiankui He at Southern University of Science and Technology in …
As modern humans, we are out of balance with our natural environment. With use of technology, we try to prolong our human lifespan and create materials that live longer than we …
Humans have been manipulating living things for thousands of years. Examples of early biotechnologies include domesticating plants and animals and then selectively breeding them …
Pink chickens, synthesized tiger penises and salads grown from bodily fluids - how could they shape our future? In a Next Nature collaboration with the Gogbot Festival, the …
Surrounded by greyness and with the air around you having a dusty, burnt taste; for a long time this is what it has been like to live in many of the world’s highly polluted …
With great pleasure we announce our plans for 2021-2024: ‘Hello, Superorganism’ . Our human presence has a huge impact on the planet; plastic in the oceans, climate change, mass …
For many people, the most distressing part of the coronavirus pandemic is the idea of social isolation. If we get ill, we quarantine ourselves for the protection of others. But …
Although it’s seductive to think of human beings as the dominant species on earth, many others play important roles too. Bacteria, insects, algae colonies, rocks and the …
The human world often sees itself as separate from the rest of the natural world. Because we have deemed ourselves, ironically, as higher functioning beings over all others on …
Dune offers a useful allegorical narrative of the “scramble for Africa”, which saw European empires carve up the continent into colonized powers.
Utopianism and dystopianism are themes often found in today’s movies, especially considering the increased awareness of the damage done to the Earth by human activities. Often …
The first essay ever written on Next Nature, published in Next Nature Pocket and in Entry Paradise, New Design Worlds . ( download pdf ) (German version: Erkundungen im Nächste …
An interviewer once asked Pablo Picasso why he paints such strange pictures instead of painting things the way they are. Picasso asks the man what he means. The man then takes out …
This years edition of the Ars Electronica festival , which has been hangout for international experts from the arts and sciences for almost three decades, focuses on the nature …
Recently, a video clip has been circulating the web that purportedly shows a rabbit born earless due to the radiation at Fukushima. BoingBoing has a convincing take-down of the …
Hendriks’s activity explores the positive transformative power of creative impulses and the importance of fundamental free scientific research.
The Actroid robot holds clues for climbing out of the uncanny valley.
An "electronic personhood" for robots has been discussed in the European Parliament recently, raising big questions about equality, citizenship, legal and ironically, human rights for artificial intelligent machines.
The sun sustains our planetary system. Its energy fuels life. And in the future, the sun will also fuel our cars. That’s the premise of Dutch startup Lightyear, a startup specialized in solar powered electric cars.
Sophia the Humanoid, a human-like robot in appearance and mannerisms, was granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia and became the first robot with citizenship.
A Swedish shopping center is bucking the trend of mindless consumption. At the ReTuna Återbruksgalleria every product is made of recycled materials.
The new Next Nature book is here ! Next Nature fellows, ambassadors, members and newly interested people came together on the 4th of June to celebrate the book launch with a …
Historians often trace the dawn of human civilisation back 10,000 years, when Neolithic tribes first settled and began farming in the Fertile Crescent, which stretches through …
Today we cannot meet, touch or hug our loved ones. And while we all like the feeling of the touch of another human being, physical contact does not just feel nice, it is crucial …
Patricia Piccinini is an artist interested in the relationship between humans and non-humans, the natural and the artificial, science and storytelling. Working with silicone, …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Would you like to see your work here? Get in touch …
A Pomeranian dog in Hong Kong grabbed the international media’s attention this week after scientists found traces of coronavirus in the canine. Following confirmation that the …
Technology is not neutral; the same tech might empower some and disempower others. It is time to check our Technoprivilege, argues author Hendrik-Jan Grievink.
Can we create a new biosphere on another planet? Documentary "Spaceship Earth" shows how - in the Arizona desert.
Humans’ natural sense of privacy helps them regulate the boundaries of public and private, but fail when trying to identify privacy risks in the online world.
Imagine a place called Reprodutopia. How would such a place look like?
Picture this: it's 40,000 years ago, and you are an early Homo sapiens. You are standing on the savanna. Look around you. What do you see? No billboards, no traffic signs, no …
Look around you and try to find the most natural thing in the room you are in now. It is you. Now, you wouldn’t be so sure in the apocalyptic Los Angeles of 2019 depicted in Blade …
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 …
In 2009 the Initiative for Science, Society and Policy coined the phrase ‘living technology’ [1] to draw attention to a group of emerging technologies that are useful because they …
Some months ago we wrote about the dream of mechanical-engineer Jarno Smeets to fly like bird . Over the last few months Jarno worked steadily to materialize his dream. Today …
If you happen to be in the neighborhood you might want to drop by at the exhibition Post Natural Organisms of the European Union in Amsterdam. The small but delicate expo, curated …
During the late 1930’s the philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote its widely influential essay ‘The work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproducibility’. While describing a general …
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of today and various scenarios, ranging from artificial trees , pollution trading , co2 capturing to geo-engineering, have been …
British philosopher David Pearce believes we should to stop animals from hunting and killing other animals.
Bio-hackers developed a protocol to augment human sight to see into the near infrared range.
Due to human action, 1300 bird species are seriously in decline. Other birds have learned to live with humans and profit from their presence.
We recently talk to Nadine Bongaerts about the role and impact of synthetic biology, the gap between biosciences and society and the importance of communication to overcome the fear of new technologies.
Dystopian future scenarios filled with evil robots are everywhere. We are afraid of robots treating us badly, but what will happen if it'll be the other way around? According to …
Dutch experience designer Leanne Wijnsma designs for the human instinct and puts the sense of smell back to where it belongs, as modern hazards have shifted to the digital realm.
We asked Shubhendu Sharm, our first ECO coin award nominee about his method, business and hopes for the future.
Color-blind artist Neil Harbisson designed a brain-implanted antenna that converts colors into sound. This enables him to hear colors he cannot see, and extends his vision to …
As you read this, a strange object that looks like a 2,000-foot floating pool noodle is drifting slowly through the central north Pacific Ocean. This object is designed to solve …
As evolution goes on, the human body is evolving too. What does it mean to be human in times of advanced biotechnology and genetic engineering? Are our bodies ready for our …
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 …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Want to see your work here? Get in touch and …
At just a millimeter wide, Xenobots are “neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal", they are "a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism”, says …
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 …
We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …
Interior based on bacteria, spaces morphing perception and the merging of man, animal and machine. These five must see exhibitions in the Netherlands explore the intersection of …
Every piece of plastic that’s ever made, still exists. It results in a floating garbage dump in the ocean, full of life. While this (geo)design was never intentional, humans …
William Eliot designs chairs while collaborating with mealworms.
What if humans would be able to listen to what nature has to say? Conservationists are trying to grasp non-human sounds , which might help us to better understand environmental …
Food design gives us a taste of innovation. It visualizes, speculates, challenges and problem-solves.
We spoke with the Museum of Edible Earth, a travelling museum dedicated to the prosperous amount of soil samples.
Picnic Green Challenge calls upon people like you to invent a product or service that can help to save the world. Restore the planet's harmony and lets you win 500.000 Euro on the …
Human-product relationships increasingly play out in a realm which was previously considered exclusive for human-human and human-animal relationships. Panasonic now redesigned one …
Are we on the verge of a future human evolution, one that isn’t, at least in it’s very core, “the survival of the fittest”, but rather “the evolution of the richer”? Think about …
Are you ready for some techno-optimism? Buckle up and enjoy the ride with bio-tech evangelist Gregory Stock . Some quotes from his prophetic TED talk : "We are seizing control of …
Anthropomorphobia is the fear of acknowledging qualities we wish to consider only human in non-human things. Sufferers from the condition used to have trouble mostly at fairs or …
My name is Jason Silva. I've spent the last 5 years hosting and producing a tv show on Al Gore's Emmy-winning Current TV network and I'm a fellow at the Hybrid Realities …
Imagine your cruise to the Galapagos came with a ghoulish warning: "Your hair will fall out, your skin will blister, you'll probably get cancer and your children's children might …
Christian Schwägerl is a correspondent for Der Spiegel and the author of Menschenzeit (The Age of Man). He will be presenting his views on the Anthropocene at the Next Nature …
As cities push to the edges of the wilderness, wild animals are increasingly com
Designer, artist and engineer Dan Chen has developed the ' End of Life Care Machine ', a machine designed to guide and comfort dying patients with a carefully scripted message. …
Like we did to old nature before, we must now cultivate our technological environment.
How geology and humanity turn ancient algae into high-tech gadgets.
Humans act as bio-excavators that literally move mountains.
Engineering mosquitoes to ignore the scent of human flesh.
About 4 or 5 million years ago, major changes in the Earth's climate brought about grassland regions where giant mammals could graze.
Nowadays humans suffer from diseases that didn't exist in the past, a trend that will probably continue into the future. A wide range of new disorders, especially related to the …
There is a new artificial skin technology that could give humans magnetoception in the future.
Some of our greatest cultural and technological achievements took place between 1945 and 1971. Why has progress stalled?
Read Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft's essay on judaism in relation to the production of laboratory-grown meat.
Robert Gordon says all the major inventions have been made, but that's only true for our limited knowledge of future possibilities.
We are entering an age of technological singularity, in which artificial intelligence and biological enhancement are combined in order to construct the next stages of human evolution.
Dutch fashion designer specialized in wearable technology, Pauline van Dongen researches the human body in relation to its surroundings.
Lunar Insurrection is a group of architects that explores the creative possibilities of the moon as a potential territory for human activity and inhabitation. In Vol.2 , their …
On June 17th a NNN Fellow Day was organized to explore the future project: Next Senses.
It took less than 24 hours for Twitter to corrupt an innocent AI bot and teach it morally repugnant things.
Mythology still surrounds us, we just relate to it differently. Games and movies have replaced pantheons and folk tales. Fairies and gnomes left the forests and the rivers and moved to virtual realities.
“An illegal theme park exposing the ideology of the aesthetics of hacking”. “A hybrid drone targeting technological domination”. “A psychedelic fridge to raise doubt about fake …
Have a look at our series Robots at Work! In this episode we present you five jobs for creators, the ones that build with their hands.
If humans would disappear from the face of the Earth today, we would still leave 30 trillion tons of mass in the geological record. Certainly, "we were here" is written all over.
What if we could redesign the system to work for humanity and the planet we call home? What would the economy of ecology look like?
Dear Louise Brown, On behalf of the future I would like to congratulate you on your birthday. It has been 40 years that you where born into this world on July 25th 1978, …
Right now, somewhere in a laboratory in California, the Netherlands or Japan, a technician is taking a few thousand skeletal muscle cells from a living animal, and placing them in …
We sat down with Shahar Livne, an Israeli-born designer who graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven to talk about her vision on the future of plastics.
Conventional wisdom says that you can’t replace the human touch in terms of medical care, but in our rapidly changing technological environment, it appears that this perception …
This question is an excerpt from the Pyramid of Technology toolkit Cooking is a process through which humans outsource part of their bodily functions to technology (think …
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 …
Would you pray to a Robot deity? A group of Japanese buddhists is already doing so. Meet Mindar , the robot divinity shaped after the buddhist Goddess of Mercy, also known as …
A koala bear isn’t actually a bear, it’s a marsupial. Whales aren’t fish, they’re mammals . Tomatoes aren’t vegetables, they’re fruit . Almost nothing is actually a nut . Peanuts, …
Matilde Boelhouwer is a designer whose work speculates between art, design, science, biology and food. Matilde shapes this obligation into a studio which mainly focuses on the …
The Singapore Food Agency has approved “chicken bites” containing meat made from real chicken cells that were grown outside of a chicken’s body. Alongside similar news from Israel …
From all the memes that have reached me through my screen since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, there is one that perfectly reflects my thoughts in the beginning of March …
Is it possible to imagine other earthly stories? Can we conceive of other ways of living among different species? This exhibition explores these issues with the help of a …
Technology brings us closer to nature, and indigenous insight reconnects us to our roots.
Sometimes a festival can be so much more. Tapping into arts, design, and electronic and experimental music festival, Sónar Lisboa (8-10 April) is one for the body and for the …
What if living objects could re-connect humans with their menstrual cycle and change the way we perceive it?
Exploring the intersection of technology and art, a team of creatives presents a virtual performance that pushes the limits of human expression.
It might sound like the title of a bad horror movie. But cultivating potatoes in space may soon be more than just fiction. Scientists and biologists are currently using simulated Mars and moon soil to experiment with space farming. One of them is space farmer Wieger Wamelink.
A future physical anthropologist who knows nothing about the human race and would dig up a contemporary desktop computer, might conclude homo desktopus must have been the user of …
No, this is not another example in our fake for real series , comparing an artificial with a human hand. Rather, you are looking at twice the same hand: with and without its …
The next step in biomimetic body extentions for propelling yourself through water. Man moves on from copying ducks to become a dolphin-like cyborg. With these fins you can be …
The Discovery series 'Ways to save the planet' the episode 'Wrapping Greenland ' shows how Dr. Jason Box uses reflective blankets to cover glaciers in Greenland. Due to global …
Sind wir noch zu retten? That was the slogan of this year’s Ars Electronica festival in Linz (Austria). Titled ‘REPAIR’, the media art festival urged to leave our scepticism and …
Is the evolution of the single bladed razor into an exorbitant five–bladed vibrating gizmo the outcome of human needs, or is there another force in play? Say hello to Razorius …
Welcome to the 11 part series The Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Product Design. In this series, we will be examining how designers can better integrate human-like forms or …
Traditionally, technology is seen as a force that diminishes our instincts and puts us at a distance of nature. Increasingly however, we realize technology can also energize and …
Sexuality and sensuality are phenomena which have been a nature for us as long as we humans exist. Not only humans experience these phenomena; also animals experience sexuality …
What animal is so naive to come into this world as a naked and crying infant, completely vulnerable, helpless, and an easy prey for any predator? Newborn lamb or giraffe’s babies …
Blue is a beautiful color, but its sound is simply irresistible. It is the song of the unhappy and the depressed. It is a sound that touches people. It was also the sound of a …
The sublime is an aesthetic concept of 'the exalted,' of beauty that is grand and dangerous. Through 17th and 18th century European intellectual tradition, the sublime became …
A new theory claims it wasn't human deforestation that caused the ecological collapse of Easter Island, but something smaller and squeakier.
Media artist, filmmaker and wonderjunkie Jason Silva talks about technological evolution and why humans are gods with anuses.
Ever notice how ant colonies so successfully explore and exploit resources in the world … to find food at 4th of July picnics, for example? You may find it annoying. But as an …
Earlier this year, a group of Chinese scientists published a paper about the modification of the genome of human embryos with the cutting-edge powerful technique called CRISPRs. …
The Campaign Against Sex Robots, recently launched, is pushing towards banning the continuation of sex robots development.
The humanoid robot Yangyang can function autonomously, talking and gesturing while interacting with people.
The speculative 'Plastivore' bird thrives on a diet of fungi and plastics.
Zackary Scholl developed a program to produce a poem that passed the Turing Test.
It seems thinking machines could put the human race in danger. How realistic these fears are?
A team of cyborgs and digital enthusiasts developed a wearable technology for the body that perceives a human sixth sense.
A report on the Empowered by Robots conference during DDW16, demonstrating fruitful collaboration between humans and robots.
There is an artificial intelligent robot called ROSS that is taking over the work of thousands of lawyers. Working non-stop, reading faster then any human attorney can do.
A promising way to grow body parts: using an apple.
Energy-backed money could help transition humanity to a more sustainable world, both environmentally and economically.
The Modular Body is an online science fiction story by Floris Kaayk about the creation of OSCAR, a living organism built from human cells.
Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1932, bringing the idea of the artificial uterus to the big audience.
What if your co-worker was a robot? Dutch startup Smart Robotics is a job agency for robots that allows you to hire a smart-robot.
Scientists sent mango embryos to space lab in order to let them develop new genetic traits.
In various parts of the world, access to education is, or risks becoming, a huge crisis. UNESCO estimates that around 20 million new teachers are needed worldwide - and that's not …
We need to change the way we power our daily lives. Burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate change, yet this is still our main source of energy. Much of this energy …
The human body has always been an incredible machine, from the grand feats of strength and athleticism it can accomplish down to the fine details of each vein, nerve, and cell. …
Don’t be surprised when you catch a human face on a screen strolling through the Van Abbe museum for contemporary art in Eindhoven, as these are Europe’s very first robotic …
While many love to speculate about the sheer number of jobs that robots and artificial intelligence are going to replace in the near future, no one seems to be coming up with any …
Not only is air pollution bad for our lungs and heart , it turns out it could actually be making us less intelligent, too. A recent study found that in elderly people living in …
Earth’s oceans have seen better days. They’re inundated with plastic waste, both whole single-use plastics and tons of plastic microparticles that find their way back into our …
You know climate change is real when dead coral Pokémon start to wash up on (virtual) beaches. Behold, Cursola, world’s first dead coral Pokémon. On the origins of Cursola While …
In response to the nitrogen crisis, the Dutch cabinet is planning to reduce the speed limit during the day to 100 kph. In itself a sensible decision. But it is strange that this …
Some centuries ago landscape painters taught us to appreciate the quality of an untouched landscape. Ever since we have been doing everything to recreate it. We camouflage cell …
The world of design is in need of new materials that align with the urgency for sustainability. Issues such as climate change, plastic waste and harmful materials require us to …
A flock of drones that fly like birds, drifting blocks of concrete, a choreography of opening and closing flowers. The work of Studio Drift is challenging the distinction between …
Tropical forests are one of the world’s largest carbon stores and they help regulate the global climate. But they’re being erased at a terrifying rate. Deforestation claimed an …
What does it mean to become a cyborg? Better yet, aren't we cyborgs already? What then, does it mean to have a body? Is a 'standard' desirable, what does that even mean, and what …
Have you ever gone a day without water? Most likely you have experienced low energy levels or fatigue after a few couple of hours. Water gives us energy. More than that, water is …
Last week I was strolling through the aisles of the supermarket when I heard a buzzing sound coming from my pocket. I looked up from my cart and saw it was a message from …
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 …
This is #3 in our cyborg mythologies series, where we explore the cyborg as a historical being intertwined within mythologism, ancient religion and sacred iconology. A way to …
Today our human impact on Earth is humongous. Climate change, plastic oceans, mass urbanization and deforestation. Scientist recently calculated the technosphere now outweighs the …
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: magazine@nextnature.net. …
A team of researchers from Freiburg University has developed an artificial muscle that may result in improvements in medicine, prosthetics, and implants.
Spoiler alert: this article explains a key plot point, but we don’t give away anything you won’t see in trailers. At the beginning of the new Disney Pixar film, Lightyear, Buzz …
In 1972, the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, a report about the future of the world. They described the limits of the world’s resources and what it is capable of …
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 …
A German artist refused a photography prize after admitting his image was AI-generated.
Carl Friedrich Then in conversation with Hendrik-Jan Grievink about technoprivilege.
1. THE FUTURE IS PRESENT Design Museum Danmark How will contemporary design define the future? THE FUTURE IS PRESENT grasps the very essence of Danish artistry of material …
AUSGANG Studio combines art, technology, and living materials to tell stories of our world's trajectories.
Mark Weiser (originally written for ACM Interactions ). What is the metaphor for the computer of the future? The intelligent agent? The television (multimedia)? The 3-D graphics …
Since the early days of the net, the electronic pastoral has lent itself to all sorts of dubious agendas pushed by science, the military and even libertarian tendencies. In the …
So you think climate change is new? So you think the flooding of landmass by the oceans is a new? So you must have not heard of the times when people walked from London to …
://nextnature.net The expanding research culture of synthetic biology demystified in this TV item on the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition . Via Posthuman …
Imagine we would have an alternative monetary currency for environmental value. Would the rain forest still be destroyed if there existed an ECO–currency to express its value and …
All buildings today have something in common: They are made using Victorian technologies. This involves blueprints, industrial manufacturing and construction using teams of …
The Center for PostNatural History doesn't house the dinosaurs or dioramas of your run-of-the-mill natural history museum. Instead, it's the first museum dedicated exclusively to …
Japanese professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University has quite a track record of threading the uncanny valley. Remember his Doppelgänger Robot and Geminoid Female ? His …
Artist Arne Hendriks explores the possibilities and implications of downsizing the human species to better fit the earth.
At the turn of the millennium, miniaturized canines acquired the cherished status of living, designer handbag ornaments. These teeny tiny photogenic doggies, which had been …
The Berkeley Robotics & Human Engineering Laboratory is researching a way to improve the performance of human bodies. They are doing innovative research in the field of …
Christian Schwägerl , freelance journalist and biologist, author of the book The Anthropocene: The Human Era and How It Shapes Our Planet , introduces us into the Anthropocene , a …
The uncanny valley, a phrase coined by Japanese robotic researcher Masahiro Mori nearly three decades ago, describes the uncanny feeling that occurs when people look at …
An interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".
Breeding parasites to improve immune function, skin tone and even resistance to poison.
An interview with Daisy Ginsberg, artist and synthetic biologist.
Floris Kaayk, artist and fictive documentaries maker, confronts us with the impossible.
The EU Commission will hopefully reduce the consumption of disposable plastic bags within 5 years by 80%.
Power Loader: the power amplification exoskeleton robot.
Since Darwin we tend to look at the biological world exclusively in economical terms. The idea that monkey's, frogs, or even ants do more than simply propagate, doesn't find much acceptance among scientists. And yet, even crayfishes at times seem to displace objects just for fun.
It's more than two years since I have started this exploration of the Anthropocene for Next Nature for you. We have visited many places together, places I have traveled to as a …
Researchers are working on artificial organs-on-chips will be used for drug development.
Sixteen-year-old Japanese singer Hatsune Miku grew in short time to a worldwide popstar. With her colourful appearance she counts millions of followers on social media, she …
Last April, a Chinese group of researchers published a paper that set the scientific world ablaze in a fierce debate. The paper was about their attempts to edit the DNA of a human …
Conceptual designer Thomas Thwaites is currently investigating and experiencing to live life as a goat.
An international team of scientists used nano-sized needles in order to promote production of new blood cells.
The new year is right around the corner, let’s forget about long-term future for a while to check out what new tech trends will hit it big in 2016. At the end of every year, …
Stephen Hawking gives his opinion on what technological unemployment, aka machines taking over our jobs, can represent for future human societies.
A futuristic Japanese hotel will be run by robots, designed to be extremely human-like.
Exploring the surface of Mars at least 15 years before a human being in flesh and blood will be able to, this is the new ambitious idea of the people at NASA.
Genetic engineers are developing techniques to kill several types of mosquitoes.
Replacing your old heart with a new heart from an animal may seem extreme? Well, this future may arrive sooner than we think.
A new wave of automation lies in pizza. Not only will robots deliver your pizzas in the future, they will even make them.
E.O. Wilson, a respected biologist, has proposed a radical idea: set aside half of the planet as nature preserves.
Will a small step for Ramazzottius Varieornatus be a giant leap for mankind?
According to a new study, humankind is now entering the "Age of Plastic". The research investigates the evidence that we are living in the Anthropocene, a time in which humanity is the main geological force.
In 1916 the artificial womb made its first appearance on the big screen in the movie "Homunculus" by Otto Rippert.
The movie The Matrix brought ectogenesis to the public eye.
NNN is currently doing a preliminary research into the idea of the artificial womb. This timeline will help you navigate through the investigation.
On August 8, NNN gave a workshop at BioClub Tokyo to share some insights on the future of technologies concerning human reproduction, sexuality and relationships.
Chef Watson knows over 10.000 recipes. The highbrow robotic cook invited us over for dinner during the first Neo-Futurist Dinner at Mediamatic.
We recently interviewed Lining Yao, Chinese interaction designer who uses organic materials as a technology that brings us back to nature.
The gift giving season is once again upon us and to help out those who are struggling to find that perfect gift for that special someone we have brought together a collection of Next Nature inspired gifts.
This is post number one of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this episode we present you five jobs for caretakers, the ones that work with their hearts.
This is post number five of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this last episode we present you five jobs for the extraordinary, the ones who won't let themselves be categorized.
The Texas Heart Institute researches in the field of organ transplantation. With the “ghost heart” — an heart organ scrubbed clean of all its former cells, the researches are on the verge of creating a sustainable and effective way of transplanting organs.
Humans and robots can work together to maximize the potential of both and boost productivity to new levels.
In our ongoing battle against climate change, it's hard to transcend from our human position and ‘think’ like nature. Given, nature doesn't think the way humans do, but it does …
Scientists believe the introduction of a hormone-like system, such as the one found in the human brain, could give AI the ability to reason and make decisions like people do. …
Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling …
Nominate an inspiring project, platform, person or community who is tackling food waste for the ECO Coin Award 2018
Meet the teledildonics, an ingenious species of bi-directionally controlled sextoys from the future, available today. These touch emulating vibrators find each other on social sex …
ADE Green returns for the seventh consecutive year to the DeLaMar Theater in Amsterdam. Once more, Amsterdam Dance Event organizes this leading event to ignite sustainable action, …
A team of researchers from Tel-Aviv University developed a neural network capable of reading a recipe and generating an image of what the finished, cooked product would look like. …
Imagine you could communicate telepathically with a whale, listen to the WiFi networks in your environment, or experience smells through seeing color. Developments in technology …
Death certificates and commemorative plaques aren’t something you’d normally associate with a glacier. But that is exactly how Iceland recently mourned the loss of 700-year-old …
You might already have what’s often called a “smart home”, with your lights or music connected to voice-controlled technology such as Alexa or Siri. But when researchers talk …
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term 'biohacking'? Perhaps you are now thinking of a bunch of kids sitting in their kitchen with a DNA kit, (wannabe) …
The rise of artificial intelligence has brought us more advanced toys. If AI Barbie and her talking robotic friends are going to raise our kids, what would their parenting style …
Up to half of the world’s sandy beaches are at risk of disappearing by the end of this century if no action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according to a new …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Would you like to see your work here? Get in touch …
Imagine waking in the night, and feeling the vibrations of an earthquake on the other side of the world pulsing through your body. This is a reality for Catalan-born artist Moon …
As our reality exists increasingly within digital realms, our virtual world demands a virtual identity. Our work is hybrid, our social identity is online and our connection is …
From icy tundras to billowing clouds, the colour white crops up repeatedly in our planet’s palette. This colour provides a natural way for light from the sun to reflect back from …
The influence of humans on the earth can hardly be underestimated. Think of climate change, deforestation, and the decline of biodiversity. We are heading for a sixth mass …
The three winners of the Bio, Art & Design (BAD) awards have been announced.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should – real-world genetic engineers can learn from the cautionary tale. “ Jurassic World: Dominion ” is hyperbolic Hollywood entertainment …
Imagine helping nature restore itself simply by going for a run. In a fusion of fashion and conservation, London-based designer Kiki Grammatopoulos has introduced her concept …
Beyond being little umami bombs, mushrooms are: protein-packed and nutritious. But here's the pitfall: their cultivation can be pricy. Especially gourmet mushrooms such as …
Why memes might be the next tool to make sense of on our increasingly hybrid virtual and physical environment.
The annual Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award encourages new artists and designers to explore the world of bio art and design. Let's have a look at the three winning projects of this year.
What if an ancient mammoth found herself resurrected by humans into our modern age?
Dutch photographer Koen Hauser blends parts of the human body with parts from anatomical models. You know, the ones you had in biology class and gave you this fine colorful …
By ALEX WRIGHT, Published in NY Times December 2, 2007 The growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook , MySpace and Second Life has thrust many of us into a new …
The goals of "understanding humanity" and "humanizing robots" are tightly related to each other. Infanoid Project is trying to relate robotics to human sciences in order to …
Humans have domesticated animals for thousands of years. The earliest known evidence of a domesticated dog is a jawbone found in a cave in Iraq and dated to about 12,000 years ago …
'The LED Dog Tail Communicator' is an initiative of James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, and it is part of the larger 'Augmented Animals' project. Its focus points to technological …
The fabrication of forests with artificial trees is one of the best strategies to stop climate change, according to scientists of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers . The …
We’ve written earlier about man–made bacteria that eat waste & shit petrol . How about a genetically modified bacteria that can eat CO2 and excrete methane that could power …
Drinkpeedrinkpeedrinkpee is a project by Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray about the role our bodies play in larger ecosystems. It's an installation about the Urine to Fertilzer DIY …
For over 40 years Australian artist Stelios Arcadious Stelarc has made art with medical instruments, prosthetics, robots, virtual reality systems and biotechnology to investigate …
On May 12, 2009 the ACLU and the (not-for-profit) Public Patent Foundation, filed a lawsuit, charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are …
DNA related tools, once expensive and restricted to research and crime labs, are rapidly becoming affordable. Like GPS – once a high-tech wonder now turned into a everyday gadget …
Bird spotting is not a typical activity for us next nature explorers, yet occasionally we bump into some birds worth mentioning (remember the amazing copy-paste bird , rubber duck …
We are living in the future and we find it boring. The best place to gather evidence for this claim is the supermarket. To begin with, try and have a fresh look at the word: …
If a tattooed pig is a bit too much for you, why not go for a tattooed goldfish? They bring you lost of luck and are available Chinese characters such as “Wealth, Dragon, …
Remember Asimo ? Honda has now developped a new Brain-Machine Interface technology that allows humans to control the humanoid robot simply by thinking certain thoughts. The BMI …
Alright, we were mistaken. Money isn't virtual after all. A recent TV commercial of a Greek bank shed light on the issue. Your money lives, is anthropomorphic and inhabits an …
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro ( Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaska University) has done it again! This time in coöperation with robot-maker Kokoro Co. Ltd . Objective: to …
The Quest for Fire (1981) shows the Next Nature of 80.000 BC. Set in a world without highways, supermarkets, airports, Internet, television, farming, money or written language, …
Koyaanisqatsi (1982) is a film with no actors, no storyline, and no dialogue. The only things we see are landscapes, images of cities, and people going about their regular lives. …
Did you know that about 20 percent of your body isn't really yours? It has been patented by some corporation you probably never heard of. You can't patent gold, you can't patent …
Lady Gaga is famous for fashion that exaggerates or obscures her body, but a few months ago, she made a foray into 'actual' body-modification. Gaga appeared on Jay Leno's talk …
Until now, most people have likely regarded bird-feeders as merely a pleasant addition to their gardens. But scientists have now discovered that bird-feeders in the UK are …
City rats, it seems, prefer the same foods that humans do: Greasy, fatty, sweet, and salty. Although rats are usually seen as the billy goats of city life, ready to chow down on …
We normally think of polluted water as the source of disease, not the cure for it. The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, affectionately known as the Super Fun Superfund , is one of the …
It works like this. Position yourself with a friend in front of a battery hen and flap your arms as fast as you can when the music sets in. The harder you flap the faster your …
Manko sighed. Nada: 'Did you like it?' Manko: 'I have to admit that if this is the starter, I'm not sure I'll survive the main course.' Everyone at the table laughed. Manko: 'Let …
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 …
Intentionality separates culture from nature. A dog is intentional, a fox is not; a park is intentional, a forest is not. Since trash, ruined buildings, and automated computer …
Protei is a sailing robot that's designed to clean up oil spills without human assistance. After sailing upwind, the bot drifts downwind, zigg-zagging across the surface to absorb …
The protozoa Toxoplasma gondii makes an unobtrusive home in nearly every warm-blooded species, but it's prolific life is limited: Toxo can only reproduce in cat stomachs. The …
It has been a trend for people to grow taller and taller during the evolution. When people get taller, they will need more energy, food and space. Since the human population is …
In the film Plastic Bag , the title character spends a lifetime (or more) on a quest for a creator not even aware of his existence. A stunning short by Ramin Bahrani, director of …
Has nature become a fairytale or do we want it to be one? In their installation The Clockwork Forest , artist collective Greyworld seems to opt for the latter. The work of art …
The earth operates on a 24 hour cycle, and so do humans. For most of history, we didn't have much choice in the matter. However, in the absence of visual cues light sunlight, some …
While evidence indicates that humans domesticated themselves , we're not the only primates capable of self-domestication. Bonobos and baboons have shown they are just as capable …
Anthropomorphic products enter the human social space. Humans have the most complex social behavior of any organism on Earth. Anyone or anything trying to join in should be careful to do it right.
At Next Nature, we often argue that "our image of nature as static, balanced and harmonious is naive and up for reconsideration ." Paleontologist Peter J. Ward happens to agree. …
This last Monday rang in the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Not restricted just to the benevolent, snake-like creature of Chinese mythology, or to the greedy, princess-stealing …
The boundary between humans and machines is slowly but steadily blurring. The Immortal is a machine which exists out of several life-support machines connected with wires and electric cords.
Google becomes the authority on existential questions about aging.
It’s long been a desire of the human species to have complete control over our own thoughts. We’ve all had these moments where we curse our brain. Asking questions like: “Why …
There are robots that look like people, and then there are robots, like the Ecobot III, that look nothing like humans but have our same biological needs: they have to eat, digest …
A new kind of piezotronic transistor mesh could make for robotic skin that’s as sensitive as your own is, covered in thousands of tiny mechanical hairs.
Algae as the future alternative fuel for the human body.
Lab grown meat is part of the trajectory that agricultural technology is already following.
In 100,000 years human beings might look like a manga character: big intense eyes, high forehead, large head, straight nose, more pigmented skin, and perfect symmetry. “There will …
In this talk at TEDxGhent, our own Dr. Van Mensvoort shows how technology becomes nature in seven steps and what engineers, inventors, designers and entrepreneurs can learn from that.
Many people welcome in vitro meat because of what it may mean for animals. Even though they often find the idea strange, the promise for animals is widely felt as a source of hope.
Govedare paints the human impact on natural environments, showing how nature has become a subset of culture.
Breathtaking satellite images that will change how you see the World.
A selection of nine enthralling and striking concepts of future way of transportation.
Scientists think the laws governing the structure of galaxies in outer space are the same laws underlying the growth of cities.
The world’s largest indoor farm is not the only firm developing vertical agriculture. Japanese company Spread plans to grow more than ten million heads of lettuce a year by …
An exoskeleton chair that allows the body to move freely.
While the Watson technology is exponentially increasing its processing power on an annual basis and steadily moving from answering trivia questions, to cooking advice, onto medical advice, it is about time we confront it with the million dollar question: "Watson, what do you want?".
This potentially revolutionary device includes LED lights and temperature sensors to provide medication directly to the wounded section of the skin.
This piece from Ars Technica details the breadth in the variety of energy sources emitting from our every day interactions.
Stewart is a tactile interface that mediates the communication between human and self-driving car.
A sky garden of cacti and artificial life forms floating a hundred thousand feet above the Earth's surface.
Over the past decade scientists have tried to get technology surfaces to be as sensitive as our skin, especially as our fingertips. Human tact is a very sophisticate interface …
Nasa funded a program to turn astronauts’ poop into food.
An AI was intended to improve human-like experiences in regards to the company’s customer service chatbots, but has fallen into a suicidal depression instead.
C-sections have an unexpected side effect on human evolution. Newborn heads are getting bigger, while the mothers birth cannals are becoming smaller.
Our peculiar image of the week comes from the Great Barrier Reef. You've probably seen images of this vibrant underwater attraction before. If you're lucky, maybe you've seen it …
Facebook had just fired their curatorial team for the ‘Trending’ news section over an algorithm, resulting in false stories attacking a news anchor, a writer, and Mac Donald’s.
A group of researchers is working to optimize the way we sleep, increasing our relaxation, and therefore reducing the time devoted to our naps.
A new community currency that rewards recyclers with local discounts and deals.
We tend to believe that the fruit and the vegetables we eat today are "natural" and the same as they always were. It turns out that in the past this familiar food didn't look like this at all.
We recently handed this year’s ECO Coin Award to Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, founder of the Precious Plastic movement. With his open sourced recycling machines, he provides people around the world the knowledge to start recycling plastic locally.
Garbage dumps may not be very attractive places for us but they sure are for animals. A study published in Science Advances shows how certain groups of storks modified (and …
Robots in health care could lead to a doctorless hospital.
Sleeping underwater has always been your dream? Thanks to an ambitious project it will be soon reality.
An industrial robot just tattooed the first person ever in San Francisco.
Researchers discovered a way to store data in five dimensions on a nano structured glass able to survive for billion of years.
This automated store in Sweden doesn’t have any human employees, only a smartphone app.
While we can’t just leave the coast permanently without upsetting the delicate balance of this new environment we created, we can take better care of it to ensure that it is around for years to come.
A lamb born at the equivalent of 23 weeks in a human gestational period was kept alive in an artificial womb and developed just as if it was in a normal womb.
Do you feel information overloaded? Do you experience stress? Do you feel like you are addicted to your smartphone, laptop, or the Internet? Get yourself digital detoxed!
To explore deep sea Standfort University developed OceanOne: a humanoid diving robot, which at the same time creates a simulation of the underwater experience on land.
The complicated system of a female menstruation cycle was reproduced on a computer chip for the first time.
This floating gym harnesses human energy to sail down the Seine River in Paris.
Craftsmanship is generally very appreciated, but it takes a lot of time to master a craft. Therefore, as a robot coach you train - you guessed it, a robot - to transfer your …
A new contraceptive has appeared on the horizon, bringing the prospect of an alternative form of male birth control one step closer.
The Punishment is an installation featuring a robotic arm that mimics a kid's handwriting perfectly, and repetitively writes "I must not hurt humans".
This is post number three of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this episode we present you five jobs for facilitators, the ones who love to work with technology.
The United Arab Emirates released plans to build a city on Mars.
The Amazonian rainforest was already transformed over two thousand years ago by people who built hundreds of large, mysterious earthworks.
The world’s first bio-brick grown from human urine has been unveiled by University of Cape Town (UCT) master’s student in civil engineering Suzanne Lambert, signalling an …
Humanity is facing the disconnection between biological reproduction and the body, facilitated by the emerging technology of the Artificial Womb. Envisioned in bleak science …
What to do about the plastic planet ? The seas are steadily filling up with plastic , and it's vital to find ways to address the problem . One way to do this is to move away from …
And it’s already showing incredible results. VR transports us to faraway worlds without even asking us to leave our chairs. Yet we usually hear about it in the context of video …
It was just little over a year ago that bike sharing schemes started to take off in China. Yet in the blink of an eye, millions of bikes painted in vivid colours, popped up in and …
Back in the mid-twentieth century, before the first moon landing, people had all sorts of ideas about the golden age of space travel in front of them. Colonize the moon! Fly …
New technologies are changing the landscape, but the latest trend reshaping rural environments and agriculture is agroforestry: the art of planting trees.
As we showed with HUBOT , we can use new technologies and robotics to make our work more enjoyable, interesting and humane. Aside from our speculative jobs, a lot of robotic …
The emerging technology of the artificial womb confronts us with a series of moral and societal questions. How to cope with that? Join us on 29 March at Eindhoven University of …
Today is World Animal Day , a day to put the spotlight on man's best friends in order to improve their welfare standards around the globe. At Next Nature HQ, we honor this day by …
Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world. More and more private companies and city authorities are …
Oded Ezer is a typographer from Israel who never fails to push boundaries, or rather, discard them altogether. Ezer is a rebellious force that swings between commercial and …
Meet Pirjo Kääriäinen, professor of design driven fibre innovation at Aalto University, Finland. Kääriäinen founded CHEMARTS —a collaborative program at the university that brings …
During the Antarctic summer, thousands of mesmerising blue lakes form around the edges of the continent’s ice sheet, as warmer temperatures cause snow and ice to melt and collect …
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 …
The 14 Golden Rules of HUBOT are rules of conduct which must be followed and which everyone needs to hold each other to account. Themes like respect, teamwork, creativity, and …
In the past few years, scientists have hatched some pretty crazy-sounding schemes in the name of protecting Earth and its inhabitants. From building an underwater wall 120 …
The Sun is the most important source of energy for sustaining life on Earth, but it gives us a lot more than just light and heat. It also gives us solar storms.
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 …
The Earth BioGenome Project is aiming to create a database of genomes of all organic life on earth within 10 years.
Cyborgs - part human, part machine - are becoming more present in society, but their rights are not yet established.
Finding realistic solutions to the humanitarian and environmental issues in the textile and fashion industries.
Most radiation is natural and life on Earth wouldn’t be possible without it.
In 1912, the RMS Titanic met a fateful demise as it crashed into the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean, leaving a mark on the world's collective memory, and igniting a lasting …
From the mythical fountain of youth to the many anti-aging procedures available today: humans have dreamed of internal youth for a long time already. At lot of us perceive aging, …
The music industry is witnessing drastic changes. With the emergence of artificial intelligence technology, no industry has been left untouched and there are broad discussions …
Cleaning up ships' pollution is making the ocean warmer than expected. Less pollution means less cooling clouds, heating up the Atlantic.
In the 1970s, NASA and the ASI launched a giant disco ball into space. Its purpose? Teaching the humans of today and the civilizations of tomorrow about Earth.
Biotechnology startup Cortical Labs successfully guided human brain cells in a petri dish through a simulated game of Pong.
Eddie Corwin studies beaver dams and ponds from satellite images in order to restore watercourses and wetlands, and establish nature reserves.
10 design requirements to fully immerse ourselves into the 21st Century—in which technology makes our world richer, not poorer.
Meet United Matters, a London collective exploring how we might live in the future by blurring the boundaries between craft, science and technology.
Seven examples of how design will help us built the farm of tomorrow.
Biosphere 2 is a manmade closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona. Constructed between 1987 and 1989, it was used to test if and how people could live and work in a closed …
A short story by Terry Bisson. For those who prefer video to literature, there's also this seven-minute film adaptation . "They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "Meat. They're made …
The Earth is heating up. The sun will blow up within 5 billion years. The human race will probably go extinct before entering the posthuman stage, or the probabillity that we are …
This French Aids campaign is a wonderful example of biomimicmarketing (using images of old nature for propaganda or marketing purposes). They may be disturbing but the message …
Phone, internet, television, photography, even books or music: today it is hard for the mind to escape from virtual worlds. A day without communication or interaction could make …
The Vin Memoriam concept introduces a new ritual in the mourning process after losing a loved one. When a person has passed away, a small amount of blood can be processed into a …
The free cultural paper Amsterdam Weekly discusses the Natural Revolution of and includes tree tips for successful living in the next version of nature. Download PDF (148kb) . …
The sun always shines on TV in China. "At this summer’s Beijing Olympics, China puts a 50-year experiment to the test: Officials are betting weather modification can keep the sun …
Rule #1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Remember Isaac Asimov's classic three laws of robotics ? Surely thats …
So you thought that animated Pixar Lamp from the movies was just a fantasy? Not anymore. Luxalive is a prototype of an reading lamp that moves according to the character of its …
May 17th 2008. Biggest Visual Power Show: Next Nature in LA . More pictures below. We are all born in a world that has been designed already. BVPS intro video by Floris Kaayk. Big …
Unlike many people fear that computers will overtake humans, Ray Kurzweil states that robots will merge with humans, robots the size of cells which can do the job way more …
Next Monday when your colleagues ask you what you have been doing for the weekend, you might answer you something default like you went out with friends, danced, biked to the …
Susan Blackmore studies memes: ideas that replicate themselves from brain to brain like a virus. She makes a bold new argument: Humanity has spawned a new kind of meme, the teme, …
Japanese researchers of the Central Institute for Experimental Animals , took a green fluorescent protein gene of a jellyfish, wove it into the DNA of a few marmosets embryos, …
The big lobby to endeavor for a climate neutral lifestyle must have reached its peak. It is common knowledge that recycling electronic and battery operated utensils is better for …
This mashup video project integrates various video clips that ask: What is nanotechnology? Via Posthumanblues , via Futureblogger . See also: Small Talks , Bacteria Bots , …
While most people are still prudently changing light bulbs and recycling coffee cups to fight global warming – or at least their gnawing conscience – policy-makers have long moved …
What are these people doing? Of course! They are tattooing a pig with the pattern of the luxury bag brand Louis Vuitton. For those who want something more special than the mundane …
Behold "the world's first production model 3D bio-printer." A machine capable of arranging human cells and artificial scaffolds into complex three-dimensional structures, which …
Talking about nature and nurture as separate, clear-cut forces is far adrift from the complexities of developmental science, says Evelyn Fox Keller in NewScientist . ONE of the …
Nanotechnology is an important emerging technology of our time – it radically intervenes with our sense of what is natural – yet most people are still relatively unaware of its …
As we are nearing the end of the year, and anticipate you might have some time to watch a film, we discus our top 10 Next Nature movies. Idiocracy (2006) is not a great film, …
In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, two unmanned interplanetary space probes that were sent out to explore the outer space. Aboard each was a record which intended to …
The human body is increasingly recognized as a biometric source of information for a wide spectrum of issues, including security, psychopathology, personality and health. Earlier …
Nowadays buttons are completely mundane and natural objects in our environment. You find them on phones, alarm clocks, keyboards, elevators, dishwashers and of course on the …
What happens when next nature dreams of old nature? Such is the case with extinct animals that have ever come in contact with humans, particularly the dinosaurs, our own …
In millions of offices and homes around the world, people are hard at work planting crops, feeding cattle and tilling their land. Welcome to Farmville , the digital rural world …
The idea of altering your body for aesthetic purposes is still somewhat frowned upon today. But more than because the very idea of improving yourself, this is about its …
As neuroscience progresses, we gain access to previously inaccessible and unexplored areas of the human mind. Consequentially the intricate processes in our brain are cultivated …
Researchers are working on a language and a device that will help humans and dolphins talk with each other. Denise Herzing , a researcher and founder of the Wild Dolphin Project …
Designer Revital Cohen imagines a future where life-support machines are replaced with life-support animals. In this scenario, a transgenic lamb is allowed to frolic in the fields …
Yale researchers and advertising executives have created the first ad campaign aimed at animals. The targets in question are a group of captive capuchin monkeys with a taste for …
Until now we've seen the types of brain-computer interface where the human has to put on some sort of bulky hat full of wires to control a machine. It won't be like that for long: …
Scientists in China have created transgenic cows that produce 'human' milk. The researchers boosted the fat content of the milk and added three types of proteins, unique to …
Did you know that phones were once used for calling up our (human) friends? Researching the beginning of it all, we came accross demo video's on the cloud called "internet" where …
Researchers at Stanford and the J. Craig Venter Institute recently created the first complete computer model of an organism. The simulation models the genome and life processes …
The One Laptop Per Child program is experimenting with what at first seems to be the lazy way to philanthropy: dropping off tablet computers in remote Ethiopian villages and then …
The world is alight with algae fever. In this age of deep ecological design aspirations, the range of speculative design projects based on algae technology is growing. Algae are …
Nowadays the human impact on our planet can hardly be underestimated. Climate change, plastic islands, genetic manipulation – ‘We were here’ echoes all over. Yet, every now and …
An ingenious Russian crow that used a lid as a snowboard to slide down a snowy roof persuaded millions of YouTube viewers that animals are not merely beasts of burden – they also …
There's a new threat to the world's unemployed. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robot that helps to organize shop inventories, making that trip to the …
The same way Einstein assumes the speed of light to be a constant of reference for his Theory of Relativity, the philosophy of biomimicry assumes Nature as a constant of reference …
Some desert animals, like the kangaroo rat, get through their lives without needing to drink even a drop of water. Now, a Japanese design company aims to make humans just as …
The robot in the picture above chases and attacks the living rat rights besides it. The W-3, as the robot is named, is designed to make rats seriously depressed. In fact, this …
What one ugly overpass in Berlin reveals about our attitudes towards nature.
An showcase of what we are currently capable of installing in human beings.
Artificial lighting at night makes us fat, depressed and sick. What are the alternatives?
Ever played "telephone" or "chinese whispers" as a kid? Now, you can pit your speech recognition skills against a computer.
An algorithm observes human players to learn how to beat Super Mario Bros.
What to do when earth is not enough? Thousands of people, tired of their life on Earth, are ready to emigrate to Mars. Since subscriptions opened on April 22, 80,000 people have …
A stem cell experiment with mice may one day mean that same-sex couples could have bio children.
In the movie Fantastic Voyage, a submarine and its crew were shrunk and injected into the body of a sick man in an attempt to save his life. Despite the fictional nature of this …
Invisible ear implants for listening to music, getting directions, and recording conversation.
Humanity has three options when it comes to our evolution. Dr. Harvey Fineberg makes a case for "neo-evolution".
London Real interviewed Koert Van Mensvoort on the concept of Next Nature and its implications on our planet.
Excerpts from the Rebbit AMA with Andras Forgacs, founder of a company that manufactures in vitro meat.
Space Farming: NASA plans to grow a vegetable garden 230 miles above the Earth.
A macaque stole a tourist's iPhone and fiddled around with it like a human would.
As a consequence of a big water diversion project to irrigate surrounding areas the Aral Sea is drying up.
A man from Kenya collected tourists’ disused slippers and seaborne plastic bottles to build a boat.
In glass capsules endangered rainforest flora will be able to survive regardless of what happens to their natural habitat.
Photographer Kim Preston transforms everyday household plastic objects into sea creatures.
At Home in the Lab with Mark Post, Father of the In Vitro Hamburger. Interview from The In Vitro Meat Cookbook
If the moon were only one pixel: a scale model of the solar system that shows how big our milky way actually is.
Is there a possibility to clean up the oceans from plastic pollution?
The '50s robot band, Le Trio Fantastique, is exemplary of human distant longing for technology that integrates with our body and senses, to the point of taking our place!
To attract a female, male bower birds build structures and adorn these with colorful plastic decoration.
The first Zero-Waste Grocery Store "Original Unverpackt" will open this summer in Germany.
Researchers proved it is possible to provide the Moon with the wireless connectivity we have on Earth.
Turning 100,000 entries from the Wikipedia into a growing nebula of human knowledge.
Computer can already beat us in many tasks. Complicated calculation, processing speed and chess, to name a few. However, generally speaking, you’re still likely to be more …
Turning a normal stroll through the supermarket into a psychedelic dream (or nightmare) of algorithmic pareidolia.
Bioengineers at Harvard University have created the first cyborg tissue.
This augmented reality helmet allows the wearers to see all around them without having to turn their head.
Thanks to the antenna implanted in his skull, Neil Harbisson can hear images and paint sounds.
There are about 3.04 trillion trees on Earth. That is 422 trees per human being.
Plastic artist Agi Haines explores hypothetical scenarios for surgically implanted body enhancements in babies.
Agriculture today isn’t where it needs to be. Here’s how farmers are taking the next step for better agriculture tomorrow
The latest researches showed how AI can recognize human faces even if pixelated and meant to be incognito.
Scientists managed to create what every woman has been dreaming of: a second skin to reduce wrinkles and tighten the skin.
A laboratory is developing a synthetic dog that will be used for surgery trials, saving many canine lives and changing the veterinary world.
Researchers tested 'Fiji Water' against ordinary tap water. What they found is kind of shocking.
The Octobot is the first of its kind made fully of soft materials and is aimed to pave the way towards a more safely interaction with humans.
Mercedes-Benz just revealed the first self-driving city coach and took it to the streets of Amsterdam for a test drive.
Scientists say they can reverse aging by reprogramming the genome.
Since plans for conquering the Red Planet are becoming more serious we should get acquainted with the possible view from up there.
Hitech is changing sports, but what are the consequences?
The human ear is a miracle of mechanical evolution. It allows us to hear an astonishing range of sounds and to communicate and navigate in the world. It’s also easy to damage and …
Soon we won’t program computers anymore, we’ll train them like dogs.
Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine succeeded in hooking up a prosthetic arm to the human brain.
While robots are becoming more and more human, with all their sensors and information processing abilities, may it be likely that they too could develop mental illnesses?
Additivism is a movement that calls for radical rethinking of new technologies, such as 3D printing, the plastification of the world and our human position within it.
This robot nanny is designed to take on adult responsibilities, raising concerns regarding the consequences of using robots to raise our children.
Terrapattern is a search engine that gathers similar elements of satellite imagery, giving surprising results.
A driverless convoy of trucks drove through Europe and safely arrived in Rotterdam yesterday.
The new mythical creature hunting our imagination is called Slenderman and is born on the internet. But who is this being and how it came to be? It may just be the modern version of a much older myth.
As the digital age makes people more lonely, Chuck McCarthy created a service to walk with strangers.
Two robots opened the show of Chanel during the Paris Fashion Week of 2017. Well robots, two models dressed up like humanoid robots entered the catwalk. Is Chanel going Next Nature?
A Swedish woman who had her uterus removed due to cancer in her twenties gave birth to her own child as the world's first person to undergo a uterus transplant. And the donor? Her own mother.
Biometric technology replaces passports in Australian airports.
Royal College of Art graduate Dani Clode reframed prosthetics as extensions of the body, rather than replacements for missing parts.
Tons of living animals have floated from Japan to the United States traveling across the ocean on plastic junk and debris.
With her project Future Food Formula, food designer Chloé Rutzerveld is looking for innovative methods to design vegetables.
Scientists gene modify ants in order to find out more about their social behavior.
NNN fellow Govert Flint discusses Enrichers in Frame magazine.
A horse can run faster than a human, yet nobody claims horses will make mankind dispensable. When a man rides a horse and the two work together, something new happens. Then, what …
We met Anouk Wipprecht and talked about smart fabrics and accessories that can listen to our body, therapeutic fashion and the future of dressmaking.
The robots have arrived! Yesterday we celebrated the launch of HUBOT , job agency for people and robots at MediaMarkt , as part of the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Our virtual …
As an organ designer, you develop genetic algorithms from which organs are grown to perfectly fit the recipient’s body, but also to meet the personal wishes of the patient.
A recent study examining the purity of 17 commercial sea salt brands from eight different countries found microplastics in all 17 samples.
While this image seems like another polluted beach after spring break, it was taken on a remote uninhabited world heritage site in the Polynesia.
It's getting difficult to discern what's technology and what's not.With wearable technology becoming more and more integrated into society, our lives become infused with more technology.
This is post number four of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this episode we present you five jobs for entrepreneurs, the ones who love doing big business.
This seven-minute video, titled 'Slaughterbots', shows a future in which palm-sized autonomous drones commit untraceable massacres.
DNA is the densest known storage medium in the universe - and Harvard University researchers have managed to use it to store GIFs inside bacteria.
A machine lets drinkers instantly turn their empty beer bottles into sand.
Drone made to rescue in bad weather condition in open waters.
Virtual reality is already becoming a part of the conversation surrounding social media. Will it become the next popular social network?
At Border Sessions Festival in the Hague a workshop was hosted by Next Nature Network on the artificial womb.
How many cyborgs did you see during your morning commute today? I would guess at least five. Did they make you nervous? Probably not; you likely didn’t even realize they were …
Do you ever look at the bonnet of a car and see a face? Now, designers are looking at how to give self-driving cars the friendliest "faces" they can through anthropomorphism.
Where contraceptives such as the pill disconnect sex from reproduction, in vitro fertilisation disconnects contraception from sex, and the artificial womb would disconnect the …
Sports have always had an important place in human societies, providing entertainment, exercise, and a demonstration of the exceptional things the human body can achieve. But in a …
Meet the Shiva Therapist fro HUBOT. She massages with her own hands, but for the heavy work, she has four additional robotic arms at her disposal.
Looking for a self-sustainable mobile microhome? Ecocapsule got you covered. This cute-as-pie capsule pod allows you to live completely off the grid in a low-energy, mobile …
It's not an easy task to define the practice of designer Jasna Rok . Fashtech pioneer? Radical innovator? Visionary designer? ‘All of the above’ seems only appropriate. In fact, …
Are you working on projects where technology and human interaction are involved, and are you looking for a new approach? As of today, we offer a brand new workshop concept for you …
Mon dieu! The swirling pile of trash in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an exponential rate. A recent study has estimated that the mass of the garbage island is four to sixteen …
Today, there's an app for everything. They help us satisfy our cravings, allow us to communicate at all times and make it easier to share special moments. But the dark, cold …
They say lightning never strikes twice, but it appears to be striking a lot more often in some areas of ocean than others. New research published in Geophysical Research Letters …
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 …
Urban neighborhoods with high-rise concrete buildings are often dreary and gray. Therefore, the Urban Street Forest project aims to color our cities with the planting of vertical …
“Within a few years it will be possible for a premature baby to continue to mature in an artificial womb,” says gynecologist Guid Oei. It is therefore that the Artificial Womb: …
Designers face an unprecedented urgency to alter their methods and reprioritize their goals to address the accelerating degradation of the environment. This new …
Lining up plans for Dutch Design Week ? Once more, 2600 designers gather in over 120 locations during 450 events. So whether you're a local, new in town, or just passing through, …
What do a kingfisher, cocklebur pods and a Namibian beetle have in common? Besides being living organisms, they have all served as inspiration for creative human technologies to …
Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade and Cooper Hewitt in New York present the comprehensive exhibition NATURE - in which internationally renowned designers, artists and inventors …
Summer is here and the sun is out, and yes, this is awesome. After a long day in the sizzling summer sun, you get a group of people together to share some delicious food, …
Within a few years, it may be possible for premature babies to grow inside an artificial womb. And when that day arrives, should men be able to give birth to children? Should we …
A recent lip filler trend blew up on social media. 'Devil lips' , or Octopus lips, have attracted divided opinion online. When the body modification hit Instagram, some spectators …
“Please refrain from hand shaking" is a common sign we now see as a result of public health organizations advising people to avoid shaking hands as a greeting. As people still …
With most of us stuck at home because of lockdown, for the singles around us intimacy may have turned into a distant dream. Could we find our salvation in technology? And what …
The virus is forcing all of us to sit at home. While we are allowed to have social contact—albeit at an appropriate distance, intimate contact is hard to find. How to cope with …
Humanity has an insatiable hunger for meat. Since 2013 we have been researching, developing and campaigning for a humane and eco-friendly way to get our protein fix. Since day one …
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 …
As the viral pandemic continues to spread, so too does the world’s collective uncertainty. As a result, people are turning to media for some levity. And can you blame them. …
James Lovelock (1919) has lived on Earth for over a century. You may find that long, but it is short for himself. He thinks big and from a long-term awareness. At the age of …
If you are a regular reader of content from Next Nature, then you know that 3D printing can be used in all sorts of technological developments, such as organ printing , food waste …
The rapid technological advancement of the human race has led to many consequences, especially regarding the integrity of the atmosphere that protects all life on Earth. Although …
As with many of the products we consume, there’s a cost beyond what we pay at the store. Producing coffee has an environmental cost, too.
This is #1 in our cyborg mythologies series, where we explore the cyborg as a historical being intertwined within mythologism, ancient religion and sacred iconology. A way to …
The world needs interdisciplinary creators who are designing not just for humans, but for the rest of the living planet. To foster this thinking, Biodesign Challenge (BDC) pairs …
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 …
Where were you on the 4th October 2021? During the day that will be remembered for the Facebook outage, not everyone was equally impacted.
For multispecies feminist theorist Donna J. Haraway, “it matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” She studies the current age as the Chthulucene (chthon, …
A living lamp that you need to feed, a tapestry made of animal waste streams and tableware made from algae. Welcome to the wonderful world of biodesign.
In July 2018, a century-old red oak went live on Twitter. The account @awitnesstree , tweeting from the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, introduces itself in its bio: …
Art not for people, but for insects. That is the goal of the Pollinator Pathway project by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. With her concept she wants to change the way we perceive our …
In an era of high-tech and climate extremes, we are drowning in information while starving for wisdom. Architect Julia Watson imagines a design movement building on indigenous …
Climate change will transform how we live, but these tech and policy experts see reason for optimism
FIBER Festival explores the future of a changing world through audiovisual art, daring conversations, and experimental electronic music.
Regeneration of extinct flavor families via microalgae
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 …
A significant milestone has been reached as the US Department of Agriculture has granted approval to a vaccine for insects for the very first time. An important breakthrough, …
Controlling devices with your mind. Unreal? Think again. Brain-computer interfaces have been changing the game in healthcare, gaming, and accessibility lately.
Freyja Sewell decided to utilise the pandemic to rediscover her connection with nature by immersing herself in the wilderness in complete silence.
It seems that traffic jams aren't just a problem confined to Earth's highways and byways. How did this happen? And should we be concerned?
Designer Govert Flint proposes a new office concept, entirely based on movement and play.
To pay tribute to the destroyed orange petunias during the Petunia crisis, Klaus Pichler has composed an illustrative book.
There are people who think what makes a good wine comes from nature - factors like rain and soil and temperature. Then there are those who think it's a matter of second nature - …
Nature is not what it used to be. Or at least that is what we may think, when we look at the way humans and their technologies have treated nature. When we speak of "nature", …
A flower arcing from a frosted pane of glass. Rigged with a breath sensor and connected to an internet packet sniffer, the flower is cued in to the wireless network flowing in the …
Coming across an image like this, makes one wonder at first: is it a giant punch-bag? Some sort of soft water-drop-sculpture? No, it is the Emergency Outdoor Survival Cocoon , …
In "A Hunt for High Tech", Bart Hess seeks to harness both nature and technology and create armoured skin and fur for a new human archetype incorporating animalistic and …
No self-respecting manager would be without a BlackBerry. But now these handheld gadgets, which provide workaholics with constant email updates, are being blamed for chronic …
In the UK farmers recall simple circles appearing on their land for generations. The British media first reported on the circles in the early 1980s. By 1990 crop circles had …
Henk Rozema displaying his invention (2006), the digital tombstone "Digizerk". It was only a question of time that global digitalization would be introduced on cemeteries. The …
NeuroSky (founded in 2004) innovator in "wearable" bio-sensor/signal processing systems and SEGA TOYS are developing mind-controlled computer games and next generation consumer …
The influence of modernism and its trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape the world, along with its clear universal style of …
Our image of nature is permanently under construction. For Dutch biologist Gerdien De Jong , this became al too clear after watching The Life of Mammals , a series of nature …
The VIBE - emotional sensing necklace combines conductive ink and textile sensors. The necklace can read multiple biometric signals of the wearer and communicates them to other …
"Every year, in Germany alone, around 7000 people wait for a new cornea to save their eyesight. But donor corneas are in short supply. In an EU project, researchers have developed …
The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth--it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. -Ecclesiastes If we were able to take as the …
The Objectuals is a series of work by artist Hyung Koo Lee , it features an interesting mix of visual distortion apparatus for the human body. Lee says that he experienced …
Although there are numerous researchers out there creating humanoid robots, none are as explicit about the close relation between anthropomorphism and narcissism as professor …
Remember this one? Body heat is used to power machines in The Matrix . Nine years after the first of the trilogy came to screen, a company comes up with a body-powered-battery. In …
What you are looking at, is the logo of perhaps the (in idea) biggest competitor on the search-engine market. It is beta-testing right now, but its demo video looks promising. Why …
Ambient Biomedia is an investigative project about using living beings, in particular plants, to display human lifestyle problems information. The working principle of our systems …
Will Wright's hugely successful games SimCity and The Sims let players shape the structure of urban areas and the lives of virtual humans; his upcoming game, Spore , lets them …
The Maldives, a chain of islands off the coast of India is taking the possibility of disappearance into account. This little piece of paradise is so low above sea level that it …
Nowadays, children know more corporate logo's and brands than bird or tree species. The average Western person has more worries about the instability of financial markets and …
Good morning anywhere in the world! Waking up is a problem (at least for 50% of the population). That's why alarm clocks exist; machines and devices are invented to solve …
Fakeness has long been associated with inferiority. Fake Rolexes that break in two weeks, plastic Christmas trees, leaky silicone breasts that cause cancer, imitation caviar. Even …
Some weeks ago we pondered over the oddity of a space race in cyberspace . Rockets and jet-packs –so cool in the previous century– don't make sense in a virtual environment. The …
Shot taken before the robot in question short-circuited and started to kill all humans in sight.
Why hunt? Why gather? Join the Neolithic revolution! Somewhere around 9500 BC proto-farmers began to select and cultivate food plants with desired characteristics. While in their …
Fifteen policemen rushed to the scene, after a couple reported to have bumped into a "corpse" while out walking their dog in a mountain forest in Izu, central Japan. The officers …
Mondrian would have appreciated square trees. Furthermore, they would enable wood industry to lose less material, to cut easier with machines and to store more efficiently. Hence …
At the beginning of the computer era, many objects and experiences from everyday life were transferred to the digital environment in order to make technology understandable (think …
The RepRap is a selfreproducing 3D printer. The 3D printer 'prints' his own components by melting tiny plastic particles together. Imagine what would happen if this 3D printer …
In 1921 the word "Robot" (meaning "labor") was introduced by Czech writer Karel ?apek . In his play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots), robots seem happy to work for humans. …
This lecture by Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek – never mind the crappy sound & image quality: this is philosophy folks! – should provide all next nature explorers with a …
Earlier we reported software that predicts how a wine will rate in reviews even before it is made . Now, for puber-geek delight, lets try that for women. Tel Aviv University …
The 1966 science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage famously imagined using a tiny ship to combat disease inside the body. With the advent of nanotechnology, researchers are inching …
Never thought I would ever empathize with a hermit crab. But somehow the 'situation' the creature is in, provides me with a feeling of recognition. According to this video marine …
Meet A.T.R.E.E.M. (acronym for Automated Tree-Rental for Emission Encaging Machine), a device that compares daily activities, energy and products to the growth of a tree. "From an …
Designer Laura Boffi envisions a future in which human instincts will leap behind on technological progress. For example, once the 'disease called mortality' is cured with …
Scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental …
If the six hour crash course on synthetic genomics is a bit too much for you, there is always a more snappy TED lecture in which Craig Venter ponders on whether we can create new …
Graphic designer Roel Boonen takes the Apple cult to the extreme with this iReligion triptych. His piece is illustrative on how central corporations and digital technology have …
Meet KOBIAN, the humanoid robot that is not only able to walk about and interact with humans, but uses its entire body in addition to its facial expressions to display a full …
Gadgets! You love them when you buy them, but what happens next? Over half of Brits have abandoned gadgets because they don't know how to use them properly. Seventy-one per cent …
Already in the early days of modern civilization, people claimed that they could control the weather. A known example from recent history are the rituals that American Indians …
When a bird builds a nest, we call it nature, but when a human puts up an apartment building, suddenly it’s culture? As if the dividing line between nature and culture wasn't …
Is it a cynical gesture to glue a 'Stop Continental Drift' bumper sticker on your gasoline addicted car? Absolutely. Yet indirectly it also criticizes the romantic …
According to research carried out by scientists from the Columbia Environmental Research Centre , sewage water containing hormones and pesticides caused by human consumption is …
Quote Eric Horvitz : "After finishing my doctoral work, I returned to Stanford Medical School to finish up the MD part of my MD/PhD. During one of my last clinical rotations, I …
Looking at a banana from a design perspective, one immediately notices the fruit is highly ergonomic and sophisticated: Bananas fit perfectly in the human hand, they come with a …
Justin Shull investigates the born and the made by mixing them up in mobile installations like the "Terrestrial Shrub Rover" and the "Porta Hedge" . His designs consist of several …
The food printer seems to be one of those lustrous concepts that continues to pop-up in the fantasy of techno-connoisseurs. Some years ago James King already proposed a printed …
Avatars, almost every internet user has at least one of them running around somewhere on the web. We control then in numerous games and forums, but do they also control us? …
This interactive piece called Boys & Girls was made by artist Job Koelewijn , who invites people to take place in the life size coffin–style Barbie & Ken packages, where …
Douglas Coupland is a writer and artist based in Vancouver. For the canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, he wrote The ‘radical pessimist's guide to the next 10 years’ a dystopian …
Bacteria are traditionally perceived as infectious and unhealthy, but that is about to change. This week designer Jan van der Asdonk graduated from the Next Nature Lab at the TU/e …
Designer Guus Baggermans was quite annoyed by the clumsy impoliteness of current vending machines, that typically require you to enter some abstract number to select your drink or …
The way down was slow and somehow greasy. Total darkness surrounded them. Gill turned on the car radio and the LED's lit up their faces in a green pulsating glow. 'Jovi Rocks!', …
Mud tub is an experimental tangible interface that allows people to control a computer while playing in the mud. By sloshing, squishing, pulling, punching, etc, in a tub of mud …
Nanotechnology has been hailed for its benefits because of the potential ability to create drugs that could cure cancer and radiation poisoning, make miniature pollutant filters …
During the selection of the top ten of next nature movies we’ve doubted quite a bit between the Truman Show (1998) and American Beauty (1999). The Truman Show tells the story of a …
Recently some scientists in Britain have recommend planetary ' geoengineering ' to avoid climate change. And as politicians are listening , it is time to explore the options. New …
Nomadic Plants are a species assembled from a group of robotic-electronic-biological organisms living in symbiosis in order to survive in habitats affected by human activity. The …
Two grannies assessing the milk productivity of two goats by means of a chart: this is the story of the commercial behind this screenshot. The first granny is a data analysis …
Some matches remain interesting, even though they're predictable. Take the continuous battle between technology and football. Every time the stakes get high, such as at the World …
Brian Eno - artist, composer, inventor, thinker - spoke to Kevin Kelly about the meaning of Africa for music and technology. "Africa is everything that something like classical …
A 'treasure in the trees' reveals the exchange of materials between man and animal. This beautiful house finch nest, made of natural resources and manmade garbage, demonstrates …
The Belgian Blue is a unique cattle breed that was developed quite accidentally in the late 1800s. An chance mutation lead the cattle to develop 'double muscling,' which occurs …
If a light switch would be hairy or snotty nobody would want to turn on the light anymore, which is exactly why designer Katrin Baumgarten created some of the most one nauseating …
Thinking about Next Nature can sometimes result in a feeling of vertigo. Normal standards are eroded and slowly replaced by next natural ones. A bewildering example can be found …
Want to live a greener life? Eat less meat. Recently the UN appealed for a radical shift in diet , to improve individual health and ease conditions affecting the global …
At Cornell Creative Machines Lab they were curious to see how two "chatbots" would make conversation. Powered by Cleverbot , created by AI researcher Rollo Carpenter, the robots …
Mobile phones may be the most affective technology we own but researchers at the Design Research Lab in Berlin have taken this notion to its most outlandish limit. Their cellular …
Manko had been here before. Being just thoughts, surrounded by nothing. He felt glad his thoughts were there, one after the other, so there had to be a form of time and therefore …
Zero: 'Where to begin? We've had many discussions in our Lab about the future of the children. The plan was simple: to raise the kids to the physical age to be 'frozen' in. Then, …
Mediamatic is hosting a pop-up urban mushroom farm in the middle of Amsterdam. Rows and rows of shiitake, oyster, and the elusive almond-flavored Agaricus subrufescens are …
It's no secret that Mickey Mouse has evolved in response to consumer pressures. Once a violent river-rat, he became the boy scout of rodents with good looks to match. Steven Jay …
Over the coming years, nanotechnology will invade our everyday lives. Nanotechnology, usually defined as the control and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale, will be …
Japanese researchers are currently working on cloning a mammoth, and plan to produce a fluffy new prehistoric calf within four or five years . The bucardo, an extinct subspecies …
Human design brings us ‘natural’ experiences that could not exist without the human hand, but can be appreciated nevertheless. Perhaps we are intuitively faked to believe …
Say hello to teacher Engkey ! The city of Daegu — South Korea, introduced 29 robot teachers in 19 elementary schools as part of a large scale project to robotize teaching. The …
For other entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. People have evolutionarily built-in mechanisms that help us to …
Tweenbots are small robots that depend on the kindness of strangers. They are only able to move straight forward and do this constantly. Once they get stuck in a hole or at a …
Behold the heroic journey of one of the most illustrious creatures on our planet. Created by the good people of Healthebay.org .
Every time we eat a piece of food, we take a bite out of the world. All these small bites tell a dozen stories. A carton of eggs presents the story of contented hens, a bottle of …
Welcome to earth, #7,000,000,000! Hope you like the #anthropocene. Learn more: http://bit.ly/se1SQc
In The Watchers , the creative geniuses at Studio Smack picture a world where surveillance systems don't just watch us - they actively judge. Are you a green-coded Conformist or …
Part 9 in the 11 part series Anthropomorphism and Design . With most products, one wouldn’t normally worry about the environment that it enters. However, anthropomorphic products …
Artist Willis Elkins "rescues" plastic detritus from the sea. His most recent venture, the Jamaica Bay Pen Project , retrieves sun-baked, useless pens from the shores of New …
Elon Musk, the chief executive of spacecraft company SpaceX, believes we need to reinvigorate popular interest in space colonization, not just to boldly go where no man has gone …
Nearly every adult in the Western world owns a personalized pet, sometimes more than one . It is treated with great care, fed when necessary and fitted to the owner’s wishes and …
Same article , different example: Water Powered JetPack by Jetlev . (Thanks: Marlies Peeters)
As the planet’s population speeds towards 9 billion, it’s becomes impossible to continue consuming meat like we do today. Will we all be eating rice and beans? Grasshoppers …
Whale sharks are great at filtering; plastic needs to be filtered. For now, however, whale sharks only have an appetite for plankton. Industrial designer Elie Ahovi has jumped …
Famed for its jaguars, orchids, and horrifying parasites, the Amazon is just as famous for what it lacks: human presence. For many years, the prevailing wisdom has been that …
Plastic is a part of the earth's ecosystem , but it's a part that no one wants. At Harvard, scientists are looking to replace single-use plastic bottles, plates, and cups with …
Peak oil, the point when petroleum extraction is at its maximum, may have already occurred sometime in the last few years . Not only affecting whether we drive a Humvee or not, …
Researchers have developed genetic manipulated mice, with extra smell receptors that make them highly sensitive to the smell of explosives. Scientists hope to use these mice in the future to discover land mines
350 million years after crawling from the sea, the Lungless suit will bring us back. Inspired by fish gills, the Lungless Aquatic Respiration Suit uses millions of cascading …
While the Pacific garbage patch is often characterized as a dense, Texas-sized island of plastic, in reality it's an area of 2,736 square km scattered with tiny, floating bits of …
Neural synapses in the human brain are extraordinarily complex structures. Responsible for relaying information between neurons, chemical synapses govern the release of over 100 …
Tokyo University of Electro-Communications , revealed SHIRI (? = "buttocks"), a "Buttocks Humanoid That Represents Emotions With Visual and Tactual Transformation of the Muscles." …
It's nothing new that humanity is getting chubbier by the day. What's surprising is that we're bringing our animals along for the ride. A meta-analysis of animal weight has …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. Think about a spoon. Now think about a spoon with a face. What do you …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. When a product imitates animal behavior, the strict social rules …
A new study on the effects of cholesterol on the life span of Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm often used in experimentation, resulted in some surprising finds. The life span …
Taking a cue from the human brain, a new microchip can rewire itself after damage.
3D printer company MakerBot recently launched a contest inviting designers to create the birdhouse of the future. The winner is The American Craftsman Bungalow by Brent J. …
Unpolished creativity at the Next Nature lab from the Industrial Design Department at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
QR and barcode tattoos turn an artist's body into a business card.
British research group created anew scanning technique permits to obtain 3D images and detect wavelengths that our visual system is not able to see.
In vitro meat is creepy, unnatural and downright disgusting – and so is every other kind of food we eat.
Solving the world's population crisis by replacing human infants with aquatic creatures.
You’ve heard about peak oil, but what about peak automobile?
Baudrillard intersects with social media in the world of fake online girlfriends.
A speculative nanotech pill that lets you virtually rove your body, zapping cancer cells as you go.
One would need a gardening robot, fitted plant species and some kind of dome structure for the plants to grow in.
Two lights that behave like pets, acting and reacting like autonomous creatures.
How the extinction of mammoths changed the atmosphere.
The Mammoth was the last of the giant land mammals of the Pleistocene era.
By the turn of the century, some people began raising questions about our meat consumption habits.
Unlock our devices with our fingerprint, this technology for security represents a change in our digital life.
Ever curse the fact that you have to wait hours to sober up after a night at the bar? Now, you can sober up almost instantly – that is, if you're a mouse. Researchers at MIT …
Volume magazine interviews Next Nature founder Koert van Mensvoort.
Artist Filippo Minelli aims to point out the gap between the reality we still live in and the ephemeral world of technologies.
Interview with our own Koert van Mensvoort in the IKON Television Documentary 'Paradise Reset' on the future of human nature.
Cockroaches will inherit the world after humans are gone? Maybe not. Seeing plastic as the new moss, or algae, photographer Jeanny Kaethoven makes this beautiful pictures of …
Imagine your home adapting itself to seasonal, meteorological and even astronomical conditions by changing its shape. D*Dynamic is based on the discovery of mathematician Henry …
A new wearable device provides runners with info on posture, rhythm and stride length.
Can a meal replacer save us money, time, and maybe even save the world?
Designed by a dancer, a new wheelchair moves intuitively with the user's movements.
Restoring the sense of touch with an artificial hand, using a brain interface.
The first – and only – mechanical gears found in nature.
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg discusses the promises and realities of synthetic biology.
Having 50% more “conscious lifetime” might sound like an appealing proposition to anyone with a hectic schedule. This could be achieved not necessarily by living longer, but by …
A bracelet able to transfer a touch between two people.
A entomologist gives another explanation for that famous fruit fly with ant-patterned wings: it's not evolution, it's human error.
Map-enthusiast Valerie Pieris has created a fascinating visualization of human population centers. We all know that a huge fraction of humanity lives in Asia, but this map really …
Break out the ketchup: Mark Post has grown the world's first entirely artificial burger from cultured beef cells.
CGI video of animals doing crazy stunts makes us realize how peculiarly creative humans really are.
Besides finding their way, people look at to transport them to another place, or in this case, another perspective on planet Earth.
Electronic whiskers put sensitive catlike sensors on robots.
The World View Experience offers an expensive journey to the edge of space.
Zebrafish can regrow fins. Is there a possibility we can regrow bones in the near future?
Asian architects of AT Design Office want to build an incredible floating underwater metropolis that is also self-sufficient.
Without social bonds and solidarity, anything can and does happen: a small house surrounded by new big buildings.
A tool that could turn the arm into a touch screen display.
A jury of design and science experts awarded the best NANO Supermarket product a € 2.500 prize.
Plastic can fuse with rocks to form a new material: plastiglomerate.
In this approaching era, what might be biologically possible for plants?
The first digital life form is an interactive worm based on its real biology.
Healthy gut bacteria may hold the key to weight loss – but only isolated communities may preserve "natural" intestinal biomes.
As technology evolves, what today seems like science fiction may be the job market of tomorrow: 11 professions of the future.
Researchers found a technology that allows to recover valuable substances from wastewater.
Science Fiction taught us to think of robots as human-like beings, yet the robots that actually make it into your home are more likely to look like furniture.
Our peculiar image of the week makes us shivers with Anthropomorphobia.
The Pavlok wristband gives its wearers an electric shock if they fail at hitting work deadlines or completing fitness goals.
Human fitness has decreased so significantly that even the strongest of us would consider ancient men to have a supernatural force.
Many scientists believe that we will soon be able to preserve our consciousness indefinitely. This could be done by copying and transferring these contents into a computer, or by piecemeal replacement with parts of the brain gradually replaced by hardware.
Researchers from UC San Diego announced that they have developed 3D print tiny microrobots in the shape of fish able to detect and remove toxin from liquid.
Soon, we might be getting a taste of the first lab-grown chicken meat.
Will handwriting soon be history? Or will we always prefer a handwritten love letter from our beloved?
With cities covering growing area of land, we humans and our spaces build the new wilderness for animals and plants.
Scientists in Russia have taken a next step in the development of artificial intelligence by creating a "brain" that is able to educate itself.
Robots can already read, talk and reason. Yet, they do not seem to have found limits to their artistic skills either. Meet DOUG_1, first the drawing robot.
British company BioCarbon Engineering developed a new ingenious way to exploit drones: reforestation.
To counter the sitting dogma, design firm RAAAF and artist Barbara Visser created a dynamic office concept, entirely based on movement and leaning.
The acronym that keeps Europe awake at night is TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), a trade and investment deal that the EU is negotiating with the US. From …
French student at the Design Academy Eindhoven collected hair from African American hairdressers to create jackets and hats.
Biomaterials researchers at MIT came up with a very tiny device able to monitor vital signs from deep inside the body.
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.
If you do not want to slave away under the sun, pushing a bulky mower around, drones can do it for you.
Starship, a robot that will remodel our local deliveries system.
With recent successful experiments, we may see doctors switching from the single forceps to hordes of so-called microgrippers.
In the quest for competitive advantage, companies adopt wearable biometric technologies to monitor employees and improve business results.
After it sold out, the Next Nature book has been reprinted with a brand new cover.
Dr. Garth Webb, an optometrist from British Columbia, has invented the Ocumetics Bionic Lens : lenses that after being implanted through an eight minute surgery, improve eyesight …
Amazon introduced a new gadget, named Dash Button, that will help you order groceries automatically.
Waterlicht shows how the Netherlands would look without waterworks — a virtual flood.
In the near future he ability to see through things won’t be a dream anymore with this infrared smartphone camera.
English artist Imogen Heap, with an army of artists, musicians, scientists and technologists, developed the Mi.Mu gloves.
A few days ago, these images of iconic buildings in Beijing as they look with and without intense smog have been posted on Weibo, one of China’s most popular social media …
Hydroceramic: a composite material able to lower the temperature of an interior space by five degrees Celsius.
According to researchers we could go a step further and use stem cells derived from your skin cells.
The SkinBook is made of synthetic skin that allows beginner tattooists to practice their skills.
Cyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.
Australian programmer started a social experiment called “Twitch Plays Pokémon”. Over a Million People Play Pokémon in Social Experiment
A severely injured tortoise was saved by a team of doctors thanks to a 3D printed shell.
Artists respond to biometric technology and data collecting software through subversive projects.
Pokémon Go is slowly taking over our planet. People know more Pokémon than bird or tree species. However, avid players will have noticed that some of the first-gen Pokémon are not available in the game yet.
China's government fabricates about 488 Million social media posts every year as a strategy to distract from critics to the regime.
On the aftermath of such a historic day for Britain and the EU, it's easy to get swayed into the polarities of political discourse, particularly on social media and the Internet, where things heat up and move fast. The results of the referendum have just come out, and the Internet is already burning with tension. This is called "climate change" - just not the one you are used to hear about.
After reports of Samsung phones causing serious damage, plane delays and even hospitalization, the company made a first recall. However, the new phones were still bursting into flames.
A recent research reveals that the next extra nutritious ingredient may be the liquid produced by cockrach mothers to feed their offsprings. Are you willing to try it?
By 2050 plastic waste will outnumber the number of fish in the sea. These Surfers are taking action and raising awareness.
Dave Hakkens wins the 2016 ECO coin Award for his incredible work on the Precious Plastic recycling machines.
Would you vote for an artificial intelligence to govern our society?
Scientists at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, grew edible crops in Martian soil.
Wanted: New jobs for humans and robots! Which designers, technicians, robot enthusiasts will help us with innovative, feasible ideas for the new jobs of the future?
This year, on April 6th, a baby was born with three genetic parents: two mothers and one father.
Researchers have the developed the EQ-Radio: a tool to read people emotions from a distance.
Ground Level Traffic Lights For Smartphone Zombies
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg at the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona.
Researchers created solar cells as light as a soap bubble.
How wild animals and cities are adapting to each other.
On King's Day the water board of Amsterdam wants to collect urine and use it as fertilizer.
Meet the firefighter drone, she is the best at extinguishing fires and keep every species safe!
Disney's Frozen is causing tourism overload in Norway, and it's not sure if that is a good thing.
Today there are on average there are some 8000 planes in the sky carrying at least half a million people. On average during the Stone Age there must have been less.
Researchers at MIT have created a system that is able to simulate sounds that are so perfect that they can even fool human listeners.
In the last months we've been witnessing a refugee crisis of huge proportions. More than a million people crossed the sea to flee violence in Africa and the Middle-East. Together …
With the evolving technique called EEG, electroencephalography, we can measure brain activity and ultimately even read the brain.
Sunspring is a Sci-Fi short movie entrirely written by an artificial intelligence.
Welcome to the access and experience economy. Currency: sweat, blood and action.
Where most researchers are focusing on keeping bees alive, researchers of Harvard are developing a bee replacement; the Robobee. The Robobee is only the size of half a paperclip, with ultra thin wings flapping 120 times per second. The main goal is to build a mechanic pollinator.
Last week The Hague hosted a festival dedicated to contemporary experiments in music, art and digital culture.
A canadian entrepreneur is trying to help reduce plastic pollution by building a village made out of plastic in Panama.
IBM's Watson succeeded in creating its first-ever movie trailer for the upcoming sci-fi thriller Morgan.
What’s Flying There? is a coloring book that opens up new perspectives for drones applications in the human habitat.
The first cyborg Olympics will take place in Zurich in October.
The term "ecotogenesis" was first coined in 1923 in "Daedalus".
In 2015, a group of scientists from the University of Michigan claimed to have made the world's first artificial placenta.
Over a four year project period, researchers will use artificial intelligence to understand the dolphin language, creating a dolphin dictionary.
Barbie has been turned into a hologram version of herself and will now be your kids assistend.
A study revealed that the sound of motorboat engines disturbs coral reef fish so acutely it changes their behavior, making them bad parents.
We know how it feels to catch a cold; how might it feel to catch malware?
The AI chef nows more than 10,000 recipes from all over the world and is capable of combining any ingredient while following your personal food preferences.
The endless runway is a new airport concept by Dutch scientist Henk Hesselink.
Rising temperatures have boosted the growth rates of seasonal mosses on Antarctica, turning the continent green.
Cigarette butts are littered everywhere. But now, two Dutch designers have come up with a unique solution to the problem: the Crowbar.
Scientists develop engineered cells to be implanted in patients with diabetes to regulate blood sugar levels, controlled with a smartphone app.
BladeRanger might have found the ultimate solution for solar panels cleaning putting drones and robots together at work.
German company revealed fastest electric plane.
Last week, our NNN fellows gathered to discuss the Next Habitat; how will we work in the future? And how does this affect our personal lives?
Airbus and Italdesign unveil modular urban land and air transport system.
In 2017, a hoverboard can fly 164 feet above earth and able to hover over the Atlantic Ocean.
The robots are coming! They’re getting smarter, cheaper and more reliable. How long will I have my job before a robot steals it? The industrial revolution made muscular power …
The phone call was as unexpected as the American accent at the other end of the line. And when she hung up a few moments later, Ira van Eelen had to stop to catch her breath. More …
Meet Josh Tetrick, entrepreneur who wants to reinvent the food industry and plans to launch lab-grown meat on the market by the end of 2018.
Read our conversation with the ECO Coin Award Winner of 2015: Yoyo Yogasmana.
What if your devices had a life of their own? Guy Farber’s playful short movie "An iReal" explores this very possibility.
We think of selfhood as residing in our everyday stream of consciousness. But could we possibly have a second digital self in our online behaviors? Watch episode 3 of our Intimate Technology series.
Sensor specialists recently developed a sensor that mimics the mammalian eye.
Imagine being able to enter your office through a digital representation of reality. It sounds crazy, but it’s possible with augmented and virtual reality.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Next Nature Memory Game. Now available in our web shop, it playfully explores the shifting borders between biology and technology.
In the next nature, many people spend as much time in the digital world of gaming as they do in the real world. We have covered video games before, but this year we thought it …
A needle free oral delivery system might in the future dissolve the old way of vacancies injected by syringes.
The Pink Chicken Project suggests modifying chickens’ DNA in order to send a message about our Earth health.
Antonio Esparza designed the TurtleBag: a 3D printable exoskeleton to help turtles distinguish plastic bags from jellyfish and extend their lifespan.
POP is an all-in-one solar energy system that hold visible benefits for humans.
Help Dave Hakkens build the third version of his Precious Plastic recycling machines!
The Pyramid of Technology toolkit is a workshop-in-a-box that helps you better understand technology and catalyze innovative processes.
A new report recommends that we decide the legal status of robots sooner rather than later. It even suggests that they could be given personhood and rights.
Shazam for Plants app lets you catch around 400.000 plant species left on our planet through the lens of your smartphone.
Developers at Dutch-based company Arenar have designed a device that not only claims to improve the quality of sleep, but also induces lucid dreams.
The Smell of Data documentary will make its online debut on nextnature.net.
A clinical startup sells millennial blood to reverse aging.
Meet the incredible new species "Petramosaurus Cavator" and discover its impact on our planet.
Are cities in their current form really the future of the human habitat? What is a next nature version of the city and how would it look like? In line with this perspective, NNN designer Hendrik-Jan Grievink led two workshops in Tokyo.
In effort of protecting and prospering their country, the Polynesian government has signed an agreement to realize the world’s first floating city.
The way we interact with the technology in our lives is getting progressively more seamless. If typing terms or addresses into your phone wasn’t easy enough, now you can just tell …
In Bali, volcanic danger looms large. Scientists are trying to use drones to forestall the danger and make the invisible workings of the volcano visible.
Scientists developed an e-skin that lets the wearer manipulate virtual objects without touching them, by using magnetic fields.
If you teach a robot to fish, it’ll probably catch fish. However, if you teach it to be curious, it’ll just watch TV and play video games all day. Researchers from Open AI …
There was a time when flipping the switch, and seeing a glass bulb light up, was magical to anyone in the world. Today, the presence of a light switch in a room, is something …
Australian regulators will soon be faced with a challenge: can animal flesh produced in a lab be called meat? Amid reports that lab-grown meat could be on sale this year, the US …
Growing meat artificially, instead of within an animal, may soon be an available reality. Meet one of the pioneering developers of this product of the future: Aleph Farms. With …
Babies' needs aren't complex. And yet, they are. Over the years, parents have found some tricks to ease their babies as well as themselves. Taking a baby for a drive to make them …
Sex is one of the most powerful, fundamental human drives. It’s caused wars, and built and destroyed kingdoms. It occupies a significant percentage of most people’s thoughts. As …
Scientists have been hard at work searching for renewable energy sources. Now, a new breakthrough: the ability to produce hydrogen fuel from seawater.
For those experiencing symptoms of motion sickness in VR , it’s now possible to step inside a real-life simulation of what it could be like to ski on mars. Last week, desert dust …
From the Georgia Institute of Technology arrives FingerSound, a smart ring that recognizes thumb gestures and converts them into words and numbers.
Globally, humans produce enough food to feed 10 billion people (we are only 7 billion now) yet somehow we waste a third of this. Food waste is one of the biggest climate …
Hello meat lovers! In vitro meat innovator Aleph Farms has taken the saying 'one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind' to a whole new level. The startup has succeeded …
Hooray! The team of researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (whom we previously collaborated with to design a prototype for an artificial womb ) has been awarded a …
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 …
A breakthrough technology that responds to signals from the brain has transformed the life of a paralyzed 28-year-old man called Thibault. Four years after the initial incident …
Should men be able to give birth to children? Should we externalize pregnancy with artificial wombs? And are these feminist dreams or frankenstein nightmares? Welcome to …
It’s common consensus in the tech industry that the days of cars as we know them—powered by gas, driven by humans, and individually owned by all who want and can afford one—are …
For the closing event of Reprodutopia , a true meeting of minds took place as we discussed the social implications surrounding the future of reproductive technologies. Multiple …
Look around you and try to find the most natural thing in the room you are in now. It is you. But for how long? Welcome to the wonderful world of bio design ; a world full of …
The world is developing, climate change is happening and it's time for us to do something. Now. One strategy would be to simply stop eating meat — or at least reduce the amount of …
Robot Sophia is pretty much the international face of the ‘modern robot’. Sophia is the Audrey Hepburn-inspired humanoid robot who stands out for multiple reasons. She is the …
Emma is in poor health. She has painful varicose veins, stress-related eczema, puffy skin, a grey complexion, red eyes and a hunch-back. She is an imagined office worker of the …
Delve into the science and fiction of robots at V&A Dundee’s latest exhibition: Hello, Robot . Contemplate the existence of robots and how they have both shaped, and been …
There has been a surge in awareness of the damage that plastic pollution does to our planet in recent years. It has spurred a number of campaigns to remove single-use plastics …
Earth’s oceans are having a rough go of it these days. On top of being the repository for millions of tons of plastic waste , global warming is affecting the oceans and upsetting …
A few years ago, convincing meat-free “meat” was nothing more than a distant dream for most consumers. Meat substitutes in supermarkets lacked variety and quality. Plant-based …
Travelling to work, meeting friends for a catch up or just doing some shopping are often taken for granted by people with no known disabilities. For the visually impaired, these …
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 …
Each year we search the globe for people and projects that have outstandingly contributed to make this planet a more sustainable place and honour them with our ECO Coin Award . We …
As the ills of factory farming become more pronounced, people are increasingly gravitating towards vegetarian or pescatarian diets. Besides producing a large percentage of our …
Imagine you are single and you finally meet that someone you like. You are in the early stages of dating, but then a virus appears and compromises everything. For some of us this …
The current lockdown in much of Europe has city-dwellers flocking to the countryside to wait out the outbreak sweeping the continent. Seeking relief from coronavirus, urbanites …
Who are you, who do you want to be, and what do you need to do to get there? We are constantly pushed to lead the perfect life. The media present us with a picture of an existence …
During these challenging times, we have tried to find happy moments together where we could find them. From weekly Zoom lunches to having online wine tastings, still, it doesn't …
At this moment in time, many people are staying at home in order to flatten the curve . It is times like these that we realize how vital technology is to us and our societies. It …
In conversation with Canadian researcher Suzanne Simard, inventor of the Wood Wide Web.
This is #2 in our cyborg mythologies series, where we explore the cyborg as a historical being intertwined within mythologism, ancient religion and sacred iconology. A way to …
Good day astronauts of spaceship Earth! Today it was announced that Next Nature's plans for the Evoluon have been awarded a financial contribution of €7.6 million from the Region …
With 7.9 billion people and counting, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations predicts that by 2050, food supply needs to grow by 70% in order to accommodate …
Imagine this: you wake up on a lazy Sunday morning, trudging your way to the fridge only to be welcomed with the smell of something rotting. Did the meat expire sooner than …
Travel to big future in our VR timemachine at the Evoluon in Eindhoven
The exhibition "Apocalypse - End Without End" shows that the end is a human invention
Trading animal skins for pixels, our digital selves call for a digital wardrobe. The Institute of Digital Fashion , led by CommuneEast founder Leanne Elliott Young and Digi-Gxl …
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 …
In the digital era of a globalized world, our screens have become a second set of eyes. Communication has advanced leaps and bounds, to a point where we cannot imagine a world …
Looking at evolution, we see that there’s always a next nature. Nature changes along with us. How will that influence our way of life in the future?
Architect Rachel Armstrong establishes an alternative approach to sustainability. Through a close reading of computational properties of the natural world, Armstrong develops a …
As humans have industrialised farming to feed a growing global population, pollinators – animals vital for plant reproduction – have seen their food supply decline. In the UK, …
Here are 5 things you cannot miss at Floriade Expo 2022
You are in for a surprise when you look at food and concept designer Chloé Rutzerveld 's portfolio. It is hard to believe that somebody so young - she is just 25 - has already …
Exploring the co-evolution of yeast and humans, while discovering the aesthetic value of yeast biotechnology, is what designers Anna Dumitriu and Alex May have been concocting. …
Benedikt Peirotén has started a project called ‘From the Ashes’ proposing using waste streams to replace the energy-intensive ingredients in glass.
*Our open call will continue for another month due to popular demand* Calling all art students, academics and everything in between. Are you a recent graduate (or soon to be)? Do …
Musicians have stumbled upon an unconventional and intriguing creative partner: plants. Yes, that's right, plants. Through the use of advanced sensors and software, …
AI language model ChatGPT has hit the mainstream last year when it became widely accessible to everyone. Next to doing our (home)work, it became also a D&D Dungeon Master , …
In the evolving scenery of self-driving taxis in San Francisco, passengers are getting frisky in the backseat of driverless taxis.
A floating sustainable city where humans can live, work and study while supporting aquatic ecosystems. Soon this will become a reality in Dubai, as sustainable real estate company …
Virtual news anchors seem to spread like wildfire across Asia. We've witnessed Xinhua present the news from China and applauded Lisa on becoming India’s first regional AI news …
Imagine a trash can that matches the size of your ordinary bin, yet it scoffs at weeks' worth of discarded food before even considering fullness. You're off the hook, as there's …
In a ground-breaking discovery, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have achieved to produce insulin out of lettuce. There's no need for needles and injections anymore, …
Within the digital realms of our smartphones, WhatsApp groups cater to diverse intents: exchanging witty dad jokes, soliciting style counsel ahead of night-outs with friends, or …
Get ready to take your dining experience to literal new heights, soon we are able to enjoy high cuisine at the edge of space. French company Zephalto is introducing extravagant …
Heartsync is an interactive art installation crafted by artist Nino Basilashvili that syncs up your heartbeat with others.
Written by Debbie Mollenhagen PART 1: FROM LINEAR TO CIRCULAR Designer living has become designing life. I often ask myself: did it taste like the real thing? But when I open my …
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). …
The sciences of biomimicry studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs to solve human problems: Culture imitates nature. The Black&Decker …
Instruction for the Birds: Land on perch->trigger sound file->observe human response-->behave accordingly. Instructions for People: Listen, you'll be able to understand. The sound …
NEC corporation is developping a "Childcare Robot PaPeRo" capable to play with and watch over children. The Childcare Robot is capable of recognizing and verbally communicating …
Crowd counter is a piece of software able to track moving features within a video clip. It works on the assumption that points that move together are most likely part of the same …
Hope you have a strong stomach for this one: There are many ways known for decorating the body (both human and f.e. swine ). But it's fascinating to see that so many "cutters" …
Today the Entry 2006 exhibition opened in the coalwashe building, Zollverein. For 100 days 'perspectives and visions in design' with over 300 exhibits from more than 20 countries …
Die Natur verändert sich mit uns (English version: Exploring Next Nature ) by Koert van Mensvoort , published in Entry Paradise, Neue Welten des Designs, Gerhard Seltman, Werner …
Behold the featherless chicken, created by Scientists at the genetics faculty at the Rehovot Agronomy Institute near Tel Aviv, Israel. The idea behind the development of this …
Google has added it's first map of a Solar Planet to the google maps. The map of Mars provides detailed information of its mountains, craters, plaines and more (including …
Using ancient grafting techniques and a few basic tools, Richard Reames shapes living trees into furniture and sculpture near his home in Oregon for clients worldwide. He is the …
Is this fake nature? Surely, it's nature altered by human hands. Somewhere in the East German forest these trees started to change color in autumn a little earlier than all the …
Klima Kontrolle (video) is a project by Roel Wouters and Luna Maurer . A fan is placed in front of a computer screen and accelerates until it blows away the entire desktop. …
Metalosis Maligna is a documentary by Floris Kaayk about a disease which affects patients with medical implants. Sourcing from such implants a wild metal growth ultimately …
Jos de Mul (Erasmus University Rotterdam), published in Next Nature Paperback, 2005 For someone whose main instrument is a computer, the world becomes a gigantic database. We see …
The world's oldest profession has made quick inroads into virtual life. You can make a quick buck if you're willing to accept in-game money for sexual services -whether that's …
The world is flat again! Here's how the worlds largest search engine company describes its newest toy: To put it simply, Like a game community , Google Earth is growing its own: …
The pattern on the Animal Sweater suggests a new way to experience commercial imagery. The Animal sweater, designed by Karl Grandin, was first shown at The Biggest Visual Power …
In the not-so-distant future people will be given a pig with their own DNA engineered into it. The pig, known as a "knockout" pig in the scientific jargon, is a form of living …
A traditional textile heritage is celebrated with flocked wallpaper that comes to life as it reacts to ambient noise levels. The louder the space the brighter the wallpaper glows. …
Epic is a fictional prospect (from 2004) on the future culture of media and internet-corporations. The human addiction to news and information must - according to this video - …
Mandy Meißner's "Wildgruen", a plant that can move and communicate. In her view, plants need to be freed from their isolation, both in the way that they can only lean towards the …
Those crazy Germans are planning to build modern versions of pyramids that will function as gigantic burial sites. "The Great Pyramid can potentially be any human being's grave or …
Animals do not shape their living environment as radically as humans, but why don't we give them some help. James Auger envisions animals, birds, reptiles and even fish becoming …
Augmented Fish Reality is an interactive installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures. These sculptures allow Siamese Fighting fish (Betta Splendons) to use …
Ball of Being is an online dance film featuring atoms, planets, footballs, globes, foam and molecules. It is uncertain whether we are entering a microscopic nanoworld, virtual …
Barcode tatoos . An intuitive manifestation of the decreasing border between humans and products?
This cell-shaped building for the institute for Nanobiomedical Technology & Membrane Biology in Chengdu, China, is an unusual croos-disciplinary collaboration between MIT …
This Fall, the 1st world Bioprinting Congress is organized in Honolulu, Hawai. Four whole days of biopatterning, bioassembly and biofabrication! The ironic choice of location …
Somehow next nature seems to reveal itself through furniture. Earlier we've featured the treetrunk bench , the bone chair , the folding chair , sketch furniture and how to grow a …
Botanicalls is a system that allows plants to call their owner when they need more (or less) sunlight or water. It works by placing moisture and light sensors in plants and then …
Using electrodes positioned around a person's scalp, scientists from the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas in Greece are developping a method for electronic identification …
While recent developments in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology have given humans the power to mentally control computers, nobody has used the technology in conjunction …
See also: How to grow a Heinz Bottle , Ferrari Tomato
Tomb Raider, featuring superwoman Lara Croft, was one of the most successful video games of its generation. Although many computer games had previously been created as spin-offs …
In ancient times, heroes like Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus explored unknown territories of the globe. The climax of these terrestrial explorations was reached at the …
A Nike shoe stapled together with human flesh, created by Adam Brandejs .
Let's talk about hyperbreasts. Have you ever wondered why men like women with large breasts? Historically large breasts are presumably sexually attractive for men because they …
Al Gore would love one of these mugs; displaying what happens when the world heats up and oceans begin to rise. Via Shikake | See also: ScaryIdeas.com | Related posts: Design A …
Google Video is no longer in operation. Sorry for the inconvenience "It's a high form of masturbation" A RealDoll is a realistic life-size sex doll that cost more than an average …
What to do about the shortage of human organ donors? An emerging branch of medicine, called organ printing (future vision alert) , takes a patient's own healthy cells and uses a …
A bug that does the cleaning? This 1-meter (39-inch) tall, 1.35-meter (53-inch) long prototype robot ' named "Lady Bird" ' is designed to clean public restrooms at highway rest …
Man's ability to control illumination is magical in itself but is seldom experienced as such because light switches are purely functional and generally don't stir up imagination. …
Edward Burtynsky is a photographer that makes pictures scarred or altered landscapes, changed by industrial activities. His work shows the disappearance of nature and the …
It is true, they are rare, but they do exist: girls with tiny waists and large breasts. Occasionally, women are simply born like this. The only problem they have - in a world …
Artist Nicola Costantino creates objects that comment on the meat and leather industries. In the surrealist tratdition, these handbags and shoes are imprinted with tiny images of …
Philips hits the shops with a product that aims to naturalize alarm clocks. The annoying buzzing machines were once invented to cultivate our day/night rhythms, formerly connected …
We are all born in a world that has been designed already. Cars, dishwashers, dildo's, remote controls, ATM machines. Although these products are supposed to make life better, …
Comedian Paul Merton went to China for Five.tv (early 2007) and near Beijing he reads the following headline: This farmer grows robots...
Robotarium X , the first zoo for artificial life, approaches robots very much in the way as we are used to look at life in old nature. We, humans, enjoy watching and studying …
What has a virtual world got to do with CO2 emissions? Electricity. Second Hype creator Linden Lab consumes an enormous amount of electricity on its 4,000 servers that support …
This peculiar image made me realize: It is in fact totally miraculous that people are capable to perceive machines as 'sexy'. How did that ever happen?
Alright, we can agree most of old nature has been altered by human activity. We're not just talking rain forest, icecaps and genetically modified fruit and kittens . Now you might …
I first saw this statement on the Artvertising building . Let this be our slogan of the week.
15.000 Years ago we lived in caves, wore animal-fur and ate mammut- noodles !? Oh well, though our knowledge has grown a bit, the human nature hasn't changed that much: every …
Earlier we discussed the Magical Interaction project, in which Joris van Gelder rethought the boring activity of switching on/off a light by transforming it into a magical …
Nowadays, most people can't make anything at home because it's too expensive. Roboticist Hod Lipson wants you to stop shopping and use his portable 3-D printer to make your own …
In ancient times heroes like Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus explored the unknown territories of the globe. Today world traveling has become a teenage tourist activity, but …
"While battling the forces of nature, man has become more and more independent of physical conditions. At the same time, however, he has become more and more dependent of …
Tickle is a small robot that walks on the human body to generate a pleasant, tickling sensation.It has two motors and rubber feet for a good grip on the skin. When it encounters a …
Another project by Oded Ezer, Typosperma is the second experimental typo project in his 'Biotypography' series. As a paraphrase on the biotechnology definition, 'Biotypography' is …
Victoria has great realism, perfect imperfections, and incredible ease of use. Based on live human models she is trying to close the gap between real life and models typically …
While time seems to flow in this one direction, some people just know how to walk straight through that fourth dimension; catch it in a videoclip and throw the message into …
Unfortunately this stylish refugee is merely an advertising fata morgana.
Avatarian Graveyard supplies a service for virtual addicts – people who excessively or compulsively spend time in virtual environments – to help them reintegrate into everyday …
Murata Boy, is a robot capable of riding bicycles unassisted. Balancing, pedaling and directing the bicyclee, turning the bike to avoid obstacles, etc. And this is his nephew, …
Let's face it: every time your cellphone battery runs empty you feel amputated and you quickly run back to your house to connect to a powering-adapter. Bionic Power Inc. is now …
This landscape is titled 'I can not help the way I feel' and was created by John Isaacs . The way in which the flesh grows, erupts and engulfs the body can be seen as a metaphor …
Who would not need a blobwall in their officegarden? This modular freestanding, indoor/outdoor wall system was designed by Greg Lynn . It is made of a low-density, recyclable, and …
With his Waterboxx , Pieter Hoff (The Netherlands) won the Bèta Dragons Award 2008. It is an instrument that supports plants and trees in order to survive in difficult …
Nobody in recent history was (and is) made by media like Britney Spears. This one is for you, B. Made by
Don't you just love that vanishing bioplastic bottle! It is our peculiar object of the week.
Corpus 2.0 by Marcia Nolte is a set of seven portraits illustrating how the human body could adjust itself to the design of products, including an enlarged SMS thumb (above), an …
What is that growing on my car dashboard? Is that a tree? Indeed, Ford and Honda's next-generation dashboard instrument clusters feature trees (a vine in Ford's case) that grow …
Creativity for all! Design used to be predestined to a select group of qualified brand–owning designers. That model is made redundant. At least, if it is up to Studio Ludens in …
These ships were abandoned over twenty years ago. Their owners left them to die after the Chernobyl disaster due to their high levels of radiation. One of the great ironies of the …
Now let us analyze this setup for a moment: You are looking at an avatar character inside a 3D model of a virtual reality cave, enjoying a 'natural' landscape – welcome in the …
Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle could be the single best-loved structure in the world. Ever wondered where Walt Disney got his enchanting fairytale aesthetic? The castle, which …
Some days when we look in the mirror we like what we see, some days less so. Would it not be great to be able to tweak the image a bit? After all, it is our main manifestation to …
Video of the Fake for Real Memory Game , presented by Hendrik-Jan Grievink & Koert van Mensvoort at the Style First exhibition in the museum Mudac , Lausanne, Switzerland. …
Famous technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil states: it's going down by 2029, so be prepared to get digital on entirely new levels. According to Kurzweil, machines will have both …
A million years from now that hand would probably look more evolved, but the idea is nice: What if we would mold objects of the now into stone or bricks to preserve them over time …
European biologists have constructed a genetic map of Europe showing the relations between its various populations. The right part of the map shows the location in Europe where …
Second Hype's fashion industry is large and catty enough to have supermodel divas and social scandals, so it's probably inevitable that these should be available, too: animation …
This Tuesday, search giant Google released an experimental tool that tracks the intensity and movement of the influenza virus across the United States by monitoring the number of …
It is official: the Green Blues has begun. Almost all bio-fuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing …
A single hail storm can destroy the year's harvest. For over 25 years, this gun has been used by vine and fruit growers in France, Spain, Austria and Belgium for one purpose: …
This weeks peculiar image gives gaming that "natural" touch: the Hemp–Mote by dhrek.com Made from 3 kinds of 100% natural hemp string on the outside, while remaining 100% …
A commercial by an orthopaedic reconstruction company introducing the next generation of joint replacements: " Highly advanced hips and knees. Engineered to meet the needs of your …
Artist Max Kor, built himself a World of Warcraft Night Elf from scratch. Check his tutorial for an inside peek in surreal beauty construction. We are waiting for night elves to …
While swimming in second life, India Leigh came across this cool lion fish. See also: Redefining Nemo , Augmented Fish Reality , Who wants to drive a fish? .
Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be. You can’t beat the real thing. It really refreshes and brings real satisfaction in every glass. It was not until America’s …
Or you could get an iDog. This electronic animal with musical sensibilities. It sits on your desk and sings along with the music you are playing. Dog haters don't need to worry; …
Between the launch of Sputnik on 4 October 1957 and 1 January 2008, approximately 4600 launches have placed some 6000 satellites into orbit, of which about 400 are travelling …
Always wanted to take that parachute jump from the airplane, but never dared to? Why not try an indoor sky dive? Less interesting view, but more floating time. You can jump in …
A giant, smiling Lego man has been fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort. Workers at a drinks stall rescued the 2.5-metre tall model. "We saw something bobbing …
This Japanese Juice box is camouflaged from modern box designs and tries to convince consumers with its appealing 'natural' look. A schoolbook example of biomimicmarketing ; …
Our peculiar object of the week is the 'Kokon Chair' created by Dutch designer Jurgen Bey , who wrapped existing chairs with tight, elastic synthetic fiber resulting in a highly …
Too much carbon emissions warming up the planet? No problem: just bring the stuff back to where you got it from in the first place. Experts have been advising to bury carbon …
Lightweeds is a project by Simon Heijdens and currently exhibited at the MoMA - part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition . The organisms - plants, weeds, trees - exist …
PETA –People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals– has posed a challenge to the world's scientific community: The first person to come up with a method to produce commercially …
In the category: Creativity with modernistic tree trunks . Created by the good people of Draw me a sheep , who with this project aim to explore today’s human relationship with …
PacMan's skeleton is our peculiar object of the week. It was created by Le Gentil Garcon , in collaboration with Fransois Escuilia, palaeontologist, from the comparative …
Did you know there are more plastic flamingos in the USA than real ones? Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch – the American's …
At a recent Yo-Yo Ma concert at the Detroit Opera House, Honda's ASIMO robot took the stage and conducted. Blame Honda when the robots take over. Thanks Paul .
Confused with the pile of remote controls in your house? Now here is an idea: get a robot to control them. Researchers at Toshiba have developed a talking robot, named ApriPoko, …
Just because you're feeling paranoid, doesn't mean the fish aren't actually spying on you. Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu created an underwater survey robot that looks …
The struggle between the born and the made is being fought out in a wardrobe on Saturn. By: 1stavemachine.com | Related: Sixties Last
Chantal Sebire suffers from an extremely rare form of cancer (foto: AFP) Since a few centuries some we tend to consider nature as something to preserve. Hence the international …
(Extracted directly from Pink Tentacle , thanks!): Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can …
That shiny sparkling stone you got from your lover... is that a diamond? Lab manufactured diamonds are getting exceedingly good . They have the same color, clarity, cut and carat …
This week we are sneak previewing our forthcoming compilation DVD featuring the best of the Biggest Visual Power Shows at the Picnic 08 - E-art event on 24,25,26 September at …
Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove ('Captain Organic') placed several glowing Solar Trees in the streets of Vienna (October 2007). These solar powered streetlights could save cities …
If you would have shown this picture to people 50 years ago, they might have imagined it to be one of those promised 21th century space stations encircling some alien planet in …
Meet midori-san , the first blogging houseplant! Through sensors connected to the leaves of this Sweetheart Hoya reads bioelectric currents through the plant, this gives …
Now why is that girl so excitingly staring at a few blurry blobs on a flat screen? Is it because these blobs are connected to her breath... What? Yes that is right, you are …
At first I thought this first pregnant man was a hoax, but after I saw it on Oprah I realized it must be 'real'. Well, the pregnant man is actually a former woman who had a sex …
This is Petra. In 2006 she fell in love with a peddle boat designed to look like a swan and has never left its side. In winter, when swans should be flying southwards, the peddle …
In our NextNature event BVPS (May 2008), Kevin Kelly spoke of technology as the 7th kingdom of life : a form of evolution whithout the nasty side–effect of dying (Every object …
"Nature adapts, even to human actions that seem to destroy everything. The amazing power of evolution has given birth to a new species of insect. Their ideal habitats are old …
Usually we don't realize the hours of photoshopping spent on magazine and advertising images before publication. The raw photographic material reveals a lot about the fine craft …
The Telepresence Frame is a domestic object which utilises the fact that one's bodily functions are digitised in order to create a new form of telepresence. Allowing loved ones to …
Japanese scientists made people drive in circles to find out how traffic jams get born. Related: Human Swarms | Harvesting Traffic Information through GSMs | The things we design …
What would it be like if the communication on a social networking site like Facebook was actually played out in everyday life? Hilarious sketch by Idiots of Ants (thanks Martijn ).
Many people tend to eat too fast. As a result they do not receive signals from the stomach that they are in fact full. The result can be overeating and obesity . To encounter …
You wouldn't give it to her but Barbie is already over 50 years old. The doll made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in 1959 and has been a young girls (and gays) …
What if the mannequins in the shopping windows suddenly started moving? Would you buy more, or would it just trigger your anthropomorphobic responses? Soon we will know. Momo is a …
This picture was taken in Zambia by Sarah Los (NL) while on wildlife safari . Every fairly trained "NextNature spotter" should be able to distinguish the cellphone-tree masts from …
This new 3D webcam with two cameras spaced approximately as far apart as human eyes is our anthropomorphic object of the week. Can you feel it, watching you? The little brother …
This video shows the first beta version of TwittARound – an augmented reality Twitter viewer on the iPhone 3Gs. It shows live tweets around your location on the horizon. Because …
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 …
Plastic fantastic starts at an early age. Created by Pleix . Related: Photoshop Beauties , Software that ranks female beauty , Virtual Miss , Natural Breasts .
Most people know about light emitting organisms such as jellyfishes, fireflies and mushrooms . Some time ago, genetic engineers transferred genes responsible for the luciferin and …
Forget about palmistry! MRI scans for candidates in top jobs such as bank directors could soon become part of the job-application package, says Erasmus University researcher Prof …
The eye passes on more information to the brain than the brain will process. In that sense, the brain functions as a filter. But on the battlefield the risk of neglecting …
I went to Disneyland and all I got was this lousy rock... Via ivaniannoli.com | Related: Ceci n'es pas une Montagne | Summit of the Mount Everest On Tour | Treetrunk Trashcan | …
So what to think of this? A toilet spray that mimics the smell of clean linen. It is great in the beginning, yet in time your bed will smell like a toilet. Found in the futuristic …
Coca-Cola© succeeds in what most NGO's try to achieve: getting the goods to the poor in the 3rd world Africa. For most people there, a Coke is easier to get and cheaper than a …
Remember the days when the flavor of a fruity drink was simply connected to an apple, orange, strawberry, kiwi, or perhaps – if you felt really exotic – an acai berry? Nowadays we …
It is a well known secret that plastic hardly breaks down and almost all of the plastic ever made still floats around somewhere . With the great pacific garbage patch now twice …
I deem you have to be over sixty to have an object with so many historical layers of media in your house. Let's analyze. We are looking at a chandelier in which the candle …
" It took just 10 minutes for a dozen prairie dogs to outwit the creators of the Maryland Zoo's new $500,000 habitat. Aircraft wire, poured concrete and slick plastic walls proved …
Exmovere Holdings , a biomedical engineering company, is focused on government and consumer applications for healthcare, security and mobility. This company developed Exmovere …
The Eyeborg Project is the work of Rob Spence, a 36 year old filmmaker residing in Toronto, Canada and Kosta Grammatis – an unemployed engineer from San Francisco, California. …
Parks are not nature. Parks are culture: man-made simulations of nature, carefully constructed to provide walkers, runners and mountain bikers with a recreational, yet confined – …
"Paris, printemps 2019: Oh Darling, you look gorgeous." Nowadays we are so used to Hollywood hyperbodies – a simulation of a body that never existed – it is good to see a …
Will we in the future still buy several needs according food in shops, or will we grow M&M’s ourselves? There is a lot happening on in the field of food technology , think for …
Fruit does wonders for your health. No doubt about it. It is recommended to consume two pieces of fruit each day. One.. Sorry, I've lost count? How convenient to have the two …
A future in which prosthetic patches prevent bodies from aging? Or a sexists view on femininity in robotics? Either way, the question is whether they are up- or downgrades of …
So here we are; bragging about our discoveries and great new ways of living... meanwhile we tend to forget that we are NOT the dominant species on the surface of the earth. …
Our beloved King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who died tragically at the age of fifty after suffering cardiac arrest, was one of the most widely beloved entertainers and influential …
Sometimes you just need to settle with the surrogate. Peculiar image of the week. See also (in the baby series): Infant pillow , We are all born in a world . Thanks Hendrik-Jan .
Crying, talking, sleeping, walking... not really, but this is what Cliff Richard's concept could look like when laboratorised. "To demonstrate a new method for fabricating …
Unsure how this melting polar bear ice sculpture created by artist Mark Coreth fits in Next Nature mythology. The art piece was presented last week in Copenhagen and is sponsored …
This slightly uncanny piece of modernistic meat is actually not made from meat, but from wax, oil, paint polystyrene, stage blood & latex, by artist John Isaacs , who titled …
This snowman is 10 µm across, 1/5th the width of a human hair. The snowman was made from two tin beads used to calibrate electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and smile were …
Every medium was new oneday . This point is beautifully illustrated in the movie Quest for fire ( La Guerre de feu by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981), a must-see for Next Nature …
As technology evolves, people are more and more depending on it to function properly. But the nature of technology is that it needs networks, sources, software, batteries and …
English Robins are forced to sing their song during the night. Not because they have figured out that music just sounds better in the dark, but because they can't compete with the …
This week a Brazilian prosecutor asked a judge to nationally ban toys sold with meals in fast-food outlets like McDonald's and Burger King, because it can lead children to develop …
It is nature, but not like we know it when chairs biomimic the pelvis. This anatomic Ruby rockingchair was designed by Pouyan Mokhtarani , Tehran (Iran). Via b oingboing.net | …
Nice adbust in Berlins subway. Photoshop panels were put over the image to make reassure us that nobody is actually born that beautiful. More images . See also: Photoshop Beauties …
Peculiar image of the week. Created by Janis Pönisch and Anne de Vries .
Today browsing and gaming is dominated by the shortcomings of machines, for machines simply do not know who is on the other end. Man needs to interact; therefore man needs to …
We already know that guys love dolls ... Now learn why some mothers can never stop playing with dolls and that cuteness is defined in the mind's eye. Image credit: Kentish Babies …
Let the robots do the dirty work! This real-life Wall-E Recycling robot, part of the $3.9 million DustBot research program that is trying to improve urban hygiene, collects trash …
A major breakthrough in the world of genetics: Researchers have successfully reprogrammed skin cells into stem cells. Using a technique called iPS cell reprogramming (developed in …
This gigantic rubber duck was created by artist Florentijn Hofman and is currently traveling around the world. Unsure how the over-sized bird is related to our explorations in …
A retail lot in Austin, Texas recently sprouted a field of solar photovoltaic sunflowers that soak up the sun’s rays to provide shade while generating a steady stream of …
An earlier post on this blog already displayed the possible future of sight using augmented contact lenses. Researchers at MIT take this second sight to a next level by …
Conspicuous consumption in the overdrive: The world's first refrigerated beach is to be built at a luxury hotel in the Dubai (aka the new Las Vegas) so the tourists don't burn …
In the classic Milgram Experiment conducted in the 1960s, volunteers were told by an authority figure to deliver electric shocks to another person as punishment for incorrect …
Though its exact definition has shifted over time, the term "wetware" and its fundamental reference to "the physical mind" has been around from the mid-1950s. In its original, …
Besides the extensive collection of animals from around the planet, the Amsterdam City Zoo Artis also houses some local wild species on its premises who immigrated into the zoo on …
Silver, gold or platinum creditcards? Expensive metals in credit card design used to have a certain luster in the past, yet today we are all (painfully) aware the mimicked …
Mushroom based plastics? Designer Eben Bayer must have eaten too much of the wondrous chanterelles perhaps? No seriously, the man is turning his vision into a reality with an …
A shot of a male body after a sex change by dutch artist and photographer Martin C. de Waal . De Waal tries to make people rethink their opinions by pushing the boundaries of …
Kasey McMahon and Derek Doublin demonstrate the tension between people and their environment through the eyes of its non-human inhabitants. Beware of the Virtual Squirrels ! The …
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 …
Craig Venter announces what might be a historic milestone in the nature caused by people. For 15 years, Craig Venter and his team of scientists have tried to synthesize life from …
Why do we grow attached to things? Patricia Piccinini captured it well in this peculiar work: The Stags - 2008 (Culture becomes nature) The Nest - 2006 Thicker than Water - 2007 …
Everyone wants to be remembered after his or her death. Some choose to be buried, others to be cremated. The company Cremation Solutions has a new service which ensures you will …
According to this fictitious future medical bill almost every part of the human body will be repairable in 2028. Gut bacteria replacement, Bone tissue growth for skull repair, …
Alright the title "Making Perfect Life" ' may sound a bit 20th-century-modernistic-techno-optimistic-naive, but for the rest we are confident this conference is going to be pretty …
Experiments in the Revival of Organisms is a 1940 motion picture which documents Soviet research into the resuscitation of clinically dead organisms by Doctor Sergey Sergeyevich …
So you’re triggered by our call for products and now you’re considering to send in one, two or maybe three of your brilliant products for the Nano Supermarket? Good. Or – and this …
Doctor gets chip. Chip gets virus. Virus infects other devices... Dalek shoots doctor? Dr. Mark Gasson of Reading University implanted a RFID chip under his skin last year. It is …
Nature demanded that we make a choice between immortality and sex, but the Next Nature of the 21st century may not. For help, we can look back to the 20th Century, which had many …
Language is communication technology. As Marshall McLuhan said, the spoken word was ‘the first technology by which man was able to let go of his environment in order to grasp it …
They say “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, but now we wonder what this keeps away, the Grapple , a hyperfruit that "Grunches like an Apple. Tastes like a Grape." The …
Buckle up for the state of the art in the fusion of the made & the born. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine presented footage of his …
These two co-workers found out the face tracking feature of the utterly advanced HP webcam will not recognize or track black faces. Hewlett Packard says it's because the program …
A new nano-particle-infused hydrogel, developed by scientists from Clemson University, should be able to heal scrambled brains and broken bones. The gel creates new blood vessels …
As technology progresses we constantly have to adapt ourselves to an ever changing media landscape. Designers try to smooth the changes with a ' progressive nostalgic ' strategy: …
In the series of bio-printer stories this inkjet-like bio-printer seems to be the most convincing product to hit the market soon. It sprays skin cells directly onto burn victims, …
The Intimacy dress takes our notion personal space to a next level: the closer someone approaches, the more transparent the dress becomes. As such, the garment becomes a sort of …
Some years ago scientists managed to build a rudimentary invisibility cloak, which was an impressive device but it had some important limitations, not least of which was that it …
The Catholic Church is not exactly renowned for its progressive attitude towards technological progress. Just think of the belligerent attitude the Church still has towards …
The suited guy in the video is an employee from the office of materials that goes into the wilderness to test if it would have been possible to create a fully functioning …
At TEDGlobal 2010 , author Matt Ridley argues how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. According to …
“ Who wants a stylus? ” Words by Apple’s Steve Jobs when introducing the iPhone that uses a revolutionary input device: the finger. And it works wonderfully, yet in some …
Protection is the fundamental purpose of the helmet. This helmet, a conceptual design project by Seungjoo Lee , enables the storage and protection of memories. Plug in your USB to …
Nature conservation organizations – like the WWF and Greenpeace – typically present nature as a commodity that has become increasingly scarce and will be used up altogether if we …
Nature is an agreement. Just like the nude beach. Here you keep your breasts and your crotch covered, There you drop everything and act like it is the most ordinary thing in the …
The main character in ‘Being There’ (1979) is a simple-minded gardener named Chance, played brilliantly by Peter Sellars, who has spent all his life as a servant in the Washington …
In the last few decades there have been numerous films that take the struggle between mankind and its increasingly intelligent and autonomous technology as a leitmotif. Ranging …
The sad story of Timothy Treadwell is the ultimate example of the drama a naive notion of nature can bring about. Grizzly Man (2005) opens with the facts surrounding Timothy …
1. Quest for Fire / La Guerre du Feu (1981) 2. Being There (1979) 3. Koyaansiqatsi (1983) 4. Blade Runner (1984) 5. American Beauty (1999) 6. The Matrix (1999) 7. Grizzly Man …
Do you know how much oil you use per day? Neither did director John Webster. In 2005 he decided to make a documentary about oil from his own families perspective. How would it be …
Since the intake of medicines has become a mundane ritual nowadays, why not naturalize the interface? French artist Mathieu Lehanneur is rethinking the pill-person interface in …
Recycled island is a research project on the potential of realizing a habitable floating island in the Pacific Ocean made from all the plastic waste that is momentarily floating …
The Robosaurus is the only airplane eating, fire breathing robot on the planet. Pity the thing is merely build for entertainment purposes. Perhaps this thing could finally solve …
These SMS-style messages scribbled into the mountains by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye , make us so humbly aware of the discrepancy between our everyday human experience and some of …
Once upon a time humans told stories by painting on cave walls, showing plays in an amphitheater, pressing text on paper and shining light trough pieces of film. Today we tell our …
What if a scratch on your car door could heal itself, just like the human skin does? Engineers are working on a way to transfer the self-healing ability of the skin to surfaces …
Skinpaper is a speculative work by Tommaso Lanza and Vanessa Harden that explores the cross section between a living specimen and paper. "Skin paper is made of breathable …
During the 1960s, monkeys were sent into outer space as part of the US space exploration program. But they didn’t all return, until now. Via scaryideas.com | Related: WWF
Inspired by body language of animals (in particular squamates and porcupines), designer Jop Japenga created a headphone with an adaptive skin that responds to the music played on …
This umbilical cord-inspired charger cable by interactive media artist Mio I-zawa comes to life when connected to an iPhone. Don't watch the video if you are anthropomorphobic . …
Glad to announce that performance artist Stelarc – who already for some decades incorporates themes of cyborgization and other human-machine interfaces in his (very bodily) work – …
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unhealthy diet is amongst one of the leading causes of the major non-communicable diseases. Can design encourage people to …
An earlier post on Next Nature learned that The Good People behind Webwill provide us with a service to extend our lives on social networks after our physical death. But what if …
There are many advantages of bare feet sporting: better motion control, more feeling in your feet and direct floor contact, etc. In this way you are more grounded and more aware …
"Until now, the major obstacle that has prevented people from thinking critically about stray shopping carts has been that we have not had any formalized language to differentiate …
What to do when you have a small city with limited space, and you rather turn available space into parking lots instead of parks? You turn to DUS Architects for an unlimited …
Anyone who ever saw an x-ray picture of himself will probably recognise the uncanny feeling of staring at your own skull or bones and being confronted by one of nature’s grim …
In 2009, undergraduates at the University of Cambridge worked with scientists and artists to engineer E. coli into E. chromi , a new type of bacteria that secretes a range of …
Where religions promise their believers a life after death and cryonics also needs a kind of belief in future technological development, designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau …
Technology is evolving us, says cyborg anthropologist Amber Case in her 8 minutes of TED . We become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens, relying on …
That's no reindeer, and it's certainly no moose. It's an Irish Elk, Megaloceros giganteous , a deer that happens to be neither an elk, nor really all that Irish. What it does …
The Anthropocene is the recently proposed epoch of Earth history that, proponents say, has begun with the rise of the human species as a globally potent biogeophysical force, …
In the short movie Blinky, on a boy and his robot, director Ruari Robinson reflects on our daily dealings with technology and its risks. Alex is a child growing up in a family …
Lucy McRae uses spandex to deterritorialize the body. #powershow #bodyart http://bit.ly/th7KyR
By hooking up a commercially available EEG headset to a Nokia N900 smartphone, Jakob Eg Larsen and colleagues at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby have created …
In this video, Geert Mul uses online photos to tap into the divine presence in image search #powershow http://bit.ly/uk79b0
Catalytic Clothing is a fashionably calm technology that aims to tackle air pollution by embedding a substance in the clothing that purifies air when you wear it. The purifying …
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 …
Renegade architect and futurist Rachel Armstrong has proposed that our cities, currently constructed of dead trees, baked mud, and refined ore, need to be coated in a layer of …
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0 Narrated by the incomparable David Attenborough, this footage goes to show that urban birds really are smarter . The cross-walking …
Back in 2009 Rob Spence, a cyborg film maker, worked together with a team of ocularists, inventors, engineering specialists on a prosthetic eye which can capture and stream video. …
Our historical snippet of the moment is a Canadian television fragment from 1968 featuring a debate between Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan on the implications of media …
Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing …
Do cars have a face? You would be inclined to say yes immediately. And you would be right as well, because they do. Study has confirmed through a complex statistical analysis that …
Fakeness is traditionally associated with inferiority; cheap Rolexes that break in two weeks, plastic Christmas trees, leaking silicone breasts, imitation caviar... However, in a …
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 …
By nature, man is not meant to fly. But while we're at it, we may as well turn it into an experience . Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering, envisions a …
Always wanted a pair of kitten ears to express your feelings to the world? Well, you probably never thought of that – as you have to be a Japanese genius to come up with such an …
Indulge in its cuteness. The Labradoodle brings us the finest blend between the labrador and the poodle. Combining sociability with beauty, they are the perfect human companion. …
In this TED talk, Kevin Slavin explains how computer algorithms are breaking free of their virtual habitats and changing the physical world to their liking. Through algorithms, …
Remember the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where Jim Carrey removes his memories of a relationship with Kate Winslet? According to researchers at the University of …
When Nada returned as promised with a small bowl of soup in her hands, Manko was sitting upright with a grumbling stomach. Even now that Manko could see normal again, Nada's hair …
As they went down the elevator shaft, going deeper underground, neither Nada nor Manko spoke a word. To Manko it seemed to take forever. In his mind, he went over the long …
In the film Mastering Bambi, artists Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukacs have stripped the landscape of its cuddly, anthropomorphic characters. Over the course of the film, the …
Beautiful Google Maps shots of housing projects in southwest Florida. Probably designed to look and feel more natural than your average straight street neighborhood, they remind …
Imagine a world where the shapes of all objects around you would be able to change on the fly. Envision a future where nanotechnology and morphing become ubiquitous and blend in …
Recent flooding along the Mississippi River has broken records first set 70 years ago. As always, it's hard to attribute local weather to global patterns, but the heavier rainfall …
Try before you buy. Browse the sample excerpt of the lustrous Next Nature book containing material from chapter 1 & chapter 3. Books bricks are currently being shipped across the …
Recently Google slapped our site with a warning that "something's not right here!" It seems that the Drug Enforcement Agency has caught the Next Nature staff handing out baggies …
Our peculiar image of the week is not what it seems. Rather than a man with a gigantic chicken on a leash, you are looking at a normal chicken with an incredibly shrunken man …
This interview from 2008 is exemplary for a time when people started experimenting on humanizing anonymous avatars in the virtual realm. Shopping, building, going on holiday, …
Nobuhiru Takahashi, student at the Kajimoto Laboratory of the University of Electro-Communications in Chofu City, Tokyo, invented this Internet French kissing device. When a …
A little girl gets angry at her father, and uses her index finger and thumb to make a pinching motion . No, she's not trying to hurt him. She's using iPad sign language to say, "I …
#! Possibly the answer for blind people with cynophobia, the fear of dogs. This robot guide dog is stil a bit slow compared to the old nature version, but as technology advances …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. What people experience as anthropomorphic is highly personal. Tests have …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. Making good use of anthropomorphism isn’t easy. As you’ve probably …
You are what you eat, taken seriously. Shrink is a work by the artist Lawrence Malstaf . Visitors place themselves between two large, transparent plastic sheets. The air gets …
For just £1.19 ($1.99, €1,59) you can download an app for your iPhone which offers tips and guidelines with the sacrament, "the perfect aid for every penitent" as the description …
MyMicrobes , interestingly dubbed "Fecesbook" by ABC News , is the new social network for your gastrointestinal bacteria. For only $2,100 and a bit of poo you can become a member …
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 …
Swallowable Parfum is a digestible scented capsule that works through your own perspiration. Once absorbed, fragrance molecules are excreted through the skin’s surface. A unique …
Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine talks about the nature of technology and propose to define technology as the 7th Kingdom of Life.
We already know that bananas are evidence of intelligent design – by farmers, not by god. All commercial crops have been tweaked by the hand of agriculture, but modern bananas …
Sometimes new technology has to bio-mimic old nature to be accepted. In the late 1960s and early 70s, Uniroyal Engineered Products invented the 'nauga' a beast that gives its name …
Ever wished you could take a shower with pigeon poop? Artist Tuur van Balen proposes changing pigeons from flying rats to cleaning agents. A speculative, specially engineered …
The Animal Architecture Awards have just announced the winners of their 2011 contest. Taking first place is Simone Ferracina's Theriomorphous Cyborg , a (speculative) augmented …
From the exhibit "What Machines Dream Of" in Berlin comes Life Writer , a work by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. As the participant types, letters are projected on a …
As the second most hardest working people on this planet, Koreans obviously dread their weekly shopping for groceries. It is therefore that Home Plus (Tesco in Europe) plastered …
Associate professor Anne Trubek argues that handwriting will soon be history , because writing words by hand is a technology that's just too slow for our times, and our minds. A …
Looking for a new kitchen counter-top, but can't decide between a natural or an artificial material? Soon you might be getting both . Designer Hironori Yoshida is pioneering …
Part 11 of the series 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design Anthropomorphism can be a powerful tool in product design. But there are also risks involved that urge …
Earlier this year, Belgian surgeons successfully performed the country's first full-face transplant using 3D printing. The operation was conducted by a medical team of Ghent …
Ever wish you could express yourself better over Skype? Tired of being a disconnected head-in-a-box? A team at Stanford University has rigged a Mac computer screen to shake its …
After being denied permission to reproduce the famed Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen, the authorities of Vancouver decided to go for something more realistic.
Interpreting the plastics in the Earths ecosystem as building material rather than as waste.
Try it once. Go stand near a highway, close your eyes and listen carefully. Hear the sound of tires on the asphalt, hear the rhythmic ‘sshhh’, focus on this particular sound. And …
Scientists have developed a biomimetic robot that will be able to swim forever, since its artificial muscles are powered by water. And since Robojelly lives underwater, it will …
Text for blind people using the Braille alphabet has been around for some time. But instead of making separate books for the visually impaired, why not change the way we all read? …
With areas of New York still without electricity, BioLite recently came to the rescue of Brooklynites by setting up a charging station with camping stoves that convert excess …
Twenty-first century society draws from a world that is less determined by objects and increasingly shaped by connectivity. The clear either/or distinctions that formerly informed …
For city-dwellers, the closest 'true wilderness' to be found is usually the weeds sprouting in abandoned lots. Snow-capped, postcard nature might be beautiful but is …
The standard story of the cowboy hat goes something like this: In 1865, J.B. Stetson went out west during the California gold rush. He observed that bowlers, raccoon hats, and …
Although chocolate milk producing cows may sound silly, scientists are seriously analyzing the feasibility of the idea. Why not add genes of cocoa and sugar to a cow, in order to create a cow that produces sweet chocolate milk?
wrote 19th-century scientist and philosopher Hermann von Helmholtz. It was Helmholtz who inspired body-architect Lucy McRae to create Morph?.
During the coming weeks, we will present a selection of our favourite pages from the Next Nature book . To kick the series off, we’ll start with a spread about hypernature; the …
During the coming weeks, we will present a selection of our favourite pages from the Next Nature book . This week the second one in this series: Google Nature. Imagine you are an …
The United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved Elelyso, the first drug to be grown in genetically modified plant cells. Produced in carrot cells, this drug helps …
In a twist on the classic " microbes that turn shit into petrol ", researchers at MIT have developed a bacterium that turns carbon dioxide into a direct substitute for gasoline. …
They might not be as fast, but goats offer several advantages over diesel-powered lawnmowers. They're quieter, they emit fewer greenhouse gases, and they fertilize soil as they go …
Finally a vending machine that doesn't want you money, it wants hugs. Embrace it to get a free can of coke. Might give you rushes of anthropomorphobia too though. Via The Pop-Up …
The number one argument for eating meat: it provides nutritious proteins that cannot be entirely supplied by vegetarian alternatives. Like it or not, humans are omnivores. Meat is …
Another step in the fusion of the made & the born: Researchers at Harvard University managed to make an artificial jellyfish using a sheet of silicone and rat heart cells. The …
At first sight it seems plain wrong to roast your burgers on this utterly technological machine: barbecuing is supposed to be a nostalgic low-tech activity that brings us back to …
Designer and former fashion model Barbara de Vries was cleaning plastic litter off her favorite beach in the Bahamas, when she noticed the plastic fragments were all uniquely …
The future of farming is not to be found in further mass-industrialization nor in the return to traditional farming with man and horse power, but rather in swarms of smart, cheap robotic farmers that patiently seed, tend and harvest fields one plant at a time without the need for damaging pesticides.
So this is what you get when artists Lucyandbart practice their low-tech plastic surgery techniques on visitors of the MU gallery in Eindhoven. We are clueless on whether it was …
Know garlic? Now imagine we could make something that functions alike, but smells a lot better. That's what Swallowable parfum is about.
Nothing beats the factory-scent of expensive, freshly unboxed technology! Artist group Greatest Hits produced the Apple Unboxing Scent for use at an exhibition in Melbourne, where …
According to professor Mark Post, lab-grown meat could become the environmentally friendly alternative for breeding cows and pigs for meat consumption. Watch his talk!
Our peculiar image of the week is exemplary of our human longing for technology that intimately integrates with our body & senses. We are all cyborgs .
You cannot look around your local environment without seeing something made out of plastic. Almost all the stuff we buy is packaged in plastic. Since recycling packaging materials …
With Energy Belt, stop treating your excess fat like a liability, and instead embrace its untapped potential. Artificial protocells in the belt mimic natural brown fat, taking …
For years, people have relied on harsh drugs and irritating alarms to control when they sleep and when they wake. Now, the Nansense wristwatch offers an all-natural way to …
Breast cancer is a disease that comes with feelings of helplessness and loneliness. This nanotechnological necklace allows you to regain some control regarding your disease, in …
Designed by Luc de Smet, Awear is a speculative bracelet that can detect and record the sources of allergies for children in uncontrolled environments, such as schools and …
The Namib desert gets less than a half an inch of rain per year, yet the stenocara beetle manages to survive in these punishing conditions. The beetle's secret lies in an array of …
In an analysis of Caldecott Medal winning children's books, sociologist Allen Williams recently discovered that depictions of nature have dramatically declined from 1938 to …
Though disgusting, sewage is an abundant, nutrient-rich resource. Researchers at the University of West England have taken advantage of this fact by creating a robot that turns …
Volvo cars is testing a new safety system that automatically hits the brakes once an animal is detected in the vehicles vicinity. The Animal Detection System expands the range and …
Should made-to-order babies become a reality in the near future, one piece of the design puzzle has been solved now Pantone has release their SkinTone system. Indexing 110 skin …
Recipes from a post-fish world? Our peculiar image of the week was created by Nathalie Faber & Matthijs Immink.
Besides children and pets , it turns out that pigs are also attracted to interactive interfaces. Pig Chase is a computer game in which pigs and people can play together. The aim …
In dry areas like the desert, on mountain tops or on the moon it’s impossible to grow anything. Or is it? A rain in the desert sparks extreme plant growth from the moment the …
Feeling grumpy and hungry? Unfortunately, the University of Tokyo's Happiness Counter refrigerator won't open up until you give it a big smile. The concept is based on the fact …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. People expect many things from each other: Expect them to say hi in the …
While for most of us, happy blog readers, access to electricity is taken for granted, things are quite different in developing regions of the world. In India for example, over 65% …
In this particular piece of video art, loyal readers of nextnature.net might recognise the building as Zeche Zollverein in Germany, where we organized the Biggest Visual Power …
Always good to see a swimming pool exactly where you need it. At San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chili they know how to cater people that love nature – except for the rocks, bites …
For doom-mongers delight, the Berlin-based design studio Bold Futures made a handy interactive graph of the fatal disasters that might snuff us.
Montreal filmmakers Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks’ documentary feature, Surviving Progress presents the story of human advancement and reveals the risk of running the 21st …
Functional multi-tool manicure. Comes in handy at a party where you can't find a bottle opener. Peculiar image of the week. Unfortunately, neither the human responsible for the …
Do you ever miss being able to smell the woods in an online travel journal? The odor of a new leather jacket in an online shop? Or perhaps you just couldn’t find the words in an …
Privacy is a right. A right given to people by telecommunications companies and social networking websites. It can be described by multiple-choice lists of settings. And it seems …
Silence is a thing of the past. Just as no place has been left untouched by climate change, there is no place on earth that is not 'polluted' by the sounds of planes, ships, and …
Is your friend impatiently tapping on her phone, or is she just charging the battery? Researchers at the Berkeley Lab have produced the first virus-powered generator that runs off …
Imagine you buy a special kind of window which you can place on your wall wherever you want, enabling you to get different views, not always looking at the same tree or house of your neighbors.
Closed to commercial shipping and fishing, offshore wind farms aren't put to much use besides generating clean energy. Ecofys , a Dutch sustainable consulting company, hopes to …
Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) sounds almost too good to be true. The same microscopic particles that help trees to stand up straight are also lightweight, non-toxic, stronger …
Watch human and urban life evolve in this 3-minute journey through the last 250 years of our history, starting at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Is the neon green tetra GloFish soon to be the florescent, transgenic terror of America's waterways? The internet hype machine has repeated ad infinitum the Washington Post's …
Often cockroaches aren’t people's best friends, but maybe in a few years you will be relieved when you see a cockroach. Researchers of the North Carolina State University …
It looks like a normal soccer ball, but Soccket has a secret: a hole for a charging cable. Designed by two Harvard students, the ball has a pendulum-like mechanism inside that …
3D printers using concrete can now create complete houses from the ground-up.
Are you blessed with a Maria Callas kind of voice? If, like us, you don't go beyond croaking the occasional " I want to break free" in the shower, watch out. If the artists of …
A fundamental philosophical question, how do we know my blue isn't your yellow? The current human and "natural" understanding of color is fundamentally based on a …
Trials for new drugs hold promise for a "cure" for female boredom in the sack.
Earn points in an online game by destroying real-life CCTVs.
Will extended pollution cause carnivorous plants to turn to a fully vegetarian diet?
In a time of all-horse hamburgers and E. coli outbreaks, food provenance has become a huge issue. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the lack of traceability within the …
With rising energy costs and our growing arsenal of iPads, smart phones, and wearable monitors, we're always on the lookout for new ways to power our devices. Perpetua Power , an …
Big bugs make big bucks for Chinese farmers turning to roach ranching.
CouchCachet promises to give you the fully-booked, in-the-know life while you are on the Sofa.
Farmers in the US are producing fuel and high-quality fertilizer from their cows' manure.
Peoples attitudes online are wholly different from their behaviours in real life
Before we can decide if we will ever be willing to eat in-vitro, we need to explore the food culture it will bring us.
The embedded "share" button in the new Playstation assumes that sharing is at the center of our existence.
Apparently, most action pictures of surfers have the waste photo-shopped out?
Biohacker Tim Cannon inserted a chip into his arm to monitor his bodily data and transmit it to an Android device.
Kate Darling argues that society needs to update its ethical landscape to include thinking machines.
The surprising results of a year offline in the "real" world.
A new implant lets blind people see letters, crosswalks and people.
Two master's students have created a speculative device to simulate the sensations of eating.
Designer Michal Marko created a biodegradable food bowl. Can you imagine this bowl being used in fast-food restaurants?
Putting the birds into the bird's eye view of Google Maps.
Need a personal trainer? Google's new sneakers fulfill the role of a human coach.
Science Gallery is calling synthetic biologists, bio-artists, bio-designers, amateur biotechnologists and bio-hackers to submit proposals for projects for their upcoming flagship exhibition GROW YOUR OWN.
Cheetos and other junk foods are more carefully engineered than the average bridge.
Polar bears bring only $9 million to the Canadian economy, but citizens put their collective value at $6.3 billion. Why?
The rise of digital currencies reduces the need for physical interaction and communication between people. At the same time every payment method still leans on trust. But how can …
Is a deep-fried iPad as unhealthy as a McDonald's meal?
By attaching to the vagus nerve, a chip can contribute to "natural" weight-loss.
A strange set of coincidences turn an invasive species into a hero
$220 ice cream glows thanks to synthetic bioluminescent proteins derived from jellyfish.
Pick up your $100,000 to materialize your revolutionary vision. This is not a spam message.
Joyce Hwang discusses the challenges for designers, and gains for citizens, of living in a truly biosynthetic city.
Tech experts are betting that they can make vegetarian eggs that outperform the real thing.
Genetically modified glowing sheep make it harder to count sheep at night.
The oldest evidence of cold food storage dates back to 1700 BCE.
Mushrooms are set to replace petroleum-based packaging... and a lot of other things too.
A new material can stop toxic off-gassing from plastics, but the 'new car smell' is so valuable the car industry might not change.
New in our store: Two very next natural issues of Volume Magazine.
Indulge in the Next Nature stump speech at TEDx from Dr. Van Mensvoort
An artist envisions our consumer electronics in a century, moss-covered and half-decayed.
I gathered this hand full of tiny pieces of plastic on less than one square meter of beach in Greece (map) . Spotted with the Next Nature Spotter iPhone app .
The self-repairing sole is a dynamic solution to an everyday problem.
With each swipe of the razor or rip of the waxing strip, the world has unwittingly been massacring one of its most familiar species. In what may be the first extinction caused by …
A new website changes the text's font size depending on your distance from the computer.
Robots use swarm intelligence to rebuild coral reefs.
The gigantic rubber duck created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman floated on Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, with the island skyline in the background. The XL duck showed up in …
New citizen science games are bringing gamification to serious issues.
Sensors, a communication interface and an actuator for tactile feedback all hidden ina wig.
Need a password that you'll never forget and can never be stolen? Try storing it in a pill in your gut.
A raft of swans blithely adopts an artificial habitat.
Many people don't know that growing and cooking in vitro meat is a decade old.
With advances in genomics, imaging and other technology,scientists have to face the age of big data.
Looking back on the first recorded attack on a human cyborg.
Scientists are using Twitter, blogs, and news sites to categorize the global psyche.
A (very) short history of a century's worth of "disembodied" meat in fiction.
A "breathing" desk that reminds you to change positions throughout the day.
Neurofeedback shows promises in treating a range of mental ailments.
UltraHaptics is a system for creating haptic feedback in mid-air, offering new kind of interactions with our touchscreens.
A revolutionary new smartphone for the blind uses a completely tactile interface.
New technology can make completely transparent paper.
Tired your ugly duds? Sick of surveillance drones? Does Adam Harvey have the clothing for you!
A new book explores who (or what) gets to define what is "natural".
Isaac Asimov predicts in 1964 what the world will look like today, in 2014.
For every smartphone user to recognize, is that merely the lighting of your screen, a vibration or ring distracts you from almost every activity. Even when you are spending time …
Tuscany is known for its natural beauty. But only a few know that this wonderful landscape is actually a really good design work.
Next Nature Network will take part in the Deutsches Museum exhibit "Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands".
Anti Drone Tent is a small construction of emergency blankets that blocks infrared sensing, making it invisible to drones.
Project Loon by Google has the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas, with a hot air balloon network.
Buoyant Airborne Turbine is a giant high altitude wind turbine that brings low cost energy to remote areas and off-grid sites.
There is a similarity between strings of binary and strands of organic DNA: they both carry actionable information encoded into reconfigurable symbols. Using nature’s biodiversity …
LifeHand 2: a prosthetic hand that infers the ability to feel rudimentary shapes and forms by touch.
Scientists designed a way to improve the efficiency of plants light harvesting during the photosynthesis, using nanotechnology.
Aagje Hoekstra has developed a bioplastic made of of dead beetles called Coleoptera.
Cars increasingly rely on technology designed to make driving easier and safer. But are these improvements creating less-skilled drivers?
Imagine you could drive your car using only your thoughts. It is now possible!
Two students found a way to break down plastics using soil bacteria.
Digital natives have trouble understanding life before 24/7 online connectivity.
Photographer Holly Wilmeth seeks to capture the encounter between women and nature, symbolized into animal form.
Indian fragile DIY electronic infrastructure gives an insight into our complex electronic wire systems.
If this technique become widely accessible it could allow you to regain anonymity in webcam and facetime conversations.
Buq are electronic life forms that shift the experience of the street scape from the primarily visual to a more auditory experience.
First 3D-printed skull has been implanted on a 22 years old dutch women.
World's first self-regulating artificial heart transplanted in France.
In Japan, fake food industry represents a century of old crafting tradition and a multi billion business.
Outside of the limits imposed by the edges of an animal’s body, the cells can reproduce and multiply until they exhaust the nutrients and space provided, filling petri dishes and vats to grow the future of meat.
Rubber band distortions lead to discovery of a new shape called hemihelix.
A company is working on culturing celebrity stem cells for cannibal cuisine.
Lab-grown marrow bones lend meaty notes to vegetarian soups, and taste delicious when roasted and spread on toast – no stone bludgeon required.
Food and Concept designer, Chloé Rutzerveld, explains her 3D food printing project Edible Growth.
Kids learn the basics of electric circuits while playing with clay.
Drones are typically thought of as flying spying robots, or even worse flying spying shooting robots. But could we also employ drones for good? The people of …
Modern technologies give deaf people the ability to hear again, not only regular sounds but also the invisible Wi-Fi signals.
Portraits of people who live alone in the forest.
Tinder users beware: somewhere out there a mechanical finger is surfing the popular dating smartphone app. This could be your next match.
Magic meatballs playfully familiarize children with the concept of in vitro meat.
Truly advanced technology will be light as sunshine and indistinguishable from nature.
At times it seems we serve our technology as much as it serves us. The OFFTIME App wants to save us from our own devices.
Realistic WOII movie Fury had to cater to the gaming generation with hyperrealistic Star Wars style laser shooting tanks.
This 3D Grass Printer can print a garden in any shape you can imagine
The latest subspecies in the Razorius line is the Razorius Gilletus Flexball. While Gillete proclaims they reinvented shaving, others argue Gillette's new razor is everything that's wrong with America.
Like the exorbitant feathers of the peacock, which only function is to aesthetically stand out amid its competitors, this new species of Razorius Gilletus only differs from its predecessor aesthetically.
In 1981 the idea of what we call smartwatch was nothing more than a funny joke.
A robot that applies computer controlled motion to precisely decorate your Easter eggs.
Sexy girls and organ meat was never a good combination to me, but the people from Black Milk Clothing that created this swimsuit seem to think it makes a pretty nice product. Am …
Smart contact lens project to monitor glucose.
Smart Tags stick to containers of food and change color when something has expired.
Solaris gives participants the power to control a pool of magnetic fluids with their brainwaves.
After death you could have your ashes made into a rock to form the base of an “eternal memorial reef” .
Indium gallium arsenide couldbe the material of the new super computer chips of the future.
Producing an iPhone in 1991 would have cost 3,56 million of dollars.
People have complex relationships with their own (and other’s) bodies. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is believed that your feet are a map of your body and can provide …
The BionicKangaroo technologically reproducesthe unique way a kangaroo moves.
What if we could drink from a giant drop of water? The bottle of the future has the shape of a soft, hygienic, biodegradable and edible blob.
The first 3D printed house is a recognisable and attractive Dutch Canal House, an exhibition and building site in the heart of Amsterdam.
From automobile to airplane: the flying car is built to travel as easily on the road as in the sky.
Your next phone could be the noPhone: a technology-free alternative to any smart mobile device.
The Spider Dress is programmed to define and protect the personal space of the wearer.
The top three aspects why people should support cultured meat.
Thanks to 3D Babies and a mere $600,- you can now experience that excitement of holding your baby in your hands before he or she is born.
These pictures by photographer Jacob Gesink show how the urban green is carefully manufactured.
Researchers at the MIT institute recently discovered an amazing low-tech way to filter water.
Prof. Patrick Brown developed a meatless burger that look and taste like meat, made out of plant ingredients.
A virtual reality headset could give chickens the freedom to roam without the roaming.
Less than one millennium ago the Earth at night was all black. Today it is all glowing and blossoming.
Wearable multifunctional antenna made of silver nano wires to monitor recovering people.
UnderSkin is a device that would be implanted beneath the skin on your hand and charge off your body’s energy.
A lightweight and mobile structural fabric based on ancient traditions of weaving fibers.
Digital bits have lives. They work for us, but we totally ignore them. What do bits really want? Here are the life stories of four different bits.
Kids try to figure out what the "prehistoric" Walkman is and how it works.
A new technology aims to provide doctors with a true hologram of organs.
Italian research studio is working on EYE: a 3D bioprinted sight augmentation.
A new Kickstarter project aims to bring the forest into Times Square.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a tiny wireless trackpad that could easily fit on your finger nail.
How cities will function when there are more robots than people working in factories, everything is intelligently interlinked, autos drive autonomously and drones deliver the mail?
Before global positioning systems, we all used maps. And they could be very annoying.
Remember these? If you are a digital native there is a chance you never noticed one of them.
The image on the left is a car, as we know them. It has a lot of digital technology in it already, but not nearly as much as the other one.
Some modern thinkers argue that new technology is making us antisocial.
In 1992, decades before the era of wearable technology, Apple produced its first watch: no apps and vintage design.
The Archéologies des Medias exposition turns archaic technology that was once cutting-edge into art.
Emily Howell is an interactive interface able to compose and perform her own pieces of music.
A wearable lighting device that changes color and shade according to movement, facial expressions, weather and mood.
These robotic ants by Festo are learning to work together, like real ants do.
Inspired by the award winning In Vitro Meat Cookbook , Next Nature Network and Submarine Channel present Bistro In Vitro : an online design fiction documentary about the future …
Thync, is a new brain-altering wearable technology that promises to “shift your state of mind and conquer life” by allowing its users to change their mood whenever they need it.
A recent project, named GENESI, might make it possible for city infrastructures to communicate with us.
This image, generated by a computer, portrays a representation of what seems to be some kind of squirrel-meets-sea-lion-meets-slug-type of creature.
iSkin is a flexible, stretchable and visually customizable on-body touch sensor for mobile computing.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) picked six test sites throughout the US to experiment with drone-based cloud seeding.
Francesca Barchiesi's glove concept allows the user to translate hand gestures into images and information.
In the Sanctuary of Caravaggio, Italy, devotees can make offerings just by credit cards.
Beetles, dragonflies, butterflies and bugs made from recycled deconstructed computers, smartphones and consoles.
The current technology has not been able to replicate Christ the Redeemer perfectly, until now.
Using bone conduction, this device allows to hear the sound directly in the head, keeping the ears free.
Discussing the possibility to put a price-tag on nature, and what this would implicate.
Agbogbloshie is a former wetland that is turned into a slum and now it is full of toxic electronic waste.
Kirsten Zirngibl's illustrations depict imaginary landscapes that are formed by microbots.
Facebook introduced its solar-powered drone project aimed to provide internet access to rural areas.
The amount of fast food children eat may be linked to how well they do in school, a study suggests.
Should we make a next step in what we serve at the table? What about insects? Would you give them a try?
For the first time, researchers at the University of Linkoping , Sweden, have succeeded in establishing organic circuits within living plants. They combined electronics with the …
Our constant need of new, cleaner energy led a Michigan State University research group to conceive a fully transparent solar panel that could replace ordinary windows.
Thanks to the work of researchers at Cornell University (USA), for the first time a litter of puppies was born entirely from in vitro fertilization.
It was announced this week that genetic modification allowed scientists to produce cattle resistant to tuberculosis.
We may soon all be making natural gestures to interact with our digital devices.
Project Jacquard makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile.
It might be possible to grow a new heart in labs using spider silk.
"However, while 3D printers are becoming increasingly accessible and capable of rivalling the quality of professional equipment, they are still inherently limited by a small print …
Researchers discovered a protein that can be used to produce the first ice cream that melts more slowly that the normal products on the market today.
An he hi-tech Swedish office block implanted a microchip under the employees’ hand skin.
Dutch researcher and entrepreneur, Willem van Eelen, has died in Amsterdam. For more than half a century, Van Eelen relentlessly researched and promoted In Vitro Meat.
Think you've had enough sun? Ask your bikini!
Droog Foundation and Next Nature Network invites you to join the conversation about Intimate Technology: April 23, in Amsterdam.
Naomi Kizhner designed jewelry that can theoretically harvest energy from the body of the person wearing it.
Japanese fashion brand Buyma created this video with a wink, wherein drones play a crucial role.
The Knotty Object summit promises to be a paradise of anti-disciplinary delight. The event held at the renowned MIT Media Lab gathers designers, scientists, engineers and writers …
There is now a new application that allows random people to cheer you up on Twitter.
Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today.
Eco-friendly fashion is in vogue, evidenced by terms like “recycled-material” and “sustainable manufacturing” battered around as selling points for everything from sheets to …
With its 656 beds, this hospital offers unconventional and leading computerized assistance for all sorts of patients.
The popular car brand is working on augmented reality goggles that enhance the driving experience.
A pill that makes you smarter without causing harmful side-effects? Modafinil might be this “smart-drug”.
In these modern times a traditional first aid kit won't do anymore. As the world around us innovates, our needs in case of an emergency change as well.
The company MyWebwill helped you to manage your digital afterlife. Unfortunately for its subscribers the company itself has now deceased.
Researchers at Nasa's Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) in Maryland can deploy a supercomputer called the "Discover".
What should I wear today? The answer to one of life’s big questions could came from an algorithm created to solve all your fashion problems.
A group of students at the MIT Media Lab are working on an electronic textile that might help us interact with people more easily.
Google plans to connect more than 100 million people in a cheap, new and sustainable way, in a territory where only one person on three has access to the Internet.
A new laser surgery can permanently turn eyes from brown to blue.
The National University of Singapore released a group of robot swans in the Pandan Reservoir to swim around and keep an eye on water quality.
Time Ingot is a solid piece of lead alloy, its mass can slow down time in the immediate vicinity.
This year's Halloween, Google asked children from the neighborhood to come by in their spooky outfits and play around the self-driving cars.
Nowadays the average teenager has more personal pink belongings than an emperor one thousand years ago
Humans cannot have intercourse with cars or replicate with them, so why would we find cars sexy anyhow?
These parents use the Apple Watch to share their newborn child's heartbeats with friends and family.
Solar eclipse may impact power supply due to increased use of solar panels
A tree, made with 3D printed leaves that contain solar cells.
On may 21st, Next Nature Network art director Hendrik-Jan Grievink will host a workshop around the idea of Speculative Sensing: exploring the potential of senses found in nature …
While a hipster-drink bacteria are hunting space organisms, robots are catching whale snot in the open ocean.
My New Flame uses LED technology to faithfully recreate the experience of light from the ancient past
The first ever circus consisting entirely of drones is coming to Amsterdam. This fall the Amsterdam Arena will host a choreographed airshow using nothing but drones combined with …
What are then the actions to foster for an effective sustainability? A series of articles will try to point the plastic poblem.
The world’s largest indoor farm in Japan is 100 times more productive than traditional agriculture.
Researchers Fernandez and Ingber imitated chitin in order to produce durable, biodegradable plastics.
Breaking the silence, vegetables in a Japanese supermarket start to talk to the customers.
If you experience virtual reality sickness, here some solutions for you.
The Wood-Boring Wasp inspired scientists to create a new robotic needle which will be used in brain surgery.
The Wearable Tomato Project consists in a robot that dispenses tomatoes.
Solarium, a video installation by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), puts visitors in the hearth of the sun.
he WiFi Angels app lets you sense electromagnetic radiations by turning the WiFi networks around you into a celestial choir.
A remote-controlled LED chip can make a mouse walk in circles.
Around 100 Polish teenagers aged between 12 and 18 agreed to withstand 72 hours totally offline: no phone, no computer, no TV. What were the results?
It is the era of smart toys, but they certainly raise difficult questions for parents.
No matter which brand is going to rule the wireless headphones scene, it's time to get used to have a computer in our ear that we never need to take out. Until it may grow into it someday!
The entire continent of Australia has shifted and that's a problem for GPS, meteorologists, automated cars and even drones.
The bacteria that degrades and assimilates plastic.
The first beauty contest judged by complex algorithms has sparked controversy after biased results.
Begging ghetto blasters in Utrecht are making you question poverty.
Biomimicry is a documentary on the topic of how life and biology can be the mentors for our own innovation in the world.
We have witnessed significant progresses in the field of real-time translation, and this new wearable translator, called ili, sums up perfectly this essence.
The Salt Project created an additional ecosystem to revive desertified lands.
BlackBerry has just confirmed that it will no longer create its own phones, marking the end of an era for the once dominant leader of the smartphone market.
We already recognize faces in our cars, now it is time for our cars to recognize our faces.
team of computer scientists at the universities of Germany and California has created what they call photoshoping videos in real time.
Part two of a ten part series exploring the design of an invisible technology: money.
At Hyowon Healing Centre in Seoul you can experience the emotional cost of a suicide during "Death School" classes.
Icelandic Product Design student Ari Jónsson has used red algae powder and water to create a biodegradable water bottle.
If you compare the supermarket banana with the original wild banana the differences in size, look and taste are striking.
Researchers are creating accurate 3D models of living organisms to preserve the heritage of life on Earth.
Open Bionics is helping children in need for bionic hands. With Iron Man, Frozen, or Star Wars-themed prosthetics, their fantasies become reality.
Google Cardboard was used by a cardiologist to train for a very risky heart surgery on a four months baby.
Here's a look at how drones can and will impact the agriculture and farming industry.
The realization that the volume of the Earth would fit over a million times in the volume of the Sun kind of makes you modest. No, we are not the Masters of the Universe.
Seabirds eat floating plastic debris because it smells like food, study finds.
The new recyclable, foldable and affordable bike helmet can change city bike sharing for good.
Facebook provides a new tool for suicide prevention
The eco-friendly food packaging material able to improve food safety, conservation and quality.
This Instagram model makes her fans wondering whether she is fake or real.
First they banned plastic bags all over the country in July, now they released a new regulation: starting from 2020, no plastic cups, plates and cutlery can be distributed in France.
As part of a new traffic safety initiative, a car manufacturer, a telecommunications operator, and a coffee chain have joined forces to develop a new app designed to promote safer driving.
For years scientist and farmers are researching the possibilities of eating duckweed, shoveling it out of the ditches onto our plates. This proteinrich plants can be used in animal fodders or be eaten by humans.
A new Google Maps app is designed to get kids exploring the Himalayas without having to actually go outside.
The Ocean Cleanup Foundation’s prototype floating barrier wants to clean the oceans water.
These birdhouses in Amsterdam share free Internet whenever the air quality improves.
Companies try a new, more secure payment system using selfies.
Researchers are experimenting with a new technology that would be able to grow drones from chemical compounds.
Scientists in Harvard University have designed a new material inspired by organisms, such as cacti, that can effectively harvest water from thin air.
Watch a fly land on the kitchen table, and the first thing it does is clean itself, very, very carefully. Although we can’t see it, the animal’s surface is covered with dust, …
The Hyperloop is a future transportation means that is safer, faster, and cheaper than current forms of mass transit.
Anton Repponen's project places iconic NY buildings in organic, untouched environments to put them in the spotlight.
Interview with Govert Flint, designer, architect and self-taught artist.
With virtue signalling, the joys of moral superiority are just one click away!
Meet the Buddy Drone: it protects your from danger and helps you with everyday tasks, but most of all it's a friend for life!
A polymer film coating can turn contact lenses into computer screens.
The Farmer Drone is a hardworking drone that ploughs land, grows crops and milks the cows, all on the same day.
The Queen Bee Drone helps solving the bee crisis of the last decade, not intruding, just bringing help and assistance.
The Vaccinator Drone will provide you with the medicine you need.
The Weather Drone controls the weather, it makes sure the sun will shine on your birthday, or that the rain will fall during a period of drought.
This is the WiFi drone, a useful companion that perfectly blend into our environment while providing us with information and connectivity.
When an autonomous car has to make a decision, will self-interest or the public good predominate?
The Scrip, a new universal cash device is bringing back the old metallic sparkle of the money and mixing it with today’s technology in order to fill the deficiencies of our credit and debit cards.
In the port of Rotterdam you might be able to cross a floating Waste Shark: a robot able to collect up to 500 kilos of trash.
Next Nature Habitat premiered at VR Days Europe in Amsterdam last weekend.
An ecofriendly alternative to plastic lies on the surface of waste streams.
Artist Alex Aebi' s collection of insects made of recycled plastic pods show us an alternative way in which this waste can inhabit our natural world.
In their pursuit of mapping the physical world online, mapping services simultaneously shape our understanding of it too.
Australian biohacker Meow-Ludo Meow Meow implanted a chip in his thumb to make contactless payments.
These two boys use the nap of their flip-flop as a camera to take an imaginary selfie. Still, their selfie went viral and it became our peculiar image of the week.
A team of scientists has developed a way to deliver drugs into our body using nanobots as vehicles and our toughts as controllers.
The Smell of Data alerts Internet users in any case of data leakage and communicates digital hazards by means of smell.
Why would you stick to an elbow, a wrist and five fingers if you could make anything? This guy got a game-inspired bionic arm.
Yearly 90 million metric tonnes of methane are burped and farted into the atmosphere by cattle with effects on climate change. Researchers are looking for ways to change the cow's diet, feeding it oregano, seaweed and super grass.
Newly grown rainforests can absorb 11 times as much carbon from the atmosphere as old-growth forests, a study has shown.
Part one of a ten part series exploring the design of an invisible technology: money.
Extinct European bisons are being reintroduced in parks. But what makes a national park?
Utopian off-grid ReGen Village produces all of its own food and energy is being implemented in Almere.
At a lab in Berkeley, California, there’s a mouse with no legs. Its head, torso, and tail are normal. It just lacks limbs. It didn’t lose those limbs; it just never grew them originally.
Watch this robot solving the Rubik's Cube in 1.047 second.
FarmBot Genesis is humanity's first open-source CNC farming machine designed for at-home automated food production.
By way of reverse engineering and taking heart cells from a rat, researchers at Harvard University have designed a miniature robotic stingray that is alive.
The first time you switch on your self-driving car, punch in your coordinates and cruise off to the soulless thrum of an electric motor you’ve got to wonder: does this thing know what it’s doing?
Special balloons able to catch the rays of the sun from above the clouds, producing clean energy day and night thanks to the help of a fuel cell.
Turkish shepherds are installing solar panels on their donkeys to stay connected.
Today, we all have superpowers. It may not seem like it because we are attached to our physical devices to use our powers, but with a Neural Lace that may soon change.
An experiment tries to prevent crime by identifying aggressive behavior with new surveillance technology before actual violence is used.
U.S. researchers are working on an affordable braille tablet for blind people.
Researchers at University of Washington have introduced a new wireless communication method that allows small wearable devices to ‘talk’ to everyday devices.
Jill Watson has been performing as teaching assistant for 5 months, but she is not a real person, and students didn't notice.
Moving tattoos from purely aesthetic crave to a healing method thanks to nanotechnology.
Last week the Olympic women’s diving pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre mysteriously turned swampy green overnight.
Emoji are taking our communication to a faster, simpler level.
The principle behind a time based currency is usually very simple: one hour of work equals a unit of time.
What if the cause of our politic choice was in our evolution, hidden deep in our genes and digging up our tribal instincts?
Other than decompose and give nutrition to the soil, leaves can be used to store energy, becoming the raw material of batteries.
The elderly may toss their walkers for this robotic suit.
The first uterus transplant in the United States raises the question: could uterus transplants allow men to get pregnant too?
There is a new breakthrough coming from the operating room: an app, called MDLinking, that connects 8.5 million doctors world wide.
Jasper van Loenen developed a wearable that sends a corrective electrostatic shock to its wearer when visiting an unprotected website.
The advent of digital communications media is bringing along some health conditions.
Severely paralyzed woman controls a tablet with her brain.
Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is designing the world's first invisible train.
In 1978, the world's first test-tube baby was born, her name is Louise Brown.
In 1996, Yoshinori Kuwabara at Juntendo University in Tokyo incubated a premature goat fetus by using extrauterine fetal incubation.
Meet the commercial 3D pizza printer that takes your order via a smartphone app.
An AI draws streets and spaces stitching together its artificial memories of real places.
Future workspace, human interaction and unique experiences: here’s how artificial intelligence and VR impact on architects and engineers.
Danish design studio Kilo created an air pollution mask suitable for kids aged six and up.
Animal Meditation uses meditation guiding sounds to to enable user to feel as if he is an animal.
Global data about animal movements are indispensable in our today international networked world to understand how to safe human health and wildlife simultaneously.
It should come as no surprise that artificial intelligence naturally extends into the way we work. Let's look at how AI changes the way we relate to work.
Bacteria use electronic messaging system to recruit new workers.
Emoji translator wanted! London firm is looking for an emoji translator, take the test to find out if you're good enough.
Bionic leaf fertilizes crops to make them weigh 150 percent more
Danish company develops device to stimulate creativity.
Researchers have found a way to use our brainwave as a verification of our identity.
A Biomedical solutions company is developing a system for insects to wear, allowing engineers to steer it remotely.
What if you had the choice of sparing your child from diseases and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease or autism?
Researchers at Virginia Tech are studying the risk of injury from a drone collision by hitting a crash test dummy in the head.
The nominations for the ECO coin Award 2017 are now officially open. Let us know who you think deserves to earn the award.
We asked Ritsert Mans, our second ECO coin award nominee about his bike, the technology that fuels it and his hopes for the future.
We asked Sandra Rey, our third ECO Coin Award nominee, about her company Glowee and her hopes for illuminating the future in a more sustainable way.
New heat-reflective material signs the end of air-conditioning use.
Virtual reality experiment tries to help people frightened of death with outer-body experience.
Uber built a fake city called Almono to train self-driving cars. This town is full of fake houses, mannequins and chaotic intersections.
Eco Coin Award winner Dave Hakkens is upgrading his Precious Plastic recycling machines, and you can help him do it!
As a focused assembly worker, you are a real go-getter thanks to your smart tools. Wearing smart factory goggles and using a transparent LED screen, these give you direct …
A neural network helps computers with image recognition. It is usually tough to fool. But one group of researchers has found a way to reliably trick it.
Exhibition Fungal Futures: design with mushrooms.
Gene therapy can cure up to 200 different diseases and the list is growing.
Google cars can now measure urban air quality and collect data to create interactive maps with the most detailed views of pollution patterns ever created.
Researchers from Arizona and NASA unveiled a plan to sustainably provide food in space, growing it in an inflatable greenhouse.
Our Next Nature Habitat VR experience has won the Sweden International Virtual Reality Award in the category Best 360 Video!
Startup Helix launched an online hub where you can digitally explore your genetic code by downloading different apps on your computer or smartphone.
We fear being replaced by robots. They have the potential to be smarter, stronger and more hardworking than us, but so do horses.
A job from HUBOT: as an exoskeleton mover, you wear a motorized exoskeleton suit that gives you the muscular power of a gorilla.
The home healthcare professional is one of the 16 positions from HUBOT, the job agency for people and robots.
As air traffic security you make sure that birds stay away from the airport using your eagle drone. With an accessory console, you fly the quadcopter from the sideline to scare …
A visual impairment does not have to be confining and futile when it comes to traffic control. As a blind traffic regulator, you wear a haptic suit that translates the traffic …
As a data waiter you are working at the Tinder restaurant. Upon arrival, visitors log in with their social media account. An intelligent algorithm matches the guests based on …
Games are often played to escape a boring daily reality, but they can also teach us to take control over the land as farmers do. As a farm director you work in a gamified …
When giving first aid, all kinds of emotions are in play. Thus it is important for the victim of an accident to receive emotional assistance and to be mentally supported during an …
Don’t worry, a handyman doesn’t have to be a bookworm. You rather work with your hands than sitting in the library. And yet, you often need to read the manuals of the broken …
To all students! It's that time of the year again. We have six wonderful intern positions opening up in February 2018. Six! From editorial talent to design heroes to marketing …
This movie titled "All My Clothes" reminds us of a more straightforward example of intimate technology: the clothes we wear every day.
"Misbehaving (Ro)bots" asks whether technology could hope to replicate these small bothersome quirks that instill a feeling of intimacy.
We called upon artists, filmmakers and film enthusiasts around the world to create a one-minute videos for the intimate technology series.
Volvo's driverless car system has trouble recognizing kangaroos because it gets confused by the hopping of the marsupial.
A study reveals that about 40% of "worker" ants spend most of their days doing nothing, but those lazy ants make themselves useful in unexpected ways.
What if you could unlock your phone by simply looking at the camera? According to Apple, this is precisely how the iPhone X will work. But how secure is it?
NNN organizes workshops using a physical Pyramid of Technology as conceptual tool.
NNN is looking for a Managing Director to join our office in Amsterdam.
With the rise of modernity, we have domesticated ourselves with new technology: discover how the world spends one minute on the Internet.
Next Nature Network is curating the One Minutes series for September 2017.
Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals.
What if you could have the taste of a juicy, sizzling burger without the destructive impact of using animals for meat? That is what Impossible Foods wants to do with its new burger.
A Russian construction firm prints houses in 24 hours on site with their mobile 3D printer.
We published a timeline series to explore medical, cultural and technological developments in relation to the ectogenesis concept.
The Dutch province Gelderland-South uses two educational robots to increase kids' knowledge on such a technology.
A Japanese Start up brings Farmville back into real life by letting players grow physical food.
Replika is your friend for life. He is 100% AI chatbot that you “raise” by chatting with it.
A video of a robotic bee pollinating a flower (looking more like Loopin' Louie spinning off the board game and hitting a flower) recently caught our attention. What at first sight …
The first robotic officer will soon report for duty in Dubai.
A smart, huggable bed partner, who also improves your sleep quality. Sounds great, right? Soon, you might be able to order one yourself: Somnox is a soft robotic pillow that gently breathes as you hold it.
The multiplication of bacteria "paints" this lake with peculiar colours. Tints vary along magenta, green and yellow, giving it Rothko-like appearance.
Open-air tests of self-destructing moths mark a new frontier for GMOs.
Forever by your side. Elrois a South Korean firm developed an app that allows you to engage with your dead friends lovers or idols.
The Brazilian model Paola Antonini uses her Instagram to show off her prosthetic limb.
You did not make it to the Idols final, but you can sing very well and you love to make people happy. As a singing package deliverer, you deliver packages with a personal song. …
Researchers designed a smart fabric able to encode data readable by a magnetometer, like the one in your phone, without electronics or batteries.
Smartphones have become almost a part of who we are. According to tech industry experts, however, the smartphone's days are numbered and that number is lower than you might expect.
The Pollution Pods installation replicates the smell and air quality of five different urban environments, forming the smell of a global economy.
Looking for a summer book? Wherever your vacation takes you, our drones coloring book What’s Flying There? should be on your holiday packing list!
Exploring methods to better connect people to the natural world, Waag Society, in collaboration with the Dutch Botanical Gardens Association, have developed an app that allows visitors to talk with plants.
A robot inspired by a sloth was developed in order to control crops growing in our fields.
The EyeQue personal vision tracker is a smartphone app that allows you to test your eyes from the comfort of your couch.
The Apenheul primate park in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, has launched a four-year experiment to study how the primates make their mating choices.
A Facebook chatbot that offers interactive cognitive behavioral therapy. It’s called Woebot and it's your personal virtual counselor.
Discover the Next Nature Habitat VR and explore four future environments we might live in someday.
Introducing world's first voice mask designed to protect your privacy.
How about a peddling ride accompanied by the sound of babbling water, with the awareness that what you are leaving behind is nothing else but clean water?
A recently discovered plastic eating worm could be used to safely digest our massive plastic waste.
Memphis Meats reveals world’s first lab-grown chicken.
An external device that helps you conceive, carry and raise a child. Too scary? Or extremely useful? It's up to you to decide, your virtual midwife is here!
Last night we were invited to celebrate the plenty at the third edition of the Neo-Futurist Dinner series at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. This time, the night was hosted by Dutch …
Augmented reality applications are a promising alternative to GPS. At least that is what Blippar’s AR City app claims to be.
The debate on the future of artificial biological reproduction is moving to Mexico. C Minds, an impact innovation agency that believes in ‘a 4th Industrial Revolution that brings …
In the future, artificial wombs could replace incubators as they mimic the natural environment of the female uterus. But what will these devices look like?
If you've been dreaming of disconnecting and ridding your day of digital distractions, there's an island destination that would love to have you this weekend. Tonight, in one of …
Calling all bloggers! We’d love to have you on board for the 2018 Border Sessions festival in The Hague (NL). Join our team for behind-the-scenes access to festival events. To …
Globally, humans produce enough food to feed 10 billion people (we are only 7 billion now) yet somehow we waste a third of this. Food waste is one of the biggest climate …
Today is Earth Day! This means that we think about the relationship between man, nature and technology, as technology is becoming a nature of its own. Acknowledged in 192 …
The Living Light harnesses plant energy to provide light. We spoke to its designer, Ermi van Oers, to find out more about the unique product.
As a cybercrime detective, you search for suspicious patterns that indicate crime in the digital domain.
As a digital detox dietitian, you know exactly how much digital technology your client needs and you give professional advice with a personal approach.
While many people consider a rollator as a sign of decay, you as a rollator inspector are just part of the headway! The walker inspector measures air quality, particulate matter …
Bricklayer, a physically heavy occupation, becomes a lot more bearable with the street-knitting robot. The street knitter is a job from HUBOT.
"To understand why a product is the way it is today, you need to learn about its evolutionary background." Meet Huub Ehlhardt, an engineer with a PhD in product design . Huub …
Virtual reality has come a long way. Like most technological leaps, it’s had a huge push from the entertainment industry, but current applications span a wide range of social and …
The season of giving has come and to make sure you can find the perfect gift for your loved ones we have brought together a collection of Next Nature inspired goodies. Whether you …
Neuroscientists at the University of California Berkely are building a device that’ll hack our brains so we can ‘edit’ what we feel and remember. It looks like we’ve drawn “ Total …
Meet the Robo Wunderkind, a new breed of smart toys that introduces children to the basics of coding and robotics in a playful way. Advanced technologies are increasingly embedded …
Chernobyl is famous as the site of the worst nuclear power accidents in history. The 1986 disaster has come to represent the perils of nuclear energy, much as Hiroshima represents …
The story of money: an accessible roadmap from prehistory to digital age, from cows to credit, from gold mining to bitcoin mining. The final episode: bits.
We’ve been told since grade school that what we eat is important, but we’ve all been told to eat the same sort of healthy things. This isn’t bad, but with the up-and-coming …
The Ocean Cleanup claims its device could cut the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in half in five years.
Checking for new notifications has become a habit that is hard to resist. For some users of social networks it is a kind of an impulse. When receiving and opening notifications, …
Globally, humans produce enough food to feed 10 billion people (we are only 7 billion now) yet somehow we waste a third of this. Food waste is one of the biggest climate …
Arches National Park, located in Utah, is home to some of America's most beautiful rock formations. The most famous of them, Delicate Arch, has always been, well, pretty delicate. So much so that back in the 1940s, park rangers hatched a plan to preserve the natural monument - by coating it in plastic.
Robots are coming for our jobs. Virtual reality is coming to make the jobs that remain easier to accomplish. All of the world’s manufacturing sectors are in the process of …
Don’t adjust your TV set, that’s just a new computer-generated news anchor working out the bugs. Xinhua, a Chinese state-run media company, and Sogou, a Beijing-based search …
Technology is coming closer to us. In the form of decades old headphones or state-of-art devices. It has always been a part of our lives and this only seems to develop further: …
With New Year’s resolutions in full swing, many people may have chosen to cut down on their tech use – or even give it up altogether. The growing popularity of such “digital …
Emoji, Skype, Selfies - can these communication technologies close the generation gap? In part, yes! Young people are teaching senior citizens how to use technology, and it’s …
Leather is one of the oldest and most versatile materials in the world. It’s a supple, tough, relatively strong and durable material and it’s relatively impermeable, yet …
This question is an excerpt from the Pyramid of Technology toolkit Take a mundane object from your house. Now ask yourself: How will this particular technology enchant me? …
Solar cells are often considered an eyesore, used for their sustainability yet not for their beauty. Installed on roofs or in solar parks, they take up precious space. Well that’s …
Go forward to nature at the La Fabrique du Vivant (the Factory of Life), the newly opened exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Exhibiting the recent works of fifty …
Whether you're in need of a holiday gift for your techie spouse or tech-adverse grandpa, the truth is, your loved ones deserve better than a generic gift card. Now we understand …
To our Chinese friends (and beyond)! From 2 November 2019 to 1 February 2020, we'll be crossing the globe for a large showcase at the OCT Art and Design Gallery in Shenzhen, …
We are proud to invite you to our largest showcase (so far), currently on display at OCT Art & Design in Shenzhen, China. Spanning across three floors, with a total surface of …
Our In Vitro Meat Cookbook has inspired many people around the world. Just recently, we had the BBC over at our headquarters to see what makes us thick. This idea of in vitro meat …
Now that the team of researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (whom we previously collaborated with to design a prototype for an artificial womb ) has been awarded a …
Berlin is kicking off its cultural season with the not-to-miss 23th installment of Transmediale . This year the digital art/culture festival focuses on how feelings are made into …
For the past 25 years, I’ve studied everything from baboon cooperation in Ethiopia and orca whale innovation in the Bering Sea, to the Argentine ant invasion in my kitchen, and my …
The food chain has always worked roughly like this: sunlight feeds plants. Plants feed insects. Insects and plants feed animals. Plants and animals feed people. Then …
The world of fungi has attracted a lot of interest and seems to be becoming very fashionable of late. A new exhibition at Somerset House in London, for example, is dedicated to …
Each year we search the globe for people and projects that have outstandingly contributed to make this planet a more sustainable place and honor them with our ECO Coin Award . We …
The field of biofabrication is still new to most people. As founder and CEO of Biofabricate, Suzanne Lee shared with us this exciting online event series Creatives in Biotech . If …
Meet Jenny Kleeman , journalist and documentary-maker. Sex Robots & Vegan Meat is her first book for anyone interested in, well, sex robots, vegan meat, out of body birth bags …
Recently, Twitter announced it would be clearing all inactive accounts in an effort to free up dormant usernames and prevent the risk of old accounts being hacked. The new policy …
Octavio Paz says calls The Invention of Morel , “ without exaggeration… a perfect novel. ” According to Borges, “ to classify [it] as perfect is neither an …
At first glance, the premise of the film 'The Iron Giant' (1999) seems to be a total failure. An animation film set in the United States in 1957; while the Russian satellite …
Loneliness is one of the silent serial killers during the pandemic. Therefore Next Nature provides you the tip to pick up your phone. Artists Danielle Baskin and Max Hawkin …
Data Dating is an exhibition that explores what it means to find romance in the internet age. Love it or hate it, technology has transformed the way we date. So, how are digital …
“ Google choose the fastest route to home.” Today, drivers are better informed about routes and traffic than ever before . Using 'mapping apps', drivers can see traffic before …
It’s been over a decade since artificial retinas first began helping the blind see. But for many people, whose blindness originates beyond the retina, the technology falls short. …
From mouse, to stylus, to finger: our virtual tactile perception has changed a lot over the years, just like our overall virtual experience. With new developments our virtual …
Imagine you’re in a hot air balloon flying over an African savanna in the late growing season. Below, herds of elephants, zebras, wildebeests and rhinos roam a mosaic landscape …
The deepest regions of the oceans still remain one of the least explored areas on Earth, despite their considerable scientific interest and the richness of lifeforms inhabiting …
Water scarcity is among the top five global risks affecting people’s wellbeing. In water-scarce areas, the situation is grim. Conventional sources like snowfall, rainfall, river …
The podcast Food by Design was created by Sarah Codraro and Sandeep Pahuja, and is hosted by Sandeep. According to the makers "Our food system is not 'broken'. It’s working …
In imagining future urban landsapes, we need to answer questions about what can be sustained and what cannot, where cities can be located and where they cannot.
We need to talk about COVID-19. Again (or, still). One of the main questions about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has for a while been about its origins. Most viruses …
Globally, humanity consumes almost 350 million tons of meat a year. In the next 10 years, this number is expected to increase by a significant percentage. Scientists believe that …
We now live in a world where plastics are becoming a part of our marine ecosystems. As a result, we strive hard to clean the plastics from our oceans. Dr. Max Liboiron ( Michif …
When we think of robots, we typically do not think of small cellular organisms made with embryonic cells from frogs. However, this is exactly what the joint teams at University of …
Roman Krznaric's ultimate guide to radically change our perception of time and become good grand-grandparents
A lot of the ground we live on is polluted. More than a third of our soils are moderately or heavily degraded; heavy metals such as lead are increasingly found in urban soils, …
If you were to stack up all the electronic waste produced annually around the world it would weigh as much as all the commercial aircrafts ever produced, or 5,000 Eiffel towers. …
The ‘Beneath the Surface’ exhibition organized by Taiwan Designers’ Web at the Chiayi Art Museum teaches us about unconventional connections, past and future.
Will there still be a supermarket as we know it today in 2050?
Each year we search the globe for people and projects that have outstandingly contributed to make this planet a more sustainable place and honour them with our ECO Coin …
Many aspects of the current metaverse were already familiar 143 years ago.
In the supermarket of the future, part of the Embassy of Food at Dutch Design Week, designer Merle Bergers will present her project Microbiota To Go.
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 …
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 …
The commercial race to get tourists to space is heating up between Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. On Sunday 11 July, Branson ascended …
Thijs Biersteker has designed an art installation that shows the carbon dioxide emission of the internet.
The sun lies at the heart of our solar system, providing life-giving light, heat and energy to Earth. The sun always gives, without asking for anything in return. In the …
A report from 2021 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine tackles a controversial question : Is solar geoengineering – an approach designed to cool the …
Fishfarming , or aquaculture has been the fastest growing food-sector for decades. This is nothing to be surprised about: fishing as a practice has been in existence since the …
There is a banana crisis happening right now. Our beloved yellow fruits are being threatened with extinction due to a fungal infection called Panama disease, which can wipe out …
It's not every day that someone walks into your office with a shoebox, and even more rare when that shoebox contains a potential future.
Paco Rabanne already positioned himself as a cutting-edge designer by establishing his reputation as one of the trailblazers during the space age movement of the 1960s. With his …
Sunshine, cocktails, and the lap of luxury; a yacht usually doesn’t seem to symbolize sustainability or charity. But this one might save the ocean.
Researchers used genetic information from an extinct mammoth to create a lab-grown meatball.
Remember when we created a little petition back in 2018 in the hope to legalise the tasting of in vitro meat? About 4000 of you agreed with us and signed it. If you were one of …
As the world is trying to keep carbon emissions under control, humans are also looking for viable carbon-neutral transportation options. The people from French rolling stock …
Your biggest wealth is health, but what it the costs you your anonymity? This vending machine gives you nutritional advice based on the information you give it.
What if we could clean our water with magnets? Wageningen University & Research, introduces the Magnetic Adsorption-Desorption (MAD) project.
As sea levels climb, coastal communities brace for floods and erosion. Artist Allie Wist asked herself: what will we eat in a flood-filled future?
Bye-bye gym membership, hello losing pounds. Scientists have found a new drug that helped obese mice lose weight.
How often do you send meaningless messages that only distract others? It's time for mindful messaging.
Embracing nature's ingenuity, designer Nicole Chrysikou harnesses the power of bacteria for her pottery practices.
Wondering how next natural furniture may change your way of life? Will we feed our lamps? Grow chairs? Talk with our tables?
We interviewed William Myers and Emma van der Leest, curators of Nature Loves Technology, our exhibition at Floriade 2022
As the year is coming to a close, many of us are preparing our homes and dinner tables for a festive meal.
In conversation with film director Joshua Ashish Dawson about the future of wellness, climate anxiety and healthy cynicism India-born, Los Angeles-based film director Joshua …