Animals Made from Other Animals
Allison GuyThat'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 …
Search results for Manufactured Animals
Animals are shapeshifting to cope with climate change
Sara RydingGlobal 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 …
Plastic Junk Helps Ocean Animals (Sometimes)
Allison GuyWhile 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 …
We Love Cities, so Do Wild Animals
Alessia AndreottiHow wild animals and cities are adapting to each other.
Augmented Animals
Dr NaturalAnimals 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 …
Totem Animals for the Anthropocene
Ted HeistmanInvasive species become the animal symbols for a man-made world.
Body hair helps animals stay clean – and could inspire self-cleaning technologies
David HuWatch 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, …
Is in vitro meat good news for animals?
Ruben BaartThe 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 …
System Animals
Koert van MensvoortWhat 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 …
Fake-for-Real Fur from Imaginary Animals
Alice FumeyWWF teams up with designers to produce fur from imaginary animals
Animals Mistaken For Spies
NextNature.netEgyptian authorities detained a stork last week on suspicion of espionage.
Hyper Animals
Koert van MensvoortNo no, don't worry! These hypernatural animals aren't the genetic surprise of some mad scientist, it is artist Sarina Brewer resampling, remixing and stitching together her Custom …
Beach animals
Arnoud van den HeuvelTheo Jansen makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. He wants to put these "animals" out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives. strandbeest
The Virtual Lives of Extinct Animals
Allison GuyWhat 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 …
Animals Doing Extreme Stunts
Koert van MensvoortCGI video of animals doing crazy stunts makes us realize how peculiarly creative humans really are.
Animals Love Technology
Alessia AndreottiA macaque stole a tourist's iPhone and fiddled around with it like a human would.
Manufactured landscapes
Rolf CoppensEdward Burtynsky is a photographer that makes pictures scarred or altered landscapes, changed by industrial activities. His work shows the disappearance of nature and the …
Robots Love Animals Too
Allison GuySomeday robots may lead fish to safety. At least, that's the hope of Dr. Maurizio Porfiri, an Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and expert …
Animals of the Future
Nick van der WeijdenNearly 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 …
Underground animals
Rolf CoppensThe Animals, made up using tube lines, stations and junctions on the London Underground map. I like these because it makes such a complex system really personal and funny. Watch …
New Volvo Recognizes Shapes of Animals like Deer & Elk to Reduce Crash Impact.
Koert van MensvoortVolvo 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 …
Animals Give Leadership Lesson to Humans
Margherita OlivoWhat are the characteristics of the perfect leader? The answer could be found looking at nature.
Manufactured Rainbows
Bastiaan EkelerWhy wait for old nature to give us rainbows when we have so many ways of making our own? The image above shows solar-powered installation that uses recycled rainwater to create …
What if Mosquitoes Were Only a Zoo Species?
Mathilde NakkenGenetic engineers are developing techniques to kill several types of mosquitoes.
Animals in advertising
KarlThe work of photographer Michael Wolf, amazing photos of buildings, plants, food and furniture. And unicorns. His website is definitely worth a look .
Social animals are the inspiration for robot swarms
Edmund HuntFrom 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 …
In Vitro Meat: Animal Liberation?
NextNature.netMany 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.
Living Among Pests – Designing the Biosynthetic City
Joyce HwangJoyce Hwang discusses the challenges for designers, and gains for citizens, of living in a truly biosynthetic city.
Human-animal hybrids could be used for growing organs
Mackenzie GrahamAround 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 …
Elephants are geodesigners
Jeppe Aagaard KristensenImagine 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 …
Jurassic World scientists still haven’t learned
Ruben BaartJust 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 …
Robotic Mule
Rolf CoppensDesigned for army uses, the Robotic mule is build for walking and carrying heavy loads through rough terrain. It also has balancing systems that keep it running when you try to …
Tree-climbing robot
Arnoud van den HeuvelI wonder what task this little fellow 's creators had in mind for him. Rescuing cats? Pruning branches? Picking coconuts? Found here. I'm glad there's a robot for every surface …
Metal Rooster
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkFrom our reliable source – who wishes to remain anonymous – we know that this is exactly the same rooster that was used in the Philips WakeUp Light test , but only one year later. …
Virtual | Real pet
Minke KampmanIn the 70's we had the pet rocks that have gotten lost over the years in drawers and attics. The 90's gave us Tamagotchi's to look after, which we could reset if all else failed. …
Is that a hamster in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?
Natalie DixonMobile 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 …
We sequenced DNA from a million-year old mammoths
Ruben BaartMost people think of mammoths as the iconic woolly species from the last Ice Age, which ended around 12,000 years ago. But mammoths originated in Africa around 5 million years …
A Plan to Eliminate Predators
Alessia AndreottiBritish philosopher David Pearce believes we should to stop animals from hunting and killing other animals.
Gene-Edited Micropigs Will Be Soon Sold As Pets
Wei Lun WangEarlier 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. …
Letter to Humanity
Koert van MensvoortNNN director Koert van Mensvoort writes a letter to humanity.
Rotund Rats, Fat Cats and Chubby Chimps
Allison GuyIt'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 …
Exploring Next Nature (2004)
Koert van MensvoortThe 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 …
Recreating Woolly Mammoth DNA
Yunus Emre DuyarScientists at Harvard University inserted wooly mammoth DNA into the genome of the Asian elephant.
The Coywolf: 65% Wolf, 25% Coyote, 10% Dog
Margherita OlivoThe coywolf: an animal that has the DNA of the wolves, coyotes and dogs.
Lilou the Airport Pig Will Soothe Your Travel
Monika KozubIf you happen to be at San Francisco International Airport on the hectic Holiday time, LiLou, the airport's pig can help you alleviate the stress.
How a 6.000-year-old fruit fly gave us cheese
John MorrisseyHistorians 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 …
Highlanders in the Lowlands: Re-enactment of an Extinct Cow
Koert van MensvoortAt the end of every cold winter there is a debate in the Netherlands on whether the forestry service should feed the oxes, horses and deers grazing the Dutch nature resorts. The …
The Human Construction of Gay Animal Culture
Allison GuyMuch 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 …
Herons Eat at the Local Snack Bar
Floor FrintsOriginally herons are migratory birds, in the winter they leave to warmer habitats. In the city there is enough food to survive the winter. Some herons are even too lazy to find their own food and try to collect it from the local snack bar.
But will lab-grown meat be kosher?
Benjamin Aldes WurgaftRead Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft's essay on judaism in relation to the production of laboratory-grown meat.
Green Glowing Monkeys
Arnoud van den HeuvelJapanese 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, …
Scientists 'grow' pork
SelbyScientists at the Eindhoven University of Technology are creating artificial pork. Prof. Dr Mark Post and his colleagues of the department of Biomedical Engineering have extracted …
Birdfeeders spit Blackcaps in two species
Koert van MensvoortUntil 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 …
The Monsters We Deserve
Allison GuyRecently, 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 …
Want Ketchup with those Flies?
Allison GuyIndustrial-scale in vitro meat may be a long way off, but for meat-lovers looking for a cheap, eco-friendly source of protein, there's no need to wait. We just have to swear off …
Q&A with CEO of In Vitro Meat Company "Modern Meadow"
Stephen PerryExcerpts from the Rebbit AMA with Andras Forgacs, founder of a company that manufactures in vitro meat.
Squirrels Are in Cities to Keep Us Sane
Allison GuyThe surprising reasons why squirrels are so abundant in city parks in the US.
Taste the Artificial Fish Rainbow
Allison GuyA gorgeously uncanny school of discus fish cluster in an aquarium, all of them captive breeds. Though there's nothing unusual about artificially selecting animals for flamboyant …
World's First In Vitro Hamburger Arrives
Allison GuyBreak out the ketchup: Mark Post has grown the world's first entirely artificial burger from cultured beef cells.
Anthropo-scene #7: Anthropocene Bird
ChristianDue to human action, 1300 bird species are seriously in decline. Other birds have learned to live with humans and profit from their presence.
Enlisting Eagles to Take Down Drones
Margherita OlivoAn eagle clutching a flying drone is probably not a show that you see everyday, unless you live in the Netherlands.
Growing Drones From Chemicals
Ruben BaartResearchers are experimenting with a new technology that would be able to grow drones from chemical compounds.
Pigs Have a Heart for Us
Elise MarcusReplacing your old heart with a new heart from an animal may seem extreme? Well, this future may arrive sooner than we think.
Boat Noise Makes Fish Bad Parents
Julie ReindlA study revealed that the sound of motorboat engines disturbs coral reef fish so acutely it changes their behavior, making them bad parents.
Tap Your Milk from a Cow Around the Corner
Ruben BaartTurning cows into walking vending machines for milk.
The remaining numbers of endangered animal species shown in pixels
Ruben BaartToday 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 …
Everyday robots
Rolf CoppensA beautifull movie about robots in everyday life. Made by 1st Avenue Machine. Watch the Quicktime here
Glamourdog
Dr NaturalAll the clothing for your dog companion: Dresses, sweaters, shoes, sportswear, jewellery, etc. Why do people dress up their animal? www.glamourdog.com
Coexist
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDonna Conlon is a Panama-based artist who often uses the relation between man and environment in her work. In her short film "Coexist" we get a close-up look at leaf cutter ants …
No transparent frog
Arnoud van den HeuvelIt was in the news all over the world, but wonder why at NextNature.net we have not mentioned the 'invention' of the transparent frog before? Probably because we think the frog is …
Robots in disguise
Rolf Coppens"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 …
Barcode Tiger
Arnoud van den HeuvelPeculiar image found at: leoburnett.com Barcode zebra via: photochopz.com Barcode bottom via: jetcityorange.com Found another barcoded animal? Please post below. Related: Barcode …
DogFish
Arnoud van den HeuvelTry selling cars these days without some good old genetic manipulation...
Tail communicator
Sara'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 …
Get it out of Your Head
Arnoud van den HeuvelTalking about image consumption ... Via scaryideas.com | Related: Some Kids Don't Like Chicken | Banksy Pet Store | Featherless Chicken | Confetti Chicken | FFR Image Consumption
Wild Birds Illegally Immigrating to City Zoo
Koert van MensvoortBesides 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 …
Another Happy Family
Koert van MensvoortHow could you ever be an anthropomorphobic after you've seen this peculiar image of the week. Thanks Maze .
Engineering Mosquitoes into Flying Vaccinators
Koert van MensvoortScientists have developed a mosquito that spreads vaccine instead of disease. The researchers, led by molecular geneticist Shigeto Yoshida of Jichi Medical University in Tochigi …
Follow the Leader
Koert van MensvoortNo birds or airliners where hurt in the making of our peculiar image of the week. The perceived mingling of the birds and the airplane is in fact an optical effect, masking the …
The Crossing of Species
Koert van MensvoortDesigner Bob de Graaf takes pleasure in collecting and combining objects from old nature & next nature in search for similarities. Surely a traditional biologist would not …
Babel Fish
SelbyResearchers 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 …
City Rats Love Ethnic Food
Allison GuyCity 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 …
Poaching from the New Savannah
Allison GuyThe Ipswich Museum, the Tring Museum, and around 30 other European cultural institutions and antiques dealers have experienced a rash of theft over the last few months. What turns …
The Afterlife of PIG 05049
Allison GuyChristien Meindertsma spent three years tracking down every product made from a single pig. Pork made a showing, but the more strange goods were "ammunition, medicine, photo …
Transgenic Jell-O, more human than ever!
Allison GuyThe 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 …
As Corn Withers in the Drought, Farmers Fatten Their Cows on Candy
Allison GuyFarmers have long made frugal use of their table scraps, feeding their leftovers to hogs, dogs and now, cows. In a bizarre sign of our cash-strapped and climate-changing …
Beluga Whale makes Human-like Sounds
SelbyResearchers in the US have been shocked to discover a beluga whale whose vocalisations were remarkably close to human speech.
Bonobos (And Maybe Baboons) Domesticated Themselves
Allison GuyWhile 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 …
Frozen Coral Sperm Holds Promise in a Boiling World
Allison GuyLife is bleak and bleached for many of the world's corals. Fatal bleaching events triggered by warming seas have become common from the Caribbean to Australia. More worrying still …
Hybrid Hummer
Koert van MensvoortThere is something lustrous about a hummer pulled by horses. Peculiar image of the week.
Hybrid Meat
JenniferOn society's search to becoming a meatless one, several new kinds of 'meat' pop up in the food industry. From so called 'hybrid' meatballs, to 'the chicken that isn't', when will …
Meat the Future
Koert van MensvoortThis promotional video for in-vitro meat was brought to you by the bureau for in-vitro meat promotion students of the Beckmans College of Design .
Nano Product: Glo-Doo
NextNature.netDog feces are an unsightly blemish on city streets. With Glo-Doo, dog food laced with bioluminescent bacteria transforms each pile into an appealing way to light up the night. As …
Watch Out Whales, Humans Want Your Krill
Allison GuyKrill, 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, …
A More Interesting, More Depressing Theory of Easter Island's Downfall
Allison GuyA new theory claims it wasn't human deforestation that caused the ecological collapse of Easter Island, but something smaller and squeakier.
Pick Pig - Name Pig - Love Pig - Eat Pig
Stephen PerryIn 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 …
Cliff Swallows Are Evolving to Avoid Cars
Allison GuyCliff swallows, as their name suggests, like to build nests on cliffs and other rocky outcroppings. They also like building their nests on bridges and overpasses, and sunbathe on …
Cockroach Farms Do Big Business for Food and Pharmaceuticals
Allison GuyBig bugs make big bucks for Chinese farmers turning to roach ranching.
Death to all Bees
Dr NaturalWatch this propaganda film and you'll understand why. Share it and spread the word!
Engineering Beneficial Parasites
Lloyd AlbertsBreeding parasites to improve immune function, skin tone and even resistance to poison.
First Monkey Named after a Website
Koert van MensvoortThe honor of naming this new monkey was auctioned off to raise funds. The monkey is now know as the Goldenpalace.com Titi.
Invasive Sushi from Invasive Species
Allison GuyChef Bun Lai of Miya's Sushi in New Haven, Connecticut, has a cheeky solution to invasive species: he eats them. His menu regularly features lionfish and Asian shore crabs, …
New York's Dogs Hunt for Dangerous Game: City Rats
Allison GuyA society of dog owners who have no problem giving free reign to their pets' killer instincts.
Rubber Duck XL: the Bath is Over
Alessia AndreottiThe 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 …
Swans Float through Flooded Streets
Allison GuyA raft of swans blithely adopts an artificial habitat.
The Sci-Fi Prehistory of "Victimless" Meat
Allison GuyA (very) short history of a century's worth of "disembodied" meat in fiction.
Why Are Lobsters Thriving in Maine?
Allison GuyThe surprising - and predictably depressing - reasons why lobster stocks are booming.
Yes, Naturally
Ine GeversThe introductory essay from the Yes, Naturally book - available in our store!
BAT Flies High in the Sky to Make Energy
Francesca BarchiesiBuoyant Airborne Turbine is a giant high altitude wind turbine that brings low cost energy to remote areas and off-grid sites.
Bugs Developed Immunity to GMO Corn
Alessia AndreottiThe Western Corn Rootworm has evolved to eat genetically engineered corn, designed to kill it.
Street Lights Permanently Change the Ecology of Local Bugs
Allison GuyStreetlights affect local ecologies for a longer duration, and at a higher level in the food web, than previously thought.
The Robotic 3D Printed Spider Dress
Alessia AndreottiThe Spider Dress is programmed to define and protect the personal space of the wearer.
Let Your Drone Mow Your Lawn
Yunus Emre DuyarIf you do not want to slave away under the sun, pushing a bulky mower around, drones can do it for you.
Abandoning Modern Life to Live as a Goat
Wei Lun WangConceptual designer Thomas Thwaites is currently investigating and experiencing to live life as a goat.
Cats Take Over London Underground
Ruben BaartLast week nearly 70 portraits of cats replaced all advertisements at the Clapham Common tube station in London.
Horsesneakers
Alejandro AlvarezMegasus horse runners created the horsesneakers aimed to help horses and riders to deliver a better performance in sports.
Meet the Queen Bee Drone
NextNature.netThe Queen Bee Drone helps solving the bee crisis of the last decade, not intruding, just bringing help and assistance.
Meet the Vaccinator Drone
NextNature.netThe Vaccinator Drone will provide you with the medicine you need.
Meet the WiFi Drone
NextNature.netThis is the WiFi drone, a useful companion that perfectly blend into our environment while providing us with information and connectivity.
New Diets for Cows Can Stop Gas Emissions
Mathilde NakkenYearly 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.
Reversing Evolution with a Legless Mouse
Mathilde NakkenAt 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.
Teaching Crows to Clean Up Cigarette Butts
Jack CaulfieldCigarette butts are littered everywhere. But now, two Dutch designers have come up with a unique solution to the problem: the Crowbar.
HUBOT: Meet the Air Traffic Security Worker
NextNature.netAs 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 …
No Drones in the Park, Please!
Jack CaulfieldIn Icelandic national parks the use of drones has been forbidden. No camping, dogs to be kept on leashes, and please, leave your drones at home.
Pink GM Chicken Marks Anthropocene
Julie ReindlThe Pink Chicken Project suggests modifying chickens’ DNA in order to send a message about our Earth health.
Plastic Exoskeletons for Turtles
Nadine RoestenburgAntonio Esparza designed the TurtleBag: a 3D printable exoskeleton to help turtles distinguish plastic bags from jellyfish and extend their lifespan.
GM Self-Destroying Moths
Julie ReindlOpen-air tests of self-destructing moths mark a new frontier for GMOs.
Next Generation: listening to ultrasound waves with Sheng-Wen Lo
Ruben BaartThis 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 …
The Tissue Engineered Meat of Tomorrow
Koert van MensvoortThe meat in the supermarket is abstract, square and habitually made from wickedly manufactured animals. A friend once told me he only eats meat if he "can not recognize the animal …
Nature Ludens: The Natural World at Play
Rachel ArmstrongAn 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 …
Growing the Future of Meat
Christina AgapakisOutside 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.
3 future farms that can feed the planet and heal it too
Karen Rial-LoveraIntensive 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, …
Next Nature Interview
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 …
Straight Outta Tokyo
Koert van MensvoortKarera sporting the corporate animals sweater . And pollen allergy. Related post: Corporate animals engraved on laptop . Via Karl .
CopyCat
DesignDirkArtist Andrew Chase creates kinetic sculptures of animals. He has studied these animals intensively. After his analysis he created copies of these animals in metal with mechanics …
Labradoodle
Koert van MensvoortIndulge 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. …
The Non-Human Noosphere
Allison GuyThe 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 …
Lions Relocate to the Suburbs
Allison GuyAs cities push to the edges of the wilderness, wild animals are increasingly com
Andras Forgacs on Victimless Leather
Koert van MensvoortAndras Forgacs argues that bioengineering meat and leather is a civilized way to move beyond slaughtering animals for hamburgers and handbags.
The Carnery - A Cultured Future with In Vitro Meat
NextNature.netIn 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.
What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun?
David GraeberSince 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.
From the Super Muscular Pig to the Hypoallergenic Cow: New GMOs May Soon Be on Your Plate
Alessia AndreottiThe 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 …
Animal Guided Mediation
Elle Zhan WeiAnimal Meditation uses meditation guiding sounds to to enable user to feel as if he is an animal.
Animal Tsunami Alerts from Space
Alejandro AlvarezGlobal data about animal movements are indispensable in our today international networked world to understand how to safe human health and wildlife simultaneously.
Chinese farmers are using AI to help rear the world’s biggest pig population
James VincentIt’s been called China’s “pork miracle.” For centuries, pig-rearing in the country was predominantly a backyard occupation. (The etymology of the Chinese character for “home” …
Should lab-grown meat be labelled as meat when it's available for sale?
Hope JohnsonAustralian 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 …
How animal filters unmask the estranged relation to our wild self
Meike SchipperWould 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 …
Animal-Free Meat Could Put a Hold on Global Warming
Koert van MensvoortGrowing meat in the lab, rather than slaughtering animals, could become a viable alternative for people who want to cut the environmental impact of their food consumption, but …
Next Nature Services
Bas HaringIntentionality 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 …
Four Objections to Lab-Grown Meat
Allison GuyIn vitro meat has been billed as a way to end animal suffering , put a stop to global warming , and solve the world's insatiable demand for animal protein. There's no doubt that …
Mice Reporting For Duty
Jeroen PillaerdsResearchers 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
Why Meat Grown in Labs is the Next Logical Step for Food Production
Avy RoyLab grown meat is part of the trajectory that agricultural technology is already following.
Are Hawaiian Monk Seals Natural? Not According to Some Hawaiians
Alessia AndreottiWhy native Hawaiian people are killing off native Hawaiian monk seals.
Wild Ones
Koert van MensvoortTypically when we look at nature we exclude ourselves. Finally there is a book looking at people looking at animals.
Car Paleontology
Alessia AndreottiCars - autonomous, self driving, uncontrollable - are bound to become the animals of the future.
The Digital Life Project
Alejandro AlvarezResearchers are creating accurate 3D models of living organisms to preserve the heritage of life on Earth.
Landfills Cause Changes in Bird Migration
Margherita OlivoGarbage 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 …
The return of Rayfish Footwear?
NextNature.netRayfish Footwear was a fictional company that offered personalized sneakers crafted from genetically modified stingray leather. This online science fiction story allowed customers …
How emojis represent the past, present and future within Next Nature
Britta de VriesIt's that time of year again; the Unicode Emoji 13.0 has announced that 117 new emojis are to be implemented in the second half of 2020. It got us curious of what these new emojis …
Discussing non-human centered design with Kelvin Godee and Simon Wijrdeman
Ruben BaartWhat 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 …
Augmented Fish Reality
Koert van MensvoortAugmented Fish Reality is an interactive installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures. These sculptures allow Siamese Fighting fish (Betta Splendons) to use …
PET project
Rolf Coppens"I love the idea of using liquid containers to make water animals. Contained/containing, trash/not-trash, like the jelly-fish or anemone: Living/non-living And I wanted some …
Call for Proposals: Designing for Next Nature
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 …
Lion and giraffe fooling around
Rolf CoppensThis is the peculiar image of the week, sorry Koert ; ) Excuse my crap quality.
A hermit crab in a glass house
Koert van MensvoortNever 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 …
Bionic Pinguins
Tijn KooijmansFesto Bionic Learning Lab demonstrates their new technologies inspired by nature. Another step towards artificial pets replacing extincted animals, or just an exposé of scientific …
Cyborg Insects
Koert van MensvoortScientists at the University of California created a neural implant for a beetle that gives them wireless control over the insect. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes …
The World Without Technology
Kevin KellyI 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, …
Transgenic Stingrays for Fashionable Feet
Allison GuyRayfish Footwear, a company based in Thailand, has recently produced what may be the world's first genetically modified stingray. This ray exhibits an unusual, colorful pattern …
Blue, Belgian and Beefy
Allison GuyThe 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 …
Inventing an Extinct Horse
Allison GuyAlong with the Heck cattle and Scottish Highlanders , another reconstructed species roams the Dutch dunes . The sturdy Konik horse , also known as the Polish primitive, is the …
Living Life Support
Allison GuyDesigner 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 …
Take your transgenic kids to the CPNH
Allison GuyThe 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 …
Broersen & Lukács – Mastering Bambi
Koert van MensvoortMedia artists Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács created a remake of the Disney classic Bambi from which they stripped all the inhabitants. The removal of the cuddly, …
Corn 2.0: Survival of the Cheapest
NextNature.netCongrats to Sean Serafini, the winner of our April Next Nature Spotter contest. While we received many images of fake nature , Sean's entry delves deeper into more diverse next …
Does Chocolate Milk Come From Brown Cows?
Gillis van de ZandeAlthough 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?
The Rise and Fall or Rayfish Footwear
Koert van MensvoortFor almost three years, we worked on a sneaker company that we knew would go bankrupt on the day it was founded. This is our coming out...
Bye Bye Barbed Wire: Cow-Mounted GPS Will Enable "Virtual Fencing"
Allison GuyA device that remotely controls cattle's movements promises to transform the American landscape.
Genetic Modification Could Prevent TB
Yunus Emre DuyarIt was announced this week that genetic modification allowed scientists to produce cattle resistant to tuberculosis.
Interview: Liam Young on Speculative Architecture and Engineering the Future
NextNature.netInterview with Liam Young on his work in speculative architecture, the future, and our role in nature as humans.
Forget Google Street View, Here's Cat Street View
Wei Lun WangJapan city has launched an online street view map to introduce the view of the city by a cat's perspective.
Teppanyaki from the In Vitro Aquarium
NextNature.netThese synthetic organisms from our In Vitro Aquarium are a hybrid between plants and animals. Would you eat them?
3D-Printed Shell to Save Tortoise's Life
Margherita OlivoA severely injured tortoise was saved by a team of doctors thanks to a 3D printed shell.
Re-introducing Extinct Species
Margherita OlivoExtinct European bisons are being reintroduced in parks. But what makes a national park?
Getting rid of that bit of unspoiled green
Sanne vander BeekThere 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 …
Hello, superorganism
Koert van MensvoortWhen 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 …
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 …
What will your future supermarket look like?
Ruben BaartWhat will the supermarket of the future look like? And what kind of food will you be able to buy there? That is what the Embassy of Food is researching. The production and …
Humans could recolonize Earth after mass extinctions with ectogenesis
Matthew EdwardsLately 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 …
Babybunny - stuffed pets as toys
Koert van MensvoortNowadays, young children are so used to the omnipresence of disposable toys. When their parents buy them a living pet animal they are unable to take care of it. Hamster tend to …
Designing for Next Nature (workshop report)
Koert van MensvoortThe extent to which new technologies are intervening with everyday life can hardly be underestimated. Virtual realities, nano- and biotechnology are increasingly providing new …
WiFi-enabled Ambient Rabbit
There may even come a moment that our connection with an industrially manufactured coke bottle may be richer and more mythical that our relation with a genetically analysed and …
Scientists want to create human-cow hybrid
Koert van MensvoortScientists 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 …
What to do with your cat?
Dr NaturalOur relation with the animals we consume is very remote nowadays. The meat in the supermarket is abstract and square. You might consider a vegetarian life style. No? Then you …
Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkBy putting this cockroach in control over a mobile robot, our perception of the animal is changed. Technology empowers the little creature you would normally squash under your …
Fake for Real: Reflections in the Cave
The Lascaux cave conserves some of the first images created by man, dating back to around 15,000 BC. The depiction of large animals on the cave walls is considered as a …
Fake for Real: Walking Leaf
Koert van MensvoortAlmost by default, we associate simulation with modern media: games and virtual reality. But what about the Phyllium giganteum ? It is not a leaf but an insect disguised as one. …
Out of Control
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, …
Robotarium - Zoo for Artificial Life
Koert van MensvoortRobotarium 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 …
Back to Nature?
Koert van MensvoortNow this is how you do it. First you take the meat of a hundred animals; chickens (19%), turkeys (17%). Secondly, you blend them in a large tank with water, mais, wheat, oil, fat, …
DNA Synthesizer
Arnoud van den HeuvelPlaying God? – "We are not playing..." After having seen this TED talk by Craig Venter , I came across a cynical yet clarifying comic (etcgroup.org) on his plans to build a new …
iDog
Dr NaturalOr 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; …
Join the Neolithic Revolution
Koert van MensvoortWhy 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 …
Next Rabbit
SaraThis is not a 3-D-animation of a fictional creature, but an actual existing animal: the Angora Rabbit.
Puppy Bag
Koert van MensvoortWherever you go, always carry your puppy with you. In the category 'absurd-products-that-show-our-consumptive-attitude-towards-animals'. Buy one here , or here . See also: Catbag …
The Love Boat
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis 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 …
A day in the Dutch dunes
Koert van MensvoortRecently, I had a nice day in the Dutch dunes with the people of Blocter.com , who show the people behind blogs. We closely investigated the Scottish highland cattle that acts as …
Animal Sweater
Rolf CoppensNature used to be an unpredictable place of mystery. Fascinated with nature’s untamed wildness, artists created animal and floral patterns as a celebration of this phenomenon of …
Do It Yourself Pet
sijmeImage: A. Sidorov Have you ever fantasized about creatures which carry the biggest smile? Or creatures which are so deeply covered with fur that you wish they were real? Good …
Josh Keyes
Rolf CoppensThere is something about the work of Josh Keyes. He might be the Bob Ross of our generation. He has site.
Next Nest
Koert van MensvoortWhen 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 …
Plastic Birds
Koert van MensvoortBird 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 …
Dog Modding in China
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkAs a child, I already saw some great tiger potential in my cat and some shark-ish attitude in the behaviour of my goldfish. Personally, I think that since we started domesticating …
Revisiting Jurassic Park
Billy SchonenbergWhen searching for Next Nature in the world around us, one does not necessarily have to look at the present. The science fiction novel Jurassic Park, written in 1990 by the …
Tin Hybridization
Koert van MensvoortArtist José E. Rivera takes pleasure in the sculpting of animals from electronic infrastructure. Same artist who created the evolving mouse . We are unsure what to conclude from …
Wild bikes
sebastiaanBikes seem to be a new life form. They are everywhere in the city. On the street, in bike parking, but also just as plentiful on the bottom of channels, on top of street lanterns …
Birds Change Along with Us
MaikelMouraoA '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 …
Black Wolves Have Dogs to Thank
Allison GuyBlack wolves should probably not exist. The same species as their gray relatives, these wolves have a genetic mutation that causes them to produces excess melanin, a pigment …
City Living Splits Up Blackbirds
Allison GuySome blackbirds have found city living so much fun (the theater scene! the restaurants!) that they have given up migrating south for the winter. Cities are usually warmer than the …
E.Coli produced Spider Silk
Stefan FinckenIn a previous post we have reported on spider silk, it's applications and the way it is produced. Adding the gene responsible for the production of the spider silk protein to …
Monkey See, Monkey Buy
Allison GuyYale 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 …
Monsanto's Technorhetoric Kills Corn
Allison GuyMega-agro-biotech corporation Monsanto recently denied that insects have developed resistance to their patented Bt corn . Injected with a bacterial gene toxic to corn rootworms, …
My Fetal Pony: Neoteny in Girls' Toys
Allison GuyIt'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 …
Plastic Planet
Koert van MensvoortWe 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 …
Spidergoats & Superskin
Stefan FinckenWhile 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 …
Typing Out Evolution
Allison GuyFrom 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 …
Would you care more if I was a Panda?
Erik SwaagstraA smart campaign by Ogilvy Paris for WNF shows that also the ‘non-cute’ animals need our help. via Fubiz
Better Than Nature?
Rachel ArmstrongAt the turn of the millennium, miniaturized canines acquired the cherished status of living, designer handbag ornaments. These teeny tiny photogenic doggies, which had been …
Escaped Pet Birds Teach Wild Cockatoos how to Talk
Koert van MensvoortIn some parts of Australia it is no exception to hear voices when there are no people near. The voices are the chatter of wild cockatoos that where taught words and sentences from escaped domesticated cockatoos.
One Generation in, Dolphins Still Transmit Human Tricks
Allison GuyDolphins 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 …
Rayfish CEO Responds to Break-In by Animal Rights Activists
Koert van MensvoortRayfish CEO Raymond Ong recorded a video response in which he analyzes the controversy around his genetically engineered stingray leather sneaker. Highly recommended for nextnature connoisseurs.
"That Was Then. This is Now"
Alexandra Daisy GinsbergThe wunderkammer – the traditional repository of natural history curiosities and cultural relics – has been updated by the Center for PostNatural History in Pittsburgh, which …
Why It's Time to Calm Down about "Invasive" GM GloFish
Allison GuyIs 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 …
A Stroll Through the Bubbles of Chemicals and Men
Etienne TurpinA stunning pre-history of the anthropocene
GM Mosquitoes: No Olfaction, No Sting
Alessia AndreottiEngineering mosquitoes to ignore the scent of human flesh.
Invasive Crab Restores Damaged Habitat
Allison GuyA strange set of coincidences turn an invasive species into a hero
Loyal Lamps that Follow You Like Pets
Alessia AndreottiTwo lights that behave like pets, acting and reacting like autonomous creatures.
Pubic Lice (Possibly) Going Extinct Due to Brazilian Waxing
Allison GuyWith 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 …
Brain Surgery For Goldfish
Alessia AndreottiThe tiny patient lying on the operating table is a goldfish.
Robot Cheetah Now Runs Free
Alessia AndreottiResearchers created a robo-feline able to run and bound while completely untethered.
Three Points in Support of In Vitro Meat
Alessia AndreottiThe top three aspects why people should support cultured meat.
Virtual Reality Headset for Chickens
Alessia AndreottiA virtual reality headset could give chickens the freedom to roam without the roaming.
Computer Generated… Errrmm?
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkThis 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.
Drone Operated by Honeybee Brain
Yunus Emre DuyarThe Green Brain Project aims to create drones that will think, act and sense like a bee.
Eventually, Drones Will Be Everywhere
Hessel HoogerhuisCity of Drones puts you in a first person view of a drone drifting through an abstract futuristic cityscape.
Experiencing Animal Vision Through Virtual Reality
Margherita OlivoEyes of the Animal is an interactive project that invites the public to an uncommon virtual reality setting conceived especially for experiences in actual forests, giving the opportunity to see the world as an insect would.
First Puppies Born by In Vitro Fertilization
Margherita OlivoThanks to the work of researchers at Cornell University (USA), for the first time a litter of puppies was born entirely from in vitro fertilization.
GM Salmon Approved for Consumption
Margherita OlivoTime ago we wrote about the fact that US Food and Drug Administration was considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered salmon. We have a verdict: from now on …
GM Pigs for Animal-to-Human Organ Transplant
Alessia AndreottiScientists have been trying to develop GM pigs that could be used to solve the shortage of organs for transplant patients.
Over 300 Sharks are Now on Twitter
Koert van MensvoortRecently 338 sharks in Western Australia subscribed to the microblogging service. They are now tweeting out where they are.
Wireless Controlled Mouse, the Animal!
Alessia AndreottiA remote-controlled LED chip can make a mouse walk in circles.
Animal Fauxtography
Alejandro AlvarezFake photography, or fauxtography, has been around since the invention of cameras and nature is one of the most popular subjects of dishonest photographers.
The "Dog" That Will Save Lives
Margherita OlivoA laboratory is developing a synthetic dog that will be used for surgery trials, saving many canine lives and changing the veterinary world.
Drones in Agriculture
Megan Ray NicholsHere's a look at how drones can and will impact the agriculture and farming industry.
Lost in the Forest? The Drones Will Find You
Daniel FragaResearchers are teaching drones to recognize and follow forest trails.
Meet the Farmer Drone
NextNature.netThe Farmer Drone is a hardworking drone that ploughs land, grows crops and milks the cows, all on the same day.
AI Tries to Decode Dolphins
Julie ReindlOver a four year project period, researchers will use artificial intelligence to understand the dolphin language, creating a dolphin dictionary.
GM Ants Show How Insect Societies Work
Julie ReindlScientists gene modify ants in order to find out more about their social behavior.
HUBOT: Take the Jobtest!
NextNature.netThe 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 …
Lazy Worker Ants
Charlotte KuijpersA 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.
Opening HUBOT at DDW
NextNature.netThe 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 …
Tinder for Orangutans
Ruben BaartThe Apenheul primate park in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, has launched a four-year experiment to study how the primates make their mating choices.
On the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality
Ruben BaartLet’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 …
Can AI become addicted?
Thomas MoynihanIn 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 …
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Koert van Mensvoortby Richard Brautigan (1968) I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammels and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure …
Avian Android
jdthSculpture, android bird's voices, a mechanical reconstruction of organic life-forms, electronically controlled by Judith Fegerl Taking "The Chinese Nightingale", a tale of Hans …
Child Care Robot
Koert van MensvoortNEC 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 …
Entry 2006 exhibition opened
Koert van MensvoortToday 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 …
Erkundungen im Nächste Natur (D)
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 …
Featherless Chicken
Koert van MensvoortBehold 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 …
Furniture comes to life
Arnoud van den HeuvelWhen a dog walks, the leg that is put forward, is simultaniously followed by the diagonal-opposite leg (f.e. left/back+right/front or right/back+left/front). Wouter Scheublin …
GloFish
Rolf CoppensA tropical fish that fluoresces bright red is set to become the first genetically modified pet to go on sale in the US. Alan Blake and colleagues at Yorktown Technologies …
Hoax Dragon
Arnoud van den Heuvel"The baby dragon, in a sealed jar, was discovered with a metal tin containing paperwork in old-fashioned German of the 1890s. (...) Some scientists believe that dragons, though …
intelligent bricks
Arnoud van den HeuvelToys are growing up so we don't have to. Lego introduces: "mindstorms"...
Lifestyle pets
Rolf CoppensALLERCA has produced the world's first scientifically-proven hypoallergenic cats. These cats allow some of the millions of people with feline allergies to finally enjoy the love …
Navirobo - GPS Navigation Bear
Dr NaturalThis is only available in Japan. The Navirobo Teddy Bear has a GPS module, sit it on your dashboard and let the navigating begin. Navirobo will point you in the correct direction …
PictoOrphanage
Koert van MensvoortPictoOrphanage opened its gates to all abandoned creatures we thought should be saved from falling into oblivion. these helpless, lonely waifs and strays could be found …
pour des dents d'un blanc éclatant et saines
Dr NaturalAnother peculiar image by jeroen diepenmaat
Real Nature is not Green
Koert van MensvoortAt 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 …
Roachbot
Rolf CoppensAfter the nuclear war, the only one that will be left are the roaches. This guy thought it was a good idea to start building cars for them. Watch the video on Youtube . Also watch …
Social Robots
Koert van MensvoortSmile! We are your friends. Robots will play an important role in our future society. We need to ensure that robots are socially compatible with us in order for society to accept …
Robo-carp
Rolf CoppensScientists in Japan have developed a koi robot that swishes around in water just like the real, fishy thing, and does stuff real koi can't: swim in reverse and rotate in place. …
Virtual Miss Germany
basiakScientists are looking for the most beautiful woman in Germany... At the 2002 Miss Germany pageant, the eight finalists were photographed from the same angle without makeup. The …
Wildgruen
Dr NaturalMandy 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 …
Withus Oragainstus
Rolf CoppensJust read this article on Darpa 's work on using bugs for war effort . They are planning to make a kind of insect cyborg to use in the army. The Defense Advanced Research Projects …
Bisected Brontosaurus in a Water-Filled Case
Koert van MensvoortChinese artist Xu Zhen created the monumental untitled sculpture depicted above (sorry I am such a bad photographer) for "NONO", a show without explanations or preconceptions, I …
Blinkybugs
Arnoud van den HeuvelBlinkybugs are small, simple, electromechanical bugs that respond to stimulus such as movement, vibrations, or air currents. They are constructed by hand from LEDs, wire, and …
Brainbow Mice
Arnoud van den HeuvelIn the 1960s, scientists found that a particular jellyfish makes a protein that glows, known as green fluorescent protein. In the 1990s, using genetic engineering, researchers …
Confetti chicken
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis weeks peculiar image was taken this summer by a friend of mine. He went to a birdmarket in Esfahan, Iran and noticed that discrimination takes many forms; only blond chicks …
Designer pets
Rolf CoppensIf your house just isn't big enough to have a leopard, you can allways buy these 20.000 dollar cats. Nailcaps are included to prevent scratches on the matching cat furniture. I …
Fire fighting beetle - OLE
Arnoud van den HeuvelJust like centipedes OLE can roll up into a ball when danger threatens and retract its six legs. Its heat-resistant shell is made of a ceramic-fibre compound which can withstand …
FishBowl - Ready made Meal
Koert van MensvoortAfter cooking lobsters alive, picking your own living fish in a restaurant and serving your rabbit for Christmas dinner, now comes a wonderful new creation: the FishBoil. This …
Flat Pets
Arnoud van den HeuvelHere's an animal-friendly alternative for Tinkebells Cat Bag and it scares the crap out of mice! There's also an instant infant and a cuddly fish bowl . These cardboard-pets were …
French Aids Campaign
Koert van MensvoortThis 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 …
Giant Plush Microbes
Arnoud van den HeuvelThe bear is a wild animal, a predator and hostile to man. Yet somewhere in the beginning of the 20th century someone caught the idea of making a cuddly toy out of it. Perhaps …
Guys and Dolls
Rolf CoppensGoogle 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 …
Hamster Shredder
Arnoud van den HeuvelTom Ballhatchet introduces mice and hamsters into the officegarden. tomballhatchet.com
Ladybug cleans the Toilet
Dr NaturalA 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 …
Pleo - the resurrected robot dino
Koert van MensvoortEver since Rosie from 'The Jetsons,' robots have been the next big thing, but the business case was never there. So far, companion robots have been a big flop in the market , but …
Spiders on Drugs
Dr NaturalIn the 1960s, Dr. Peter Witt gave drugs to spiders and observed their effects on web building. Meet the cocaine, LSD, and the crack spider. Corny Alert!
The Professors Doppelgänger Robot
Dr NaturalAlthough there are numerous researchers out there creating humanoid robots, none are as explicit about the close relation between anthropomorphism and narcissism as professor …
The Top 10 New Organisms of 2007
Dr NaturalGenetic engineering isn't just for scientists in ivory towers or corporate R&D labs anymore. Researchers are still creating new mice and crops every week, but the tools and …
Tickle Massage Robot
Koert van MensvoortTickle 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 …
Who wants to drive in a Fish?
Dr NaturalBehold the BoxFish, Mercedes' bionic concept car. This tropical fish is outstandingly streamlined. Its engineers were able to achieve a wind drag coefficient of just 0.06 in the …
Pet dreamhouse
Arnoud van den HeuvelAnyone can build the house of their dreams via scaryideas.com The previous images are of course created for commercial purposes, but just take a look at the domestics below and …
Bacteria That Eat Waste & Shit Petrol
Koert van MensvoortEnergy problem? Why not genetically alter bacteria to have them provide 'renewable petroleum'. Crude oil is only a few molecular stages removed from the acids normally excreted by …
Big Dog got puppies
Arnoud van den HeuvelWe posted this fella two years ago but the guys at Boston Dynamics haven't been sitting still. Improvements have been made and Big Dog got puppies! Little Dog (a learning robot …
Blobman
Koert van MensvoortThis 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 …
Build a better being
Koert van MensvoortWill 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 …
Eethapnl
Arnoud van den HeuvelPeculiar image created by Matías Lecaros (Santiago, Chile), promoting that famous boardgame . Inspired -of course- by Damien Hirsts Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the …
Elephant Artist
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis weeks peculiar image was made by Elephant Artist Sri Siam at the Lamphang Elephant Camp in Thailand. It is hard to tell whether the elephants actually know what they are …
Evolving mouse
Koert van MensvoortJosé E. Rivera emailed us this image of his strangely evolving mouse. We are clueless on what motives or evolutionary pressure a computer mouse might have to transform itself into …
Fake for Real: Cartoon Rats
Arnoud van den HeuvelIn 2000 on a Japanese auction site , 20 real live Pokemon Pikachus were offered for 925 million dollars. Roughly translated: We capture each one after your order, so we guarantee …
Fake for Real: Dolly, the Cloned Sheep
Koert van MensvoortRemember Dolly, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult somatic cell? Her birth was announced in 1997. People tend to see clones as exact copies of the originals, …
Flying Penguins
Koert van MensvoortLast week, the BBC reported a colony of penguins that had gained the ability to fly (video) . The penguins were reported to fly thousands of miles and spend the winter in the …
Futuristic Bird Dwellings
Koert van MensvoortEvery fashionable self-conscious modern bird needs one of these futuristic dwellings, no? Designed by Kevin Sethapun.
Human animal hybrid
Koert van MensvoortThis 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 …
Humans Are the Sex Organs of Technology
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 …
Hybrid Carp with human face
Koert van MensvoortI 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 …
Hyper Fish
Koert van MensvoortWhile 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? .
Just right for the garden: Mini-Cow
Koert van MensvoortRising supermarket prices are persuading hundreds of families to turn their back gardens into mini-ranches stocked with miniature cattle. For between £200 and £2,000, people can …
Killer Robots
Koert van MensvoortRule #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 …
Meet the Worms, Viruses and Trojans
Koert van MensvoortNow there is an interesting biomimicmarketing technique we had not seen before. For their new marketing campaign internet security company Messagelabs worked with digital artist …
Mice cloned from freezer – Mammoths next?
Dr NaturalIs the second coming of the woolly mammoth near? Researchers at Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research ( RIKEN ), who have successfully cloned mice from carcasses …
PacMan's Skull
Koert van MensvoortPacMan'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 …
Paradise by the Laptop Light
Paradise by the Laptop Light is a next nature event with short films, speedlectures, special guests and one laptop. It will be held on 12 September 2008 16:30-17:30, as the …
Plastic Flamingos Saved From Extinction
Koert van MensvoortDid 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 …
Popple
Koert van MensvoortWith her babybunnies series provocateur/artist/designer Tinkebell aims to provide an analysis of the consumptive attitude people have in relation to their pets. This latest work – …
Popple II
Koert van MensvoortMake no mistake. The children of the 80's are the bioengineers of today. ://nextnature.net
Roboswift, Eyes in Disguise
Arnoud van den HeuvelWith its 50 cm wing span and 80 grams of weight, this high tech bird is ready to infiltrate swift surveillance squads next summer. Aerospace engineering students at TU Delft , …
Robot asimo conducts concert
Dr NaturalAt 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 .
A robot that controls your remote controls
Dr NaturalConfused 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, …
Robotic Red Snapper
Koert van MensvoortJust 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 …
Robotic R)evolution
Arnoud van den HeuvelIn 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. …
Shopping for deer
Koert van MensvoortGary Barwin – unsurprisingly from Canada – created this image in response to this weeks peculiar image . The good man even went on and wrote a little poem with it. Yes dear …
Simulacra for Imposters
Arnoud van den Heuvel“Transformation” is the title of the video by a group of bio–industrialists called Foster Farms . They also sell chicken products, but that’s just to fund their quest for fair …
Skeleton Mouse
Koert van MensvoortThis rather illustrative but nonetheless peculiar object of the week is for all you Goths out there. Surely Douglas Engelbart – who invented the computer mouse in 1967 – would not …
Some Kids Don't Like Chicken
Koert van MensvoortBut they love dinosaur! Judge for yourself whether this dinosaur nugget product is supposed to give kids a history lesson on the evolutionary relation between dinosaurs and birds …
Teddy's Atonomy
Arnoud van den HeuvelWool sculptor Stephanie Metz researched the meaning of 'cute' through the morphology of some Teddy bear species. Related posts: PacMan's Scull | Animatus
The copypaste Bird
Koert van MensvoortOne might think this video is just another witty flick made by some media artist. It is not. This is a real bird living in Southern Australia. In order to attract females, the …
The Order Electrus
Koert van Mensvoort"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 …
Effects of citrus smell and mosquito noise
SaraRecently, two new inventions have been developed. One, the mosquito-buzzer produces a 5 or 6 KHz buzz, which is (or should be) only audible for people under 25 years old. A …
Untitled Sound Objects
Jan van der AsdonkPe Lang and Zimoun have created a range of sound objects, also referred to as the Untitled Sound Objects . These sound objects are mainly triggered by simple vibration motors, …
Voyage of the Bacteria Bots
Dr NaturalThe 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 …
Want privacy? Use pigeon messaging
Koert van MensvoortOur society seems to be driven by an obsession of gathering personal data. Yes, they say it is for your own good, so we willingly collaborate by filling in our most intimate …
Wood of logo's
Koert van MensvoortA wood of logo's. Installation created by Karl Grandin – yup, same guy made the nextnature.net wallpaper– at the powershow in Paradiso, Amsterdam 2005. See also: Animal Sweater .
A More Realistic Zoo
Koert van MensvoortGoing to the zoo is a favorite summer past-time. Visitors to the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna will see lots of animals in recreated ‘natural’ habitats. Except this summer, along with …
Another Skeleton Car
Koert van MensvoortThis one is kinda sporty! Again created by Jitish Kallat – this emerging indian artist must have a whole skeleton-automotive-industry in place by now? Related: Aquasaurus , …
Anthropomorphic 3d webcam
Dr NaturalThis 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 …
Aquasaurus
Koert van MensvoortThis skeleton truck was dug up created by Jitish Kallat . Related: Skeleton mouse , Animatus , Pacman’s skull .
Bacteria that Turn CO2 into Energy
Koert van MensvoortWe’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 …
BioStream
Arnoud van den HeuvelA renewable energy technology company in Australia designed this power generation system inspired by the shape of the tailfins of sharks, tuna and mackerel. The currents on the …
Craig Venter – Catalyst of evolution
Koert van MensvoortIf 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 …
Dolphin fitted with prosthetic fin
SelbyTyre manufacturing company has come to the rescue of Fuji the dolphin who was stricken by a mysterious life threatening illness and lost her fin. She caught a disease that begun …
Excuse me, I am lost
Dr NaturalSo, if you don't have a clue what is going on here, imagine how that horned cow on the electricity pole must feel. Extrapeculiar image of the week.
Flyvertising
Arnoud van den HeuvelTo draw attention to a stand at the publishing house of the Frankfurter Buchmesse , a publisher hired some flies. The paper mini-banners -- attached with self-dissolving wax -- …
Forefather Ox cloned to revive delicious Steak
Koert van MensvoortDelicious retro-future meat from Japan. Food technology in the overdrive. Japanese researchers successfully cloned what is believed to have been the forefather ox of Gifu …
How to Grow a Sneaker
Koert van MensvoortNo silly. Of course sneakers can't be grown from transforming Koi Karpers. This is merely an fictional piece by Yoske Nishiumi. But then again, do you have any idea where your …
Meat Pork
Koert van MensvoortThis meat pig was reconstructed by Ton Meijdam . See also: Get vegetarian teeth and eat less meat , Million Dollar Burger , Back to where it came from ,
Melting polar bear reveals a metal skeleton
Koert van MensvoortUnsure 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 …
Nocturnal Life of Diurnal Birds
Matthijs.KwakEnglish 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 …
Norwegian forest cat on batteries
Koert van MensvoortRobots are penetrating our homes... disguised as cats? On July 30, Sega Toys releases an el-cheapo simulation cat toy for robot cat lovers with allergies or pet-unfriendly …
Reprogramming Skin Cells into Stem Cells
Arnoud van den HeuvelA 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 …
Robot costume
Koert van MensvoortTiger meets tiger. Apparently some of the owners of a vacuum cleaning robot feel the need to 'costumize' their device. We are now awaiting the witty bio-robotics company that …
Rubber Duck XL
Koert van MensvoortThis 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 …
Sion Chicken
Arnoud van den HeuvelHow SecondLife ends up to be a virtual chicken farm? Watch Patrick Davison explain about the rise of Next Nature on the social platform. Image by Kaie Magic | Related: Confetti …
Steam Horse
Koert van MensvoortThis remarkable proposal for a steam powered street locomotive was invented by Mathewson in 1876. According to the inventor the goal was to make a machine resembling a horse in …
Tattooed Goldfishes
Koert van MensvoortIf 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, …
Branded Pigs
Koert van MensvoortWhat 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 …
The Hermaphrodite Effect
Florian Conradi and Michelle ChristensenAccording to research carried out by scientists from the Columbia Environmental Research Centre , sewage water containing hormones and pesticides caused by human consumption is …
This way for Survival
Koert van MensvoortCulture fakes nature? An ultralight plane piloted by an Operation Migration team member is guiding whooping cranes from Wisconsin to their winter nesting grounds in Florida. For …
Triceracopter
Koert van MensvoortThe Triceracopter is half Triceratops, half helicopter. If dinosaurs and technology evolved at the same time, this is what the helicopter might have look like? Built as a …
Bad Panda
Koert van MensvoortBiomimicmarketing wars: While the WWF has worked for years to market the Panda as a vulnerable, cute and cuddly animal, the Egyptian cheese brand Panda needs only five commercials …
Beware of the Virtual Squirrels
Koert van MensvoortKasey 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 …
BioPong
Ties van de WerffTechno-artists love insects. Especially their unpredictable behaviour. Eindhoven (NL) based design studio Ehdv used tracking software and connected some camera’to a bunch of wood …
BioPong II
Ties van de WerffThis time no technological enhanced roosters, dogs, cats or wood lice, but sheep! The famous viral Extreme Shepherding by The Baaa-Studs.
Bird + Subwoofer
Michael KluverThe Bell Isle Zoo is one of the examples of the decay of the once great city of Detroit. Situated on an island in the Fleming Channel, the zoo was shut down years ago because of …
Computer versus Bacteria: Round Two
Billy SchonenbergLast year, scientists managed to use the bacteria Escherichia coli to solve a mathematical problem , described in this research . This year, the building blocks of a computer are …
Cows as superior species
Arnoud van den HeuvelLet's slightly move back to the NextNature theme with an amusing video by Cyriak . And if that doesn't convince you of cows being the superior species... this video most certainly …
Craig Venter unveils 'Synthetic Life'
Luuk SchipperheynCraig 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 …
Cuddly Scooters
Arnoud van den HeuvelWhy 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 …
Debugged: 'Graphic Design Bugs'
Michael KluverThe Eindhoven-based design team ' Edhv ' made an installation to turn creepy crawlers into genuine graphic designers. By letting crickets, woodlice, ants and many other insects …
Dutch start Hunting again thanks to Supermarket Soccer Mascotte
Teun CasteleinIn Holland people go crazy for soccer, especially now that the national team has reached the World Cup final. We gather everything that's orange – our shirt color – as the …
Engineered Bacteria heal Cracks in Walls
Koert van MensvoortResearchers have designed bacteria that can produce a special glue to knit together cracks in concrete structures. Technews Daily reports the genetically modified microbes have …
FluDOC – Glowing Bacteria Show if You Have Influenza
Koert van MensvoortBacteria 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 …
Genetically Modified Salmon moves to Kitchen Table
Koert van MensvoortThe US Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal …
Glamor & Oil
Koert van MensvoortIn response to the latest oil spill famed photographer Steven Meisel made a shoot for the Italian Vogue (the only fashion magazine in the world worth reading, really) that …
Grow-a-NanoRaptor
Koert van MensvoortNow here is an example of the fusion between the made and the born , most kids would crave for. Much better than the robotic dino toy. Designed by evolution! Hopefully this …
Half Life
Koert van MensvoortMeet the next species. Director David Lea's wondrous fantasy of remixed biodiversity after nuclear meltdown. Made for Greenpeace.
Hamster Powered Mobile Phonecharger
Michael KluverWe would call this a sustainable technology if only the average pet's carbon footprint wouldn't be comparable to that of an SUV .
Harddrive on legs
Koert van MensvoortDrive Legs is a portable hard drive which stands up if liquid is spilled near it. Created by James Chambers , who is experimenting with giving products defense mechanisms to …
Injured Cat gets Bambi-style prosthetics
Koert van MensvoortA cat that had its back feet severed by a combine harvester has been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation by a UK vet. The custom-made implants that "peg" the …
Let the Bacteria do the Cleaning
Koert van MensvoortDusting furniture and floors should be history in forty years time, as special bacteria in a yet to develop cleaning product will be eating the dirt. The speculative cleaning …
Logo landscape
JurrianAs you walk through the corporate jungle you notice that it is a hectic place, but sometimes it can be quiet and peaceful. Then you'll see pumas next to crocodiles and bunny …
Mad Cow Motorcycle
Koert van MensvoortWhat do you get when you combine bike parts, an electric motor, and a cow skeleton? Our peculiar object of the week was created by artist Billie Grace Lynn . Seen at Museum of Art …
Monitoring your computer's activity like a frog pond
Koert van MensvoortMulti-touch designer and developer Richard Monson-Haefel considers sound as an important part of our user interfaces. As an application of " Calm Technology " which revolves …
Nomadic Plants
Koert van MensvoortNomadic 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 …
Remote Control Mouse
Koert van MensvoortMind control for beginners: A mouse expressing ChR2 channels in its neurons starts running when it receives blue light in its motor cortex. Unsure what applications the …
Robo-fly
Arnoud van den HeuvelWaiter, there's a robot in my soup! Weighing only 60 milligrams, with a wingspan of three centimeters, robo-fly's tiny movements are modeled on those of a real fly. While much …
Robosaurus eats Cars for Breakfast
Koert van MensvoortThe 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 …
Runaway Robots Hunted by the Mammals They Were Designed to Replace
Zack GottliebLast week, the U.S. Navy announced that four of their “ REMUS 100 ” unmanned underwater vehicles sailed off-radar and stopped responding to commands. The ‘bots were part of a …
Sea Breacher
Arnoud van den HeuvelA relatively new kind of marine species is called "Seabreacher" . These watercraft vessels started appearing from 1997 and have been evolving at a rapid pace. Seabreachers enable …
Self Catching Fish
Koert van MensvoortResearchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves by using a sound broadcast to attract them into …
Twitwee Clock
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkHaroon Baig from Germany has figured out a way to key up the amount of 50+ Twitter addicts. This progressive nostalgic cuckoo device displays new tweets from any twitter stream or …
A bacteria of a different color
Allison GuyIn 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 …
A Bug's Afterlife
Allison GuyWhen fruit flies die, they don't go to heaven, but they do get to go to outer space. At least that's the conceit of artist HsienYu Cheng's Collector: Afterlife , which zaps bugs …
Augmented Cat beats Dog
Koert van MensvoortSupersmart cat beats pitt-bull with a little help of an electric vacuum cleaning robot.
Blinky – Does what we want it to do
Sebastiaan WolzakIn 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 …
Breeding QR codes
Koert van MensvoortYou look at the great dane and wonder what information the QR codes on its pelt might contain. You point your smart phone camera at the dog and realize you’ve been hit by a …
Bugged Bugs
Stefan FinckenSome of you might remember the Next Nature article by Rolf Coppens called Withus Oragainstus . Since then there have been occasional newsreports on cyborg insects. For instance …
Cheiracanthium drives a Mazda
Allison GuyIn 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 …
City Planning with Bright Bacteria
Allison GuyRenegade 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 …
Entoforms
Bastiaan EkelerArtist Dolf Veenvliet ( Macouno ) is creating future fossil trilobites that have yet to exist. Using generative computer models, his Entoforms are not the result of millions of …
Evolution of the Chicken
Koert van MensvoortFrom Dinosaur to primitive bird to supermarket discount. Although chickens thrive as a species – in the sense that billions of them roam the earth bio-industry – we doubt if the …
Evolutionary Janitors
Allison GuyWe 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 …
Fly Paper Clock
Koert van MensvoortBionic horror by designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau , who have created a clock that traps insects on flypaper before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The resulting …
Hallucinogenic Reindeer Moments
Natalie DixonCan art change perceptions more than drugs? An art project which was on show in Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof allowed 12 free-roaming reindeer in the former railway station creating …
Hungry Birds
TimoA while ago I wrote a post about birds which tried to adapt to the city by singing louder and in different tones than before. Now it seems the birds have taken this adaptation to …
Hunter-Gatherer
Koert van MensvoortDifferent totems, same rituals. Peculiar image of the week by Walter Robinson .
Is it a Plane? Is it a Bird?
Koert van MensvoortThe zoomorphic designers of Festo , whom you might know from the robot penguins and a robotic elephant trunk , now managed to decipher the flight of birds. Their prototype is …
Meet the New Meat
Koert van MensvoortWhat do you think of lab-grown meat? "Yuck" might be your first reaction. One day, however, it could become the environmentally friendly alternative for breeding cows and pigs for …
Nature will Remember
Gabi RasIn this commercial, the sheep knows that the Peugeot has been made dirty by the splashing mud. Then it proceeds by cleaning it. Slogan: Nature will remember. We know that this …
Pixelated Nature
Koert van MensvoortWhat happens if your childhood experience of your environment has been solely through video games? According to artist Shawn Smith, "pixels became a sort of map from which to …
Playing with Microbes – Biotic Games
Koert van MensvoortStanford researchers are developing 'biotic games' involving paramecia and other living organisms. So far, they have created three games that mimic classic video games. The …
Progressive Nostalgic Message Service
Koert van MensvoortDigital pigeon post its private, peaceful, none-polluting and secure. Peculiar image of the week. Via Rising Tensions . Thanks Marco .
Sympathy for the Device
Robin PohlTweenbots 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 …
The Amazing Technicolor Dream Ant
Allison GuyA scientist in Mysore, India has figured out how to color-code his backyard ants. Mohamed Babu's wife noticed that the ants' abdomens turned white after drinking milk, so it was …
The Cat Parasite that Sells Motorcycles
Allison GuyThe 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 …
The Institute for Digital Biology
Arnoud van den Heuvel" The Institute for Digital Biology researches next steps in the evolution of the internet, where websites and services develop into living creatures ." This scenario lives in the …
The Pigeon that Shat the Golden Soap
Allison GuyEver 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 Search for the "Real" Thanksgiving
Allison GuyThanksgiving is fake-for-real. While it's true that there was a minor harvest feast in 1621, held by English immigrants and Wampanoag Indians, the event was never celebrated …
Think Breast is Best? Try Udder
Allison GuyScientists 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 …
Timon and Pumbaa
Koert van MensvoortMore real than you think. Peculiar image of the week. Via . Thanks Ton .
Traditional Thanksgiving Meat
Marco van BeersFood technology in the overdrive: Pork molded in the shape of a piglet.
Using Pigeons as Protestors
Allison GuyArtist Jaroslav Kyša has invented a novel form of social protest . By scattering seed in front of targets in London, he can attract droves of pigeons that disrupt shoppers and …
What Robots dream of...
Koert van MensvoortYou may think it's a cliché, but deep down inside robots want to be birds and fly high in the sky. Hooray for the good people of Festo , that demonstrate at TED how they turn the …
Why Do We Love Pandas?
Natalie DixonThey remind us of ourselves We love their dexterity - thanks partly to that "pseudo thumb", which functions as a sixth digit. It's in the eyes We love their big eyes because it …
YouTube preserves unmediated Nature
Allison GuyOn Youtube, there's a whole sub-genera of safari videos that show, in gruesome detail, what exactly it means to live and die in Old Nature. The above film is a particularly …
A Space-Faring Backup for Earth's Biota
Allison GuyElon 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 …
Adorably Endangered Kitten Born to Domestic Cat Surrogate
Allison Guy"Crystal", an endangered black-footed cat , was recently born to a domestic cat surrogate at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species . The birth was achieved using a …
Activist Release Transgenic Stingrays in the Ocean
NextNature.netThis morning we received an astounding video from a group of animal right activist that broke in at Rayfish Footwear, the Thai based fashion brand that creates $1500 personalized sneakers from genetically engineered stingray leather.
Army Protected Organic Foods
Simone KochOver the last few decades, the public has been – and still is – creating awareness on the values of organically produced foods. For many foodies an important value of organic …
Bio-engineered Football
Marco van BeersWith the knowledge that footballs were once made of pig's bladder and that in 2006 the first artificial bladder was transplanted into a patient, artist John O’Shea designed the …
Bioinspired Robojelly Can Swim Forever
JenniferScientists 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 …
Bunny Doesn't Grow on Trees
Allison GuyHaving trouble getting the kids to eat their fruits and vegetables? Try turning their 5-a-day into a trendy, collectible toy. We've seen Buddha fruit and square watermelons …
Cigarettes: Bad for You, Good for Birds
Allison GuyBirds use whatever they can get their beaks on to build nests, including cigarette butts. Surprising new research from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México shows that …
Dan Barber on the Ultimate Fish Farm
Koert van MensvoortChef Dan Barber discusses a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu? With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles the discovery of a unique …
Dumpster Fish the Future of Farming
Allison GuyCities have seen guerilla gardens, rooftop honey production, and fire escape chicken coops. Now, urban farmers may be adding aquaculture to the mix. Headed by ex-banker …
Eating In-Vitro: Kitchen Meat Incubator
Koert van MensvoortThe Kitchen Meat Incubator does for home cooking what the electronic synthesizer did for the home musician. It provides its users with a set of pre-programmed samples that can be …
Enjoy Udder Milk
Koert van MensvoortImaginary infomercial on the hypernatural udder cows, optimized for milk production
Featured Page #01: Hypernature
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDuring 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 …
Frying Nemo
Koert van MensvoortImage consumption in the overdrive. Peculiar image of the week. Created by Erin Murphy, Victoria Bellavia, Yong Jun Lee & Sanggun Park . Thanks Jeroen van der Meij.
Hermit Crabs Can Live Like Kings Again
Marco van BeersThanks to the collaboration between Makerbot and TeamTeamUsa new biodegradable shells are printed for hermit crabs.
How To Grow Your Own Sneaker
Koert van MensvoortRaymond Ong creates uniquely customized fish leather by transferring the DNA of existing animal patterns on the skin of stingray fishes. This leather is then used to produce highly personalized sneakers.
iPhone Entertainment for Pets
Lisa van der VoortChildren can be effortlessly entertained for hours thanks to tablet and smartphone games, but these technologies also provide a solution for the lazy pet owner. More videos of …
Jellyfish built from Rat Cells
Koert van MensvoortAnother 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 …
Let the Robotic Farmers feed the World
Koert van MensvoortThe 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.
Mark Post - Meet the New Meat
Koert van MensvoortAccording to professor Mark Post, lab-grown meat could become the environmentally friendly alternative for breeding cows and pigs for meat consumption. Watch his talk!
Monkeys Fall into the 'Uncanny Valley' Too
Koert van MensvoortThe 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 …
Nano Product: Honest Egg
NextNature.netDo away with dishonest health claims for eggs and uncertain promises of organic, free-range hens. With eggshells that change color according to hormones, medicines, and nutrients, …
Playing With Pigs
Lisa van der VoortBesides 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 …
Post Natural Organisms of the EU
Koert van MensvoortIf 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 …
Rule #5: Consider Zoomorphism as an Alternative
NextNature.netFor 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 …
Christien Meindertsma – Visualizing the Pig Farm
Koert van MensvoortChristien Meindertsma was surprised by the unrealistic nostalgic visualizations of farms on children's coloring plates. She decided to create a more realistic coloring plate of the pig farm.
Where Be Dragons? Try Your Instinctual Fear of Snakes
Allison GuyThis 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 …
Who will Question Bio-Engineering?
Koert van MensvoortBioethicist Paul Root Wolpe presents a parade of recent bio-engineering experiments, from glowing monkeys , to genetically boosted salmon , to cyborg insects . He asks: isn't it …
Will a Cockroach Save Your Life?
Steef PeppingOften 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 …
Yes, There Is Now a TV Channel Just for Dogs
Allison GuyDogTV , a new TV channel available in the US, offers 24/7 programming for the modern dog. There's busy streets, computer-animated moths and frolicking, cross-breed hounds. The …
A Robot to Make Rats Depressed
Marco van BeersThe 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 …
App Brings Big Data to Birdwatching
Allison GuyThe eBird app is bringing big data to bird spotting.
Bird Sounds Visualised
Arnoud van den HeuvelMade to beat the real thing. By digital artist Andy Thomas .
Birdhouse Sweet Birdhouse
Alessia Andreotti3D 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. …
Carnivorous Plants Turn Vegetarian
Robin van KampenWill extended pollution cause carnivorous plants to turn to a fully vegetarian diet?
Delivery Drones Are Coming
Koert van MensvoortAmazon announces they want to use drones to deliver your order within a half hour at any location you choose.
Disgusting, these Stingray Sneakers
Koert van MensvoortDutch NRC features a wonderful article today on our online film project The Rise & Fall of Rayfish Footwear.
Electric Skin Could Allow Robots to Feel
Koert van MensvoortA 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.
Food Familiarization #1: Semantic Tricks
Allison GuyWhen does a rose not smell as sweet? When it's a Patagonian toothfish.
Hate Babies? Why Not Give Birth to an Endangered Species?
Allison GuySolving the world's population crisis by replacing human infants with aquatic creatures.
How Much is a Polar Bear Worth?
Jonathon MarkowskiPolar bears bring only $9 million to the Canadian economy, but citizens put their collective value at $6.3 billion. Why?
La Surconsommation
Koert van MensvoortFor those who "eat meat, but don't like in-vitro meat, because it is so unnatural" . Please spend 5 min to watch this video and change your thinking. You were watching the …
Modifying Milk and Glowing Livestock
Emilija MarinkovicGenetically modified glowing sheep make it harder to count sheep at night.
Moral Shortcomings in the Technology Debate
Rinie van EstDigital 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 …
Next Nature saves Old Nature
Koert van MensvoortConservation workers ask synthetic biologists to help them save the world's endangered creatures and habitats.
Rollin' Safari
Arnoud van den HeuvelAssuming that true wildlife hàs gone extinct... Who needs the real thing when you can have a Next Safari ? Let's go and hunt for the plastic birds on the beach or watch genuine …
Scientists Implant False Memory in Mice
Alessia AndreottiManipulations of the mind that were once the terrain of futuristic fantasy are now one step closer to becoming reality. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology …
The Anatomy of Mickey Mouse
Koert van MensvoortFinally a full anatomical model of the renowned comic figure.
The Angry Bird Spotters Guide
Koert van MensvoortWhy are these birds so angry? Probably because they don't appear in the scientific literature.
The birth of the artificial womb
Alessia AndreottiResearchers in Tokyo have developed an artificial womb (for goats).
The Future of Solar Power? Snail Teeth!
Marco van BeersThe gumboot chiton snail produces the hardest biomineral known on earth - and it may hold the secret to better nanotechnology.
The Holy Grail of Immortality
Casper JacobsInjecting mice with telomerase enables them to live 24% longer than the average mouse.
The Monkey Named After a Website
Allison GuyThis Bolivian monkey's name is also an ad for online gambling.
The Prefuture of Synthetic Biology
Alexandra Daisy GinsbergAlexandra Daisy Ginsberg discusses the promises and realities of synthetic biology.
The "Silk Pavilion" Combines Digital and Biological Architecture
Alessia AndreottiThe worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.
'Victimless Shelter' Grown from Pig Cells
Allison GuyWhile Next Nature was busy dreaming up new in vitro meat (IVM) foods, the mad scientists of Terreform ONE in New York went ahead and designed an entire dwelling made of IVM pig cells.
Ambulance Drone
Alessia AndreottiThe ambulance drone: an autonomously navigating mini aeroplane that can quickly deliver a defibrillator.
Cat-like Sensitive Whiskers for Robots
Alessia AndreottiElectronic whiskers put sensitive catlike sensors on robots.
Drone Diver's License? Get it Online!
Alessia AndreottiThe online course to get your drone driver’s license for civil use.
Drones Could Be the Next Dog Sitters
Alessia AndreottiA drone take a dog out for a walk, guiding and monitoring the pet.
Google Street View Camel
Alessia AndreottiMost of the images for Google Street View are collected with a car, but for the first time, the task has been given to a camel.
Next Nature and the Curse of Oil
Tere VadénThe next step is to embrace and celebrate how cultural artifacts are escaping control, becoming autonomous, and forming the “next nature”.
No Future for Traditional Meat
Alessia AndreottiAt Home in the Lab with Mark Post, Father of the In Vitro Hamburger. Interview from The In Vitro Meat Cookbook
OpenWorm: The First Digital Organism
Alessia AndreottiThe first digital life form is an interactive worm based on its real biology.
Phone Case Modeled After a Dead Animal
Alessia AndreottiJapanese designed a phone case using the dead carcass of a crustacean as model.
Salmon Cannon Shoots Fish Over Dams
Alessia AndreottiA cannon that sucks salmon up and “shoots” them out in a different body of water.
Spider Silk will be Commercialized in 2015
Julia WeberCompany AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
The Anthropocene Explosion
Koert van MensvoortWe have entered the Anthropocene epoch, in which humanity and its instrumentalities are the most potent and influential geological force.
The Bionic Kangaroo
Alessia AndreottiThe BionicKangaroo technologically reproducesthe unique way a kangaroo moves.
Analogue vs Digital: Drone Wars
NextNature.netThe use of armed drones has dramatically escalated in the war in Pakistan.
Could Biomimicry Help us Solve the Refugee Crisis?
Daniel FragaFrom 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.
Bionic Ants That Work Together
Louise HuyghebaertThese robotic ants by Festo are learning to work together, like real ants do.
Cybernetic Bugs
Alessia AndreottiBeetles, dragonflies, butterflies and bugs made from recycled deconstructed computers, smartphones and consoles.
Digital Aquarium Powered by Real Fish
Alessia AndreottiThe fish swimming in this aquarium are unaware part of the Flowers and Fish art installation by Japanese digital studio teamLab.
Drone Maps Christ the Redeemer
Yunus Emre DuyarThe current technology has not been able to replicate Christ the Redeemer perfectly, until now.
Grow your Dinner in a Kitchen Insect Farm
Koert van MensvoortThe Kitchen Insect Farm enables people to grow their own protein source (read: larvae) at home.
Possibilities for Drones in Performing Arts
Alexandra BremersJapanese fashion brand Buyma created this video with a wink, wherein drones play a crucial role.
Lab-Grown Horn to Help Prevent Poaching
Yunus Emre DuyarPembient, a West Coast startup, might have a solution to the rhino-poaching problem with its lab-grown rhino horn project.
MIT Lets Robot Cheetah Off Leash
Hessel HoogerhuisRobot Cheetah has grown up! Scientists at MIT's Biometrics Robotics Lab have now trained their robo-feline Cheetah to detect obstacles and jump over hurdles as it runs, making it …
Plastivore – A Bird that Feeds on Plastic
Koert van MensvoortThe speculative 'Plastivore' bird thrives on a diet of fungi and plastics.
Puppy Delivery Drones
Yunus Emre Duyar3 Million Dogs released a funny video, which shows puppies delivered by drones.
Tiny Robots Assemble a Room in Minutes
Wei Lun WangDom Indoors , is the latest research project developed by a construction robotics company called Asmbld . It includes a robotic system that can reconfigure an indoor space within …
Robot Swans Monitor Water Quality
Alessia AndreottiThe National University of Singapore released a group of robot swans in the Pandan Reservoir to swim around and keep an eye on water quality.
The art of growing grasshoppers
Ruben BaartGrasshoppers are a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to meat protein. Could the ability to grow them in your kitchen make them more appealing? Watch the video below and …
The Drone Circus
Alessia AndreottiThe 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 …
The Secret Service is Preparing for Drones
Yunus Emre DuyarThe U.S. Secret Service is conducting test drone flights over Washington, D.C.
Turning Cockroaches into Rescue Robots
Yunus Emre DuyarCyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.
Your Cat Can Post on Instagram Now
Yunus Emre DuyarYour cat might be able to take photos and share them on Instagram by itself soon.
The Death of the Traffic Light
Daniel FragaMIT researchers have developed a system of traffic control that will make traffic lights obsolete.
Disney Lights Up the Sky with 300 Drones
Mathilde NakkenDisney’s latest attraction? 300 drones flying in formation.
Drone Racing: Sports for the 21st Century
Daniel FragaDrone racing: a new sport, where competitors drive drones at a speed of 70 mph. They control the drone by distance, using video goggles.
People, Use Your Drone to Map El Niño!
Margherita OlivoHow to monitor the effects of El Niño ? The Nature Conservancy wants to take advantage of the massive image production that can be collected using smartphones and drones. From …
The First Fully Autonomous Soft Robot
Ruben BaartThe 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.
How Knitwear Can Save Penguins
Mathilde NakkenThe penguin jumper is designed by the Penguin Foundation, an organization that rescues penguins on the Australian coast who are hit by oils spills.
Computers Need Domestication
Alejandro AlvarezSoon we won’t program computers anymore, we’ll train them like dogs.
A Mosquito Factory to Defeat Zika Virus
Margherita OlivoThere's a factory in China that produces mosquitos and their plan is to defeat the Zika virus.
Shark Drones Clean up the Port of Rotterdam
Mathilde NakkenIn 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.
This Robotic Stingray is Alive
Ruben BaartBy way of reverse engineering and taking heart cells from a rat, researchers at Harvard University have designed a miniature robotic stingray that is alive.
Solar-Powered Donkeys to Stay Online
Margherita OlivoTurkish shepherds are installing solar panels on their donkeys to stay connected.
A Taste of RoboBee Honey
Mathilde NakkenWhere 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.
The Autonomous Tractor Is Here
Ruben BaartCase IH debuted their autonomous farm tractor that plants, monitors crops and harvests, all without a driver.
Vacation in the Era of Marine Pollution
Megan Ray NicholsWhile 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.
Cyborg Dragonfly for Special Service
Ruben BaartA Biomedical solutions company is developing a system for insects to wear, allowing engineers to steer it remotely.
Drones and Robots Co-Work in Solar Farms
Alessia AndreottiBladeRanger might have found the ultimate solution for solar panels cleaning putting drones and robots together at work.
Human Artist Hatches Ten Chicken Eggs
Ruben BaartFrench performance artist hatches 10 hen's eggs in Palais de Tokyo.
The Internet of Bees
Jack CaulfieldWhat can we learn from listening to the buzz of bees' conversation? With the help of a new monitoring system, a Canadian researcher is hoping to find out.
Conversation with Dutch Philosopher Bas Haring: Robot, Colleague or Foe?
Ruben BaartWe 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.
The Solution to Nuisance Birds? The Robird
Jack CaulfieldBirds are fascinating creatures, but for farmers, airport staff, and waste management specialists, they can prove to be a profound nuisance. How to deal with a flock of birds …
Robo-Bee Pollinated a Japanese Lily
Nadine RoestenburgA 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 Age of Rust
Koert van MensvoortMeet the incredible new species "Petramosaurus Cavator" and discover its impact on our planet.
I like my steak lab-grown, not-grass fed
Angus HerveyRight 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 …
Managing the data deluge: Twitter as a tool for ecological research
Marianne MessinaAs 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 …
Sophia the Robot has a sister: Little Sophia
Ruben BaartRobot 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 …
Next Generation: Unleashing nature’s untapped potential with Amelie Unger
Freya HutchingsThis 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 …
Watch this robot fish swim through the ocean
Vanessa Bates RamirezEarth’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 …
What is a species?
Henry TaylorA 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, …
Meatable: from stem cells to pork chops
Vanessa Bates RamirezThe 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 …
This startup is growing sushi-grade salmon from cells in a lab
Vanessa Bates RamirezAs the ills of factory farming become more pronounced, people are increasingly gravitating towards vegetarian or pescatarian diets. Besides producing a large percentage of our …
Living robots made from frog stem cells may revolutionize medicine
Freya HutchingsAt 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 …
The GeneSprout Initiative: cultivating new plant breeding techniques
Ruben BaartSome 10,000 years ago humans began to domesticate plants and animals. The birth of agriculture, one of the earliest technologies available.
Italians Do It Better
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkTERRACINA, Italy: Before Michele Assunto hauls in his fishing net from the banks of a reed-lined canal here, he uses a pole to push the garbage out of the way. "They really need …
Come See the Berg!
Koert van MensvoortSo you’ve seen the peak of the Mount Everest on tour ? Descended the bobsled ride of the Matterhorn in a Disneyland ? Think you’ve seen it all? Now come and see The Berg in …
Next Nature Movie #7 – Grizzly Man
Koert van MensvoortThe 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 …
Apes Like Cooked Food, and What that Means for Human Evolution
Allison GuyHumans 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 …
Disaster Edens: The Anti-Tourist Attraction
Allison GuyImagine 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 …
Nintendo Portables Are Breeding Grounds For Sexy Fun
Vincent KlerkxSexuality 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 …
Time Between Emergence and Design
carolinenevejanPreviously, 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.
Nature is Dead, Long live Nature
Koert van MensvoortLike we did to old nature before, we must now cultivate our technological environment.
Grossed Out by Lab-Grown Meat? Here's 7 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be
Allison GuyIn vitro meat is creepy, unnatural and downright disgusting – and so is every other kind of food we eat.
Urban Green
Alessia AndreottiThese pictures by photographer Jacob Gesink show how the urban green is carefully manufactured.
Anthropo-scene #8: Anthropocene Rabbit
ChristianWith cities covering growing area of land, we humans and our spaces build the new wilderness for animals and plants.
Solar Energy: the Hottest New Currency
Lewis JustEnergy-backed money could help transition humanity to a more sustainable world, both environmentally and economically.
Artificial Light Threatens Pollination
Daniel FragaA 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.
Cruising Critters Travel the Ocean on Plastic
Charlotte KuijpersTons of living animals have floated from Japan to the United States traveling across the ocean on plastic junk and debris.
Designer Anouk Wipprecht combines fashion with robotics
Alessia AndreottiWe met Anouk Wipprecht and talked about smart fabrics and accessories that can listen to our body, therapeutic fashion and the future of dressmaking.
Plants + Science = Meat!
Daniel FragaWhat 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.
Celebrating Dutch Water Protection:
Last Weeks to See 'Gates of Light'
Kelly van Gemert
If you are in The Netherlands you can explore the latest art project by Studio Roosegaarde and discover the iconic, yet historical value of the Closing Dike.
It could be time to start thinking about a cybernetic Bill of Rights
Mike RyderLike 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 …
Embracing the Future with Patricia Piccinini
Freya HutchingsPatricia Piccinini is an artist interested in the relationship between humans and non-humans, the natural and the artificial, science and storytelling. Working with silicone, …
Check your technoprivilege!
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkTechnology is not neutral; the same tech might empower some and disempower others. It is time to check our Technoprivilege, argues author Hendrik-Jan Grievink.
Bio textiles: meet three designers reimagining materials using biotechnology
Alexandra KisielewskiThe 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 …
Fish-inspired soft robot takes a deep dive
Dimitris TsakirisThe 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 …
Join us at the DDW Talks: Next Biodiversity
Next Nature DevThe 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 …
Notes on the plastisphere
Shahar LivneEvery 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 …
Discovering AI generated species
Marit BeerseSofia Crespo and Feileacan McCormick have made an AI-generated endangered species installation on Times Square.
How to plant seeds with your shoes
Selin KirImagine 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 …
Enter the memesphere
Laura van den BrinkWhy memes might be the next tool to make sense of on our increasingly hybrid virtual and physical environment.
Are we living in a superorganism?
Ruben BaartThe coverstory of Next Nature Magazine investigates how the rise of virtual influencers on social media reveals a superorganism.
Next Nature is ancient
Ruben BaartUli Westphal's Seed Series is an ongoing attempt to document the seeds of all edible plants, one seed at a time.
Potatoes from Mars
Ruben BaartIt 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.
NOT (Natural) AND NOT (mechanical) = human
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkEric 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 …
RFID Chips: Is your cat infected with a Computer Virus?
Koert van MensvoortA group of computer researchers from Amsterdam have demonstrated that it is possible to insert a software virus into radio frequency identification tags, part of a microchip-based …
Crop Circles
Arnoud van den HeuvelIn 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 …
Paradise by the Laptop Light
Paradise by the Laptop Light is a visual power event with short films, speedlectures, special guests and one laptop. It will be held on 23 November 2007 16:30, as part of STRP Art …
Amsterdam Weekly on the Natural Revolution
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) . …
Dying ships
Koert van MensvoortThese 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 …
Fake for Real
Koert van MensvoortFakeness 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 …
Remote pets
Arnoud van den HeuvelHumans 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 Evolution of the Richer
Diogo CorreiaAre 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 …
A Society of Simulations
Koert van MensvoortAn 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 …
Bioluminescent Trees will Replace Streetlights?
Koert van MensvoortMost people know about light emitting organisms such as jellyfishes, fireflies and mushrooms . Some time ago, genetic engineers transferred genes responsible for the luciferin and …
Corporate animal wallpaper (in real life)
Koert van MensvoortStudents of the Next Nature Theme at TU/e Industrial design in Eindhoven decided to jungle-up their working environment a bit with the corporate animal wallpaper. Hand painted (!) …
Houston, We've Got a Dome!
Jeffrey BraunA 2 million-square-meter dome should protect Houston from hurricanes and regulate the climate.
Where newspaper racks go to die
Koert van MensvoortThese photos of disused newspaper racks in a San Francisco storage yard – taken March 13, 2009 by AP/Noah Berger – are pretty much all you need to know about the state of the …
World Map Zodiac
Arnoud van den HeuvelKentaro Nagai rearranges the world map to create a series of illustrations he calls: "Twelve Animals". Via: PinkTentacle | Related: World Cow | World Mapper |
Crops Running Wild
Minke KampmanOnly for the title already I wanted to post this as soon as I read it on Nature.com. The newsarticle is entitled " GM crop escapes into the American wild ." Brilliant! Let's walk …
ECO Currency – A Proposal to Balance Economical and Environmental Value
Koert van MensvoortImagine 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 …
Nature is an Agreement
Tracy MetzNature 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 …
Next Nature Movie #3: Koyaanisqatsi
Koert van MensvoortKoyaanisqatsi (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. …
The Anthropocene Debate: Marking Humanity’s Impact
Elizabeth KolbertIs 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 …
To Milk the Cows, Click here
Koert van MensvoortIn 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 …
Anthropomorphobia
Koert van MensvoortAre 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: …
Crows crack nuts... and traffic patterns
Allison Guyhttp://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 …
Electric Topiary
Allison GuyHas this tree gone Pac-Man on the power lines? In truth, the slice through the side of the tree is the work of 'utility pruning.' Topiary was once determined on entirely aesthetic …
(Nano)technology imitating Nature
Koen BeumerOver the coming years, nanotechnology will invade our everyday lives. Nanotechnology, usually defined as the control and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale, will be …
Occasionally Extinct and Virtually Alive
Allison GuyJapanese 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 …
Theriomorphous Cyborg
Allison GuyThe Animal Architecture Awards have just announced the winners of their 2011 contest. Taking first place is Simone Ferracina's Theriomorphous Cyborg , a (speculative) augmented …
We Domesticated Ourselves
Allison GuyOur 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 …
The Benefits of Artificial Wetlands
JenniferIn 1994 researchers at Ohio State University created two artificial wetlands* in riverine basins in order to investigate their possible benefits, and whether they could replace …
The Sound of Silence? An Aircraft Engine.
Allison GuySilence 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 …
Anthropo-scene #4: Longing for Nature
ChristianWhat one ugly overpass in Berlin reveals about our attitudes towards nature.
Anthropo-scene #5: Industrial Wilderness
ChristianOld ironworks in Germany have become more natural than "real" nature.
Google Travels to a Place in Your Memory
Insoo HwangGoogle Maps preserves a place that's too dangerous to visit.
Win the Next Nature iPad Appzine
NextNature.netThink you know your corporate animals? Show off your knowledge and win our Next Nature app!
You Can Never Go Back To Nature
Annalee NewitzOne 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 Next Nature Christmas Present
NextNature.netBuy the In Vitro Meat Cookbook with free worldwide shipping and gift-wrapping with the Corporate Animals paper included.
Divine Nature
Alessia AndreottiPhotographer Holly Wilmeth seeks to capture the encounter between women and nature, symbolized into animal form.
Glow in the Dark Trees
Lotte BiesheuvelDaan Roosegaarde is exploring possibilities to replace streetlights with luminous trees.
Plastic Pollution Solution
Lotte BiesheuvelIs there a possibility to clean up the oceans from plastic pollution?
Transportations Of The Future
Francesca BarchiesiA selection of nine enthralling and striking concepts of future way of transportation.
Anthropo-scene #9: Sense, Sensors, Sensitivity
ChristianTechnology helps us understand the unfolding of the Anthropocene.
Botox Makes it Harder to Feel Emotions
Alessia AndreottiStudies suggest that Botox impairs the ability to process the emotional content of language, limiting the quality of emotional experiences.
Caress of the Gaze
Koert van MensvoortDesigner Behnaz Farahi envisions an interactive 3D printed outfit that can detect and respond to the gaze of the other and respond accordingly with life-like behavior.
Fake Nature can Prevent Climate Change
Margherita OlivoScientists are working on an ingenious approach to carbon capture that will enhance the way plants isolate carbon dioxide from other emissions in order to contain it.
Artificial Senses for Navigation
Ruben BaartA team of cyborgs and digital enthusiasts developed a wearable technology for the body that perceives a human sixth sense.
Bringing In Vitro Meat to the Market
Margherita OlivoMark Post is planning to bring lab-grown meat on the market shelves within five years at a reasonable price.
The Enlightenment Is Dead, Long Live the Entanglement
Danny HillisWe 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.
First Self Sufficient Solar-Powered Airport
Margherita OlivoThe Cochin International Airport is self-sufficient thanks to its solar power plant.
Glowing Planet T-Shirt
NextNature.netFeaturing different cities at night, the Next Nature Glowing Planet T-shirt highlights the enchanting beauty of our glimmering world.
Growing Potatoes at JFK Airport
Ruben BaartThe 5th largest airline in the United States, JetBlue, is growing potatoes at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
Untouched Nature Is Entirely Gone
Margherita OlivoResearchers prove that pristine landscapes haven’t existed for thousands of years, therefore we should change or mindset before trying to save the planet.
Climate Change Turns Leaves into Junk Food
Julie ReindlClimate change turns rainforest leaves into junk food.
Interview: Curator Ilari Laamanen on Momentum9, the Nordic Biennial
Ruben BaartWe recently spoke to Ilari Laamanen, to peel the outcrops of Momemtum9, and unveil the overlapping themes to the next nature philosophy.
A Panda Shaped Solar Plant
Alejandro AlvarezChina recently built a panda shaped solar plant to get kids interested in green energy.
FarmVille Turns into Real-Life Agriculture
Julie ReindlA Japanese Start up brings Farmville back into real life by letting players grow physical food.
Wind Turbines Threatens Birdlife
Elle Zhan WeiA wind farm in Scotland is on hold because of its lethal killing power towards seabirds.
On the origin of the e-bike
Huub EhlhardtThe oldest known serious candidate forerunner for the bicycle is the ‘running machine’ built by the German Baron Karl von Drais. His two-wheeled machine became known as the …
Researchers are developing a device that can edit brain activity
Tristan GreeneNeuroscientists 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 …
Air pollution may be making us less intelligent
Barbara MaherNot 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 …
Aleph Farms grew meat in space
Freya HutchingsHello 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 …
An introduction to biomimicry
Janine BenyusThe 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 …
Can technology be humane?
Koert van MensvoortWe 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 …
How biotechnology could shape the future of product design
Ruben BaartHumans have been manipulating living things for thousands of years. Examples of early biotechnologies include domesticating plants and animals and then selectively breeding them …
Artificial bones for the natural meat experience
Ruben BaartThe 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 …
A vegan meat revolution is coming to global fast food chains
Malte RodlA 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 …
Matilde Boelhouwer wants to make urban environments flower again
Ruben BaartMatilde 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 new Next Nature book is here!
Next Nature DevWe 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, …
The Ouroboros Steak is a steak made out of human cells
Nellie FriedrichYou 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 …
A countryside dweller's guide to the future
Ruben BaartThe 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 …
The technosphere is outweighing the biosphere
Ruben BaartOur 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 …
COVID-19 is a virus, corona is a meme
Ruben BaartAs 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. …
This book explains why cooking food was essential to human evolution
Ruben BaartA 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 …
In conversation with cyborg choreographer Moon Ribas
Ruben BaartIf 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 …
Max Liboiron: pollution is colonialism
Ruben BaartWe 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 …
This documentary tells the story of Biosphere 2
Ruben BaartCan we create a new biosphere on another planet? Documentary "Spaceship Earth" shows how - in the Arizona desert.
Meet the lungs of the sea: phytoplankton
Abigail McQuatters-GollopPhytoplankton 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, …
Making an AI supermarket with Nonhuman Nonsense
Ruben BaartWhat does the supermarket of the future look like? The Embassy of Food at Dutch Design week.
With this sound recognition technology scientists can eavesdrop on nature
Lucas ZarzosoWhat 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 …
This coffee is prepared without coffee beans
NextNature.netThe Netherlands is a real coffee country. With the amount of coffee Dutchies drink per year, they have been in the top 10 of most coffee drinkers for years. Drinking so much …
Next Senses
Ruben BaartNext Senses explores the unchartered territory of how we could experience the world with technology
20 years after Chernobyl
Rolf CoppensPripyat was built as a town for workers at the Chernobyl power station, where the world's worst nuclear accident occurred 20 years ago. The town was abandoned 36 hours after the …
Anabukin-chan
Rolf CoppensThis is one of the weirdest things I ever saw... It's a commercial for a construction company. The text goes a little bit like this: Anabukikonten is "Anabuki Construction Co." …
Architecture of density
Rolf CoppensPictures taken by Michael Wolf in Hong Kong. See the whole series here .
Entryparadise
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 …
Inner life of a cell
Rolf CoppensYou know.. cells have feelings too... and friends.. Check the video here
Nature So-called
Michiel SchwarzNature 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", …
The Animal Sweater
KarlThe 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 …
A room with a view
Rolf CoppensParaisópolis favela (Paradise City), Sao Paulo Huge slums, located on prime real estate, calmly being closed in by money (at least in the shape of concrete towers). Dharavi, …
Breaking Point?
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 …
Dutch Nature
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA few days ago, I went for a day trip walk to the Dutch "Great Outdoors". It didn't take long before we got confronted with a typical dutch stance on natural experience: a guy …
EnergyTree
Rolf CoppensThe EnergyTree is a device dedicated to monitoring your household energy use. It monitors you energy output from sockets and any device that is using electricity. It also monitors …
Fake for Real: Romantic Sunsets
Koert van MensvoortSunsets are loved by people all around the globe. Could this universal aesthetic preference be linked to a deeply rooted understanding of the sunset's importance? Life on earth …
Forest clock
Rolf CoppensTiWalkMe is a clock (still in conceptual stage) designed to track 1,000 years using a forest seeded along a ribbon of land to tell time. Annual tree plantings set the pace, …
Humans to Blame for Global Warming
Koert van MensvoortGlobal 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 …
Information Decoration: Our Environment as an Information Carrier
Koert van MensvoortPicture 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 …
IVY - hard disk cover evolves with your data
Koert van MensvoortIVY is an external hard disk which shows the content of the hard disk on its skin. When no data is stored on IVY, its skin will remain blank. When you purchase IVY, it appears to …
Lego Towers
Arnoud van den HeuvelWhat did you play with when you were 8+ years old? Well let's say some people can never quit playing. The Bjarke Ingels Group ( BIG , Copenhagen-based group of 85 architects, …
Summit of the Mount Everest on Tour
Koert van MensvoortMount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level. In May 2005, artist Xu Zhen led an ascent on Everest, and succeeded in …
NAT Designing Nature - Exhibition & Debate
NAT, designing nature is about the interface where nature and culture, biology and design intertwine. An exhibition that is a cross between an exotic Garden of Eden and an illegal …
Retro Future: Magic Highway USA
Koert van MensvoortNothing makes a person more modest about future speculations than Retro Future. Want proof? Here is a 1958 video entitled " Magic Highway USA ". No, they didn't anticipate traffic …
Take nature, add nature
Rolf CoppensMyoung Ho Lee, a young artist from South Korea, has produced an elaborate series of photographs that pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment …
Tulip Island - Design a Polder
Arnoud van den HeuvelA proposal to gain 600.000 m 2 of land near the Dutch coast recently came from the CDA (Dutch Christian-Democratic political party). The idea is to create a tulip-shaped island …
Urban Camouflage II
Koert van MensvoortAaron Larney made these urban camouflage printed hoodies, just in case you need to blend into your dorm's notice-board. See also: Urban Camouflage I .
Where Ships go to Die
Koert van MensvoortBrendan Corr's created a photo essay of the Bangladesh beach/port Chittagong where half of the world's supertankers are disassembled. The reported facts: over 200,000 Bangladeshis …
All the water and air on earth..
Dr Natural... gathered into spheres and compared to the Earth. The water sphere (blue) in this computer visualization measures 1390 kilometres across and has a volume of 1.4 billion cubic …
Animator vs Animation
oustamanWhat happens if the user interface becomes a landscape? Watch the short film by Alan Becker.
As real as it gets
Arnoud van den HeuvelArt Directors Andreas Junus and Irawandhani Kamarga; copywriter Darrick Subrata and photographer Anton Ismael (Indonesia) went through some trouble , visualizing Photoshop's …
Bananawall
Koert van MensvoortWho would not need a bananawall in their officegarden? This modular freestanding, indoor/outdoor bananawall system was designed by Stefan Sagmeister . It is made of 7200 banana's. …
Banksy Pet Store
NielsFamous street artist Banksy left his grafitti spraycans at home and sets to opening a pet store. The difference with this pet store is that instead of looking at pets, you look at …
BlobWall
Dr NaturalWho 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 …
Boxing the Desert
Arnoud van den HeuvelWith 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 …
Ceci n'est pas une fleur
Koert van MensvoortRemember the classical dadaist fountain of Marcel Duchamp – who placed an urinal inside an art gallery and proclaimed it was Art? San Fransisco based artist Clark Sorensen takes …
China controls weather for olympics
Rolf CoppensThe 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 …
Cityscape made out of cookware
Koert van MensvoortSo what are you doing this weekend? Grab your cookware and create the cityscape of of San Fransisco… Via This Foot Thing .
Clear Blue Sky
Koert van MensvoortWho likes clouds anyway? Especially for the people still living in the suburbs of Venray (small town in the Netherlands), artist Helmut Smits made this billboard depicting a clear …
Cloudmaker
Koert van MensvoortAlways dreamed of creating your own clouds? You can now create them... from text. Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from any text, url or rss stream you provide. The …
Day at the Pool
Dr NaturalDon't you just love urban recreation? Only in China. Peculiar image of the week. Via . See also: Super Cities , Tropical Dome .
Design = No sign
Arnoud van den HeuvelThe Wilson Quarterly profiles the in January 2008 departed traffic engineer, Hans Monderman , of the "less is more" school of traffic control: " (...) Previously, Monderman, like …
Dirt 2.0
Rolf CoppensTo increase decrease CO2 a lot of plans are made to cover city buildings with roof gardens. One problem however is that those gardens tend to be quite heavy. Especially when you …
Don't you just love those classical games?
Koert van MensvoortPeculiar image of the week by Anne de Vries .
Elephant sends sms messages to rangers
Niko VegtIn the Kenyan wildlife conservancy Ol Pejeta elephants are tagged with a GPS-triggered text messaging device. Before the elephants start raiding the nearby villagers' harvest they …
Fake for Real: Ceci n'est pas une Montagne
Koert van MensvoortAsk a child to draw a mountain and you will get something like the Matterhorn. The shape of this famous mountain, situated on the Swiss-Italian border in the Alps, is one of the …
Faked Fireworks at Beijing Olympics
Koert van MensvoortA local Chinese newspaper, The Beijing Times , revealed some of the staggering fireworks at the opening of the Beijing Olympics were actually not fireworks, but computer graphics. …
Fatigue Risk Management
Rolf Coppens"Through individual assessments, employee training and EnergyPods, MetroNaps can help you improve the safety of your workplace, the health of your employees and the productivity …
Faustian Bargains and Pineapple Shampoo
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 …
Fight climate change: Hack the Planet
Dr NaturalLots 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 …
Grasscutter Architects
Arnoud van den HeuvelTen tons of cement were pourred into this grasscutters ant colony, revealing a subterranean structure of 8 meters / 26 feet deep. 'Ant-City' was built including circulating …
Green Roofs for Living
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis impression shows the ambitions of the city of Rotterdam for the coming decade. The city is supposed to have an image problem concerning its greenlife; as a big industrial …
Greenvertising
Koert van MensvoortBrain Kane proposes to fund the re-foresting of clearcut areas, with Greenvertising. See also: Branded butterfly wing , Plantvertising , Information Decoration , Dataplant , …
Growing Rooms, Buildings & Cities
Koert van MensvoortWith their project 'Rules of Six' architects Aranda & Lasch envision an unpredictable, self-generating landscape of interlocking hexagons that could represent rooms, buildings …
Hortus Conclusus
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis weeks peculiar image is a work by Zeger Reyers. In 2001 he vaccinated some everyday objects - found in the basement of Rotterdam Art Centre Witte de With - with oyster …
If the Implications of Global Warming Were Fair
Koert van MensvoortContrary to popular belief, global warming is not simply a bad thing: there are winners and losers. While low-lying countries, like Bangladesh, are expected to suffer extensively …
In the Wilderness
Koert van MensvoortRecently, I had some free time to return to my old passion of landscape painting. But somehow things seemed to have changed in the wilderness.
Indoor swimming pool for penguins
Koert van MensvoortThis peculiar image of the week was made by Beatrice Jansen . We are unsure if this penguin refugee camp is global warming related or merely for entertainment purposes.
Interchange
Rolf CoppensKen Ohyama makes Japanese interchanges look like a beautiful forest. How about a picnic? See the whole collection here
Next Nature lecture at Lift Conference
Lecture this Friday on Next Nature by Mieke Gerritzen at Lift conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Expect wild trees, wild beaches, wild animals, wild implants and wild corporations.
Let the Dutch bury the Carbon
Koert van MensvoortToo 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 …
Light weeds
SaraLightweeds 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 …
Lilium Urbanus
oustamanLilium Urbanus is a collaborative senior thesis project by Anca Risca and Joji Tsuruga, recent graduates of SVA. Pretty cool to watch, the video is a metaphor of urban landscapes …
Man made Sun
Koert van MensvoortThe photo of this 'man made sun' was taken on July, 8, 1956 during a Apache H-bomb test on Eniwetok atoll. In 1963, health concerns about radioactive fallout led to a ban on …
Million dollar burger
Rolf CoppensPETA –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 …
Mobile garden
SaraNo green area's in your neighborhood? Well, this mobile community garden might be a solution. You can take it to your office, park it on a suburban industrial zone, pick your …
New York City Waterfalls
Rolf CoppensFor three months this summer, artist Olafur Eliasson will put four giant waterfalls in New York as part of a public arts project. Including one that will fall from the Brooklyn …
Nobuo Takahashi's Exploding City (video)
Koert van MensvoortIn 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world's population will be living in towns and cities . By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, with …
Observing Old Nature
Hendrik-Jan Grievink"At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets." – Oscar wilde Picture by Noor Bongers , shot at Sedona, …
Observing Next Nature
Koert van MensvoortYou can watch it grow in front of your eyes. Via Core.form-ula .
One mans output is another mans input
MishaWithin old nature one organism's droppings becomes another organism's food. This is a cycle that will continue going for ever and is vital for the old nature's balance. Nowadays …
Pass the sunglasses
Rolf CoppensViganella is a small town in the Italian Apls. It is located in a valley between very steep mountains. The mountains are so steep that from November the village ends up in the …
Photoshop reporters in China
Koert van MensvoortChina's high-speed train from Qinghai to Xizang worried environmentalists well before its launch in July 2006. Concerns increased after a photograph of Tibetan wildlife near a …
Press [CTRL] [S] to save the environment
Koert van MensvoortThe people at Preem.se – the Swedish organization responsible for this advertisement – must think this is the way to promote environmental protection with a younger generation of …
Remember nature? Fake or real?
SaraVisiting the American Natural History Museum in New York, I pictured myself in about, let's say 150 years from now, trying to explain my younger family members what nature looked …
Search Engine
Arnoud van den Heuvel"Google has stationed approximately a million computers worldwide to be able to process the 40 billion searches per month. One search request uses as much energy as a low-energy …
Self control freak organizes his garden
Koert van MensvoortOur friend the Self Control Freak is organizing his garden. Hover over the image above to help him get his wilderness under control.
Simulated Diamonds
Koert van MensvoortThat 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 …
Solar Trees
Arnoud van den HeuvelWelsh designer Ross Lovegrove ('Captain Organic') placed several glowing Solar Trees in the streets of Vienna (October 2007). These solar powered streetlights could save cities …
Space Race in Cyberspace?
Koert van MensvoortAfter having build nightclubs, shopping malls and natural resorts, second hype residents have constructed a spaceport in their metaverse. They sure have a lot of different rockets …
Space Station
Koert van MensvoortIf 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 …
Speaking at the Wall
Koert van MensvoortI used to hear voices in my head, but now they seem to be coming from the walls – am I back in to the womb? No wait.. it's a wall that reacts to the spectators voice (quicktime) . …
Super cities
Rolf CoppensA series of slides dealing with the ongoing urbanization of the world. 192021.org
The peoples gardens
Rolf CoppensVolkstuintjes (or peoples gardens) might be a typical Dutch / European tradition, offering gardening space in urban environments in which people don't have their own gardens. It's …
The Presidential Harvest
Arnoud van den Heuvel" Eat the View " is a campaign to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high visibility places, whether it's the "First Lawn" or the lawn in front of your child's …
The Sun is Always Setting Somewhere Else
Koert van MensvoortImage created by Lisa Oppenheim using images downloaded from the internet of sunsets taken by soldiers in Iraq, then positioned in front of the setting sun in New York. Via VVork .
Treetrunk Trashcan
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkThe Nanputo Temple in Xiamen (Southeast China) is an oasis of quietness, religious practice and leisure for Chinese amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the fastest growing …
Vegetarian Nike
Koert van MensvoortNo animals were hurt or injured in the production of these vegetarian Nikes. Created by Paul van Barneveld . Thanks Floris . See also Flesh Nike .
Waves of Asphalt
Koert van MensvoortSet amid farmland in rural Japan, this small project is a bizarre hybrid of landscape art and infrastructure. It consists of a square, 20-space car park that looks as if it has …
Brandscape: Welcome Home
Arnoud van den HeuvelWednesday May 21st the boeing I was in, flew over some crop–fields near Schiphol (Amsterdam airport) where I took this picture. It reads: "Welcome home!". Unox is a famous Dutch …
Advanced Seed Bombs
Arnoud van den HeuvelDesigner Jin-wook Hwang from South Korea came up with the idea of replanting and reforesting arid areas using seed bombs . When airdropped, the bombs disassemble themselves, …
Agenda Wallpaper
Koert van MensvoortUsing thermochromatic ink, which changes color when the temperature exceeds a specific degree, designer Josien Pieters created a prototype of a dynamic wallpaper that …
Antenna Tree Mast Safari
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis 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 …
Artificial 'Trees' to Stop Climate Change
Koert van MensvoortThe 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 …
'Atlantis' Turns out to be Interfacial Artefact
Koert van MensvoortSince the days of Plato, the lost city of Atlantis has captivated the imagination of many. The city, if you don’t already know, was said to be a naval power located roughly 600 …
Behavioral Urbanism
Arnoud van den HeuvelIts title might be self-explanatory and it sure looks intriguing... however kokkugia fails to give a thorough description for this architectual piece. Classified as 'peculiar …
Biodiversity in the Supermarket
Koert van MensvoortSome say global biodiversity is decreasing. I am not entirely sure.
Blood Cells 2.0
Marcel van HeistUnlike 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 …
Brain Needs 'Nature'
Arnoud van den HeuvelScientists 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 …
Caravan Garden
Arnoud van den HeuvelLet's do a quick poll here. What would you rather own if you could choose between a car or a garden? Kevin van Braak combined both symbols of freedom and domesticity into this …
Carhenge
Rolf CoppensJim Reinders, an experimental artist with a history of using curious media, became so enthralled by the beauty of the famous Stonehenge in England that he had to recreate it. …
Ceci n'est pas une Roche
Arnoud van den HeuvelI 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 | …
Credit on Color – Rainbow of Credit Cards
Koert van MensvoortRegular readers of this website know we are keen to speculate that our global financial system is best perceived as an ecology, which although originally constructed by man, has …
Deforestation in China threatens giant pandas
Rolf CoppensI found this ad very ironic; after killing the giant panda (by turning it into a logo) WWF is complaining that the Chinese are killing the living version of it. I wonder if they …
Designing Bugs That Eat Plastic
Koert van MensvoortIt 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 …
Digital Overruns Nature: Pixel Attack
Florian Conradi and Michelle ChristensenApparently, camouflaging oneself with digital patterns rather than nature-imitated patterns functions as a better camouflage within "old-nature" situations. So the digital …
Ecology – A New Opium for the Masses
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 …
Energy Consumption Shown on Power Plant
Koert van MensvoortInformation decoration on a city scale. Every night from the 22 to the 29 of February 2008, the vapor emissions of he Salmisaari power plant in Helsinki will be illuminated to …
Escape of the Prairiedogs
Arnoud van den Heuvel" 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 …
Field of Waves
Koert van MensvoortParks 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 – …
Four environmental 'heresies'
Koert van MensvoortTED talk by Steward Brand – the man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and '70s – has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic …
Fun River Waterslide
Arnoud van den Heuvel"A clean river is a fun river." Peculiar ad by stirmarketing.com Related: Playing with Dry Water | Datafountain | A Future Love Story
Google Kills Bambi
Koert van MensvoortEvery emerging next nature typically stresses some older nature. Time after time, we plant a new habituation, a new instinct, a second nature, that causes the first nature to dry …
GPS influence on street signage?
Koert van MensvoortIn the future, every street will be a Nokia street? Perhaps not, however we may expect some changes in street signage due to the arrival of mobile & gps technology. Once …
GPS Parody
Koert van MensvoortAnd you thought GPS was supposed to make life easier? Created by Sheepfilms . Related: Find Brain, replace with GPS , GPS influence on street signage . Via Beyond the Beyond .
Greener Soccer
Arnoud van den HeuvelI'd like to plea for more trees in soccer-stadiums: 1) They add an element of fun to the game; 2) They don't get aggressive easily; 3) Everyone supports green . Sebastian …
Growing a nano forrest
Koert van MensvoortJohn Hart, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, is inventing techniques for growing carefully structured forests of high-quality carbon …
Growth Assembly
Arnoud van den HeuvelThough the example product seems a little far-fetched; growth assembly could be quite revolutionary. Worldwide shipping of manufactured things is very inefficient. Why not ship …
High Line Park
Rolf CoppensOn elevated unused traintracks the city of New York created a park. Nice work, makes me think of the unnatural nature of parks I visit sometimes. Typically, the park is designed …
Hightech Landscape
Koert van MensvoortDiscarded shells of computers and monitors float in a drainage canal in Accra, Ghana. Our peculiar image of the week was made by Peter Essick. Via National Geographic .
Highway Nomads
Koert van MensvoortWhereas 40.000 years ago we used to roam the Savanna, today many people live the live of highway nomads. As an investigation of this lifestyle, artist Melle Smets and philosopher …
How to print a building
Koert van MensvoortIn the nineties laser printers revolutionized graphic design. Currently 3d desktop printers are revolutionizing industrial design. Next we will be printing buildings and …
Human Landscape
Koert van MensvoortOur 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 …
Implantable Silicon-Silk Electronics
Koert van MensvoortScientists of the University of Pennsylvania are creating electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body, through the use of thin, flexible silicon electronics on …
Live with Micro-Algae
c.sallustroThe Eco Pod is a experimental design proposal towards the production of clean and renewable energy, which should operate in old, abandoned buildings. Pending an eventual recovery, …
Living Root Bridges
Koert van MensvoortIn the depths of northeastern India, one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built – they're grown. What could 21th century architects learn from these dynamic …
Lost on the Freeway?
Koert van MensvoortAn advertisement campaign for MIO GPS systems. Via Scene 360 . Related: Observing Next Nature , Waves of Asphalt , Magic Highway USA , Interchange , Exploding City .
Doggerland – Mapping a Lost World
Koert van MensvoortSo 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 …
Mapping the DNA World
Koert van MensvoortDNA 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 …
Mistaking buildings for mountains
Koert van MensvoortOn a misty day in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, it is easy to mistake buildings for mountains. Nonetheless a captivating blend of old & next nature. Peculiar image of the week. …
Monokultur
Koert van MensvoortA peculiar photo series by Hubert Blanz . Related post: Lost on the Freeway? , Observing Next Nature , Waves of Asphalt , Interchange , Exploding City , Magic Highway USA .
Moscow won't let it snow
LuukBeursgensAlready 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 …
Mountain Sofa
Rolf CoppensGive in to your god-complex by sitting on this Mountain Sofa by Gaetano Pesce .
Natural Fountain
Koert van MensvoortFountains are peculiar objects: We associate them with nature even though they are typically entirely artificial and man-made (unless you are living in Iceland of course). …
Recreation in NextNature
Arnoud van den Heuvel(Not a tourist-pic from North Korea) In January this year, at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands said: "(...) My wife and I …
Office Grass
Dr NaturalThese grass squares are designed to give a natural touch to the office or home by placing them freely or according to feng-shui. Inspired by Frank loyed Wright’s Fallingwater and …
Office Kiss
Arnoud van den HeuvelNeo was here. By Kristof Wickman, Tyler Peterson, and Shaun Owens-Agase, November 2004. Source: oodagroup.com | Related: Warp Your Room | Learning to Build Superman's House | …
Pantonebow
Arnoud van den HeuvelNever believed in pots of gold anyway. Related: Credit on Color - rainbow of credit cards | Datafountain - money translated into water | Ceci n'est pas une Roche | Faked Fireworks …
Where cavemen live?
JurrianRock 2007. Peculiar image of the week by Hans Wilschut . Made in Shanghai. If you know more about the orgins of the building: let us know. Thanks to Vivid Gallery , Rotterdam, NL.
Phone Booths turned into Smoking Booths
Koert van MensvoortWith the emergence of mobile phones, classical phone booths are used less and less. Seems like the Dutch telecoms operator KPN is re-tooling its phone booths to function as …
Pimp My Planet
Koert van Mensvoort"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 …
Repairing the Scars of War
Arnoud van den HeuvelLenka Clayton : A series of five digitally repaired images taken in Lebanon of buildings damaged by the 2006 conflict with Israel. The images were taken specifically for this …
Romantic Landscape
Koert van MensvoortBut not as we know it. This peculiar image of the week was created by Cyprien Gaillard and is titled: Belief in the Age of Disbelief (2005). Seen at Trendbeheer and Stroom .
Running on non-newtonian fluid
Koert van MensvoortThese dudes from the Spanish TV show El-Hormiguero mixed cornstarch and water made on a concrete mixer truck, effectively creating a pool of non-newtonian fluid – which is almost …
Screen Saver
Koert van MensvoortEver wondered what happened to your old computer screen? At Monitex, a Grand Prairie, Texas recycler, workers strip picture tubes from used computer monitors. Tubes that work will …
Sunflowers – electric gardening
Koert van MensvoortA 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 …
The naturalness of travelling with a Jeep
Koert van MensvoortGPS is not the most easiest product to advertise. Jeep uses biomimicmarketing to bring the message across. In this advertising campaign an iconic arrow is comprised by images of …
The World's first Refrigerated Beach
Koert van MensvoortConspicuous 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 …
Everyday...
Koert van Mensvoort... a new McDonalds opens somewhere in the world. Via RebelArt , via Ekosystem . Related: post-apocalyptic religious artefact , hamburger sneaker , Image consumption .
Tree Construction
Koert van Mensvoort“Museum staff preparing Olympic Forest Scene exhibit”. Photo by Lee Boltin. American Museum of Natural History Library . Peculiar image of the week. See also: A day in the Dutch …
Unfolding the Earth - Myriahedral projections
Koert van MensvoortHow can we unfold the Earth? Making a map of the earth is an ancient problem. For thousands of years cartographers, mathematicians, and inventors have developed methods to …
Urban Camouflage
Koert van MensvoortLaurent La Gamba makes photographic installations dealing with camouflage. His work juggles with the idea of natural procrypsis in the urban space and deals with the relations …
Wallpaper Escape
Arnoud van den HeuvelFound sportswear a d, will be reality some day... (with magical goggles of some sort) Related: Recreation in NextNature | Big Ass Search Engine | If Giraffes lived in the US | …
Wii Gardening
Koert van MensvoortFor people who live small... Via Gizmodo . Related: Game on , Games become jobs , Boomeranged Metaphors , Simulating old nature on next nature . Thanks Jurrian.
Wrapping Greenland
kbohreThe 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 …
A tree guarding trees
Rolf CoppensI spotted this in the Dutch wilderness, forests are turning into shopping malls.
Allergy-Free New York
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkWe recreate the landscape according to our image of nature and to match our needs and expectations. This also applies for the urban landscape. In the NY Times of last week, Thomas …
American Power
Rolf CoppensAmos coal powerplant in Raymond, West Virginia. Taken from the series "American Power" by Mitch Epstein .
Antenna roofgarden
Koert van MensvoortDon't ask me what the purpose is of having your roof crowded with antennas. Solar energy roof-gardens I could understand, but antenna roof-gardens just seem hopelessly old …
Artificial Shrub Observatories
Arnoud van den HeuvelJustin 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 …
Blob architecture 1.400 AD
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkBlob architecture 1.400 AD in the emperor's garden in the Forbidden City, Beijing. Peculiar image, from China with love.
Castle Duivenvoorde
Rolf CoppensThat Next Nature is nothing new can be proven in a walk around Castle Duivenvoorde. The castle dates back from the 11th century, while the gardens date from 1631. In a time where …
Climate Craze in Russia
Koert van MensvoortClimate change is often thought to have its winners and losers, with Canada, Nordic countries and Russia being portrayed as among the lucky few chilly nations where moderate …
Constellation
Koert van MensvoortNo this is not some stellar system far away. What is it then? Lets make another picture, this time with the flashlight on... ...and we learn the small universe is comprised by LED …
Downriver in the Lowlands
Teun CasteleinThe Netherlands is known for its outright flat landscape – its even part of the name. How come the Dutch Womans Youth Rafting Team just won the World Cup in the category …
Dubai Globe: Sea versus Economy
Arnoud van den HeuvelWhen developers launched the globe project just off Dubai's coast in 2003, they hoped that the rich and famous would land there to populate the 300 islands. Within five years …
Environmental Recreation in the Overdrive
Koert van MensvoortSeen the grand canyon? Lived through the survival weekend in the woods? Enjoyed the ecology safari Antarctica cruise? Think you've seen it all? Buckle up for an unprecedented …
Floating City – Shimizu's Dream
Koert van MensvoortThis speculative self-sufficient, carbon-negative floating city design by the Japanese Shimizu Coorporation immediately reminded me of the post-apocalyptic science fiction film …
Global Village
Koert van MensvoortSo this is what the global village really looks like. Seen in an advertisement at an airport (of course). Peculiar image of the week.
Google Earth Alphabet
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkLanguage 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 …
Learning to Build Superman's House
Koert van MensvoortSuperman already knew it: Steered growth is the future of architecture. The lower picture was taken at the Industrias Peñoles nano-chrystal architecture lab in Chihuahuan, Mexico …
Lets Grow an Avatar Forest
Ruben DaasAfter making the successful and popular movie Avatar (2009), James Cameron started the Avatar Home Tree Initiative . This initiative consists of building "Avatar" forests on 17 …
Logorama
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkSometimes you come across something that is not directly related to Next Nature, but só well made that it deserves a place on this website. Logorama, a 16 minute animation by the …
Media Sunrise
Koert van MensvoortOr is it a sunset? Not sure. Ubiquitous corporature either way. Image by Mieke Gerritzen .
Medicinal All-Salt
Michael KluverDo you suffer from small health inconveniences and do you like to put salt on your morning egg? Why not combine the two? Medicinal All-Salt provides a low-dosage solution for …
Mirror Neurons – Simulation at the basis of Human Civilization
Koert van MensvoortWithin our society, imitation and simulation are typically seen as inferior symbols of a distorted mediated culture – think of fake Rolexes, plastic Christmas trees, silicone …
Nature as a building
Rolf CoppensAs the world is preparing to show off at the World Expo in Shanghai, their pavilions are nearing their final stage. To me, it feels like a lot of them are making references to …
Nature as a Commodity
Koert van MensvoortNature 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 …
Next Nature Introduction
Bruce SterlingThis 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 …
Next Nature Movie #10 – Idiocracy
Koert van MensvoortAs 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, …
Next Nature Movie #5: American Beauty
Koert van MensvoortDuring 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 …
Next Nature Movie #6: The Matrix
Koert van MensvoortIn 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 …
Next Nature Movie Top 10
Koert van Mensvoort1. 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 …
Next Nature Spotter – iPhone application
While the spotting of old nature phenomena in our surroundings – birds, insects, trees, stars, etc – has a large tradition enjoyed by millions, the spotting of next nature …
Nine Strategies of Geo-engineering
Koert van MensvoortRecently 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 …
Old Nature, the Museum
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar image of the week was created by Ilkka Halso .
On the Road
Koert van MensvoortExcuse me, I am lost. Can you point me to the information super highway? Rendering by Chris Baker, photo Erik Pawasser. Via Wired . See also: Car Navigation - Follow the red cable …
Outer-Space as Local-Space
Florian Conradi and Michelle ChristensenIn 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 …
Palmtree Drilling Platform
Koert van MensvoortIn our ‘ under the beach lies the pavement ’ series. Already in 1973, Steven M. Johnson drew cartoons of oil drilling platforms disguised to look like palm trees, in an attempt by …
Razorius Gilletus – On the Origin of a Next Species
Koert van MensvoortIs 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 …
Recycled Island
Koert van MensvoortRecycled 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 …
Rocky Messages
Koert van MensvoortThese 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 …
Save the Coral: Dump a Tank
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar image of the week learns us that what is good for the environment doesn't always look good for the environment. The adieu of this disused tank into the Gulf of …
Self–Repairing Architecture
Rachel ArmstrongAll buildings today have something in common: They are made using Victorian technologies. This involves blueprints, industrial manufacturing and construction using teams of …
Skin Paper
Koert van MensvoortSkinpaper 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 …
Space Monkey
Arnoud van den HeuvelDuring 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
Spot of the Month: Arbor Artificialis Naturalis
Our first spot of the month was made by Tijn Kooijmans, who pinpointed the first Dutch Arbor Artificialis Naturalis planted in 1999 by telecom provider Libertel. You too can share …
Squamata headset dances with the Music
Koert van MensvoortInspired 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 …
Tree Hugger
Koert van MensvoortWhile driving on the highway, I saw a tree. Our peculiar image of the week was spotted by Arnoud van den Heuvel using the Next Nature Spotter iPhone app .
Under the Beach Lies the Pavement
Koert van MensvoortDuring the riots of 1968 , as students in Paris ripped up paving stones and threw them at the police, one of the rallying cries was “sous le pave: la plage” (under the pavement: …
Unlimited Urban Woods
Rolf CoppensWhat 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 …
Urban Mining – Gold digging in the Sewers
Koert van MensvoortResource-poor Japan discovered a new source of mineral wealth: sewage sludge. In its first month of operation, a sewage plant in Japan’s Nagano prefecture has mined 5 million yen …
Virtual Realities by NL Architects
Rolf CoppensSome beautiful "visual thoughts" by NL Architects . On the left: Minimum Speed 200 kh/h. On the right: United Airlines. On the left: desert irrigation made beautiful with this …
Whether or not we should engineer the Weather
Minke Kampman"Owning the Weather" is a documentary about geo-engineering by Robert Greene. It's about whether or not we should engineer the weather and the different impacts that this has. …
A Clear Sky
Rolf CoppensRemember the beginning of 2010, when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been canceled across Europe due to …
A New Take on the Tree
IzzyWoodsMany people will have heard of the infamous swastika made up of larches that revealed itself every autumn in a forest outside Berlin . The trees, which turned yellow at the end …
An Ecstatic Dialogue with Richard Doyle
Jason SilvaWhen 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 …
Anthropocene for Dummies
Koert van MensvoortThe 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, …
Backseat Driver
Natalie DixonThere's hardly a shortage of animal lovers following the trend site Coolhunter.net, often generating thousands of "likes" on their Facebook fan page for images of cutesy pugs and …
Car Carousel
Koert van MensvoortHow sweet! It's a carousel of cars. This shot was taken from Jacques Tati's movie Playtime (1967) which can be considered Next Nature avant la lettre.
Concrete Cabin
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar image of the week was made by Peter Doig . Oil on canvas, 200x275 cm, 1992. Via De Groene Amsterdammer .
Conquering the Skies
Luc de SmetEverywhere we go, we conquer the land and shape it to our preferences. The next place to build might as well be the clouds. Tiago Barros , designer and architect, has decided to …
Did Nature Cease to Exist in the '60s?
Koert van MensvoortOur 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 …
Get Vegetarian Teeth and Eat Less Meat
Koert van MensvoortWant 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 …
Exploring the Oceans of Plastic
Koert van MensvoortCaptain 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 …
Fata Morgana
Koert van MensvoortFinally... A gas station in the ocean! If we all rigorously continue filling up our tanks, this fiction can become a reality one day. This is not a photoshop, this is our peculiar …
Get Thee Up into a Fake Mountain
Allison GuyIf you felt like building a 2,000 meter mountain in the Netherlands, which features would you like to add? Journalist and accidental landscape visionary Thijs Zonneveld wants to …
Hiking in Hypernature
An escalator to the top of the hill, for people who like nature but don't like to hike. This photo was taken at the Montjuïc in Barcelona two years ago. See the original photo …
Holland Gets an Unnatural High
Allison GuyWhen the Dutch built the Netherlands , they forgot to add any mountains. The highest point in Holland is a measly 323 meters, compared to 2,962 meters for the highest mountain in …
Kinetic architecture
Erik SwaagstraArchitecture has now come to a stage where the technical possibilities seem limitless. Buildings become more fluent, dynamic and organic. Examples can be found in most buildings …
Mapping the Utilisphere
Allison GuyEarth 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 …
Mastering Bambi
Allison GuyIn 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 …
Microbic Landscapes
Rolf CoppensBeautiful 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 …
Natural Car Alarms
Allison GuyWhile hiking in Trinidad, artist Nina Katchadourian was struck by the similarity of bird calls to car alarms. One inspires us to poetry, the other makes us groan and pull the …
Negative Islands
Allison GuyRecent 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 …
Next Landscapes
Natalie DixonQuoted in a recent interview about his work, Landscapes without Memory , artist Joan Fontcuberta asked, “Could a natural nature exist? The answer is no, or at least, not anymore: …
Next Nature Fun Pack
Sleek, stylish and thought-provoking, our Fun Pack is the perfect gift for the Next Nature lover in your life . Each set includes the Next Nature book, Real Nature is Not Green …
Parks & Planes
Natalie DixonAlong with a library and museum, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport recently added a park to its list of attractions. Officially opened by Princess Irene, the first Airport Park in the …
Retro-futuristic Weather Machine
Koert van MensvoortGeo-engineering avant la lettre. This is what 19th century people thought a 21th century weather machine would look like. This retro-futuristic postcard was produced around 1900 …
Rule #1: Any Association that Can be Made, Will be Made
NextNature.netFor 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 …
Should we clone Neanderthals?
Zach ZorichIf 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 …
Skyscrapers for Pandora
Erik SwaagstraWe've previously featured architecture that imitates nature by opening its walls like a flower , or drifting like a cloud . However, maybe this is not imitation enough. The next …
SMS Skyscrapers
Koert van MensvoortI reckoned Amsterdam did not have any sky scrapers, but I guess I wasn't looking through the right lenses. This sms-traffic Amsterdam skyline – made on new years eve 2007 – was …
Street View of the United States
Koert van MensvoortThe All Streets map visualizes of all the 240 million individual road segments in the United States. Although no other features — outlines, cities, or types of terrain — are …
Streetlight Trees
Marco van BeersWe all know the cellphone masts disguised as trees , created in an attempt to blend technology within the 'natural' landscape. Now Taiwanese scientists have created trees that …
The Living Room
Rolf CoppensThe private atmosphere of a Dutch living room is interrupted by the disturbing presence of a large oak tree that slowly enters the room. Made by roderickhietbrink.nl
The Majestic Plastic Bag
Koert van MensvoortBehold the heroic journey of one of the most illustrious creatures on our planet. Created by the good people of Healthebay.org .
The Soul is a Plastic Bag
Allison GuyIn 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 …
The Sound of the Blue Canary
Berry EggenBlue 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 Technological Sublime
Jos de MulThe 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 …
Vertical Farming
Koert van MensvoortColumbia professor Dickson Despommier imagines filling New Yorks skyscrapers with farms. As over 50% of the world population now lives in urban areas, this scenario could solve …
Tokyo Nightscape – Before and After
Koert van MensvoortBy fading between scenes of pre- and post-quake Tokyo, this time-lapse video shows how Tokyo's nightscape has been affected by ongoing conservation efforts and power shortages. …
Traffic Sign Comic
Koert van MensvoortThis uncanny comical combination of traffic signs was spotted in the great city of Lisbon, Portugal. Notice the ignorant by-passers. I fear we might have a new genre here. …
Tree Temple
Koert van MensvoortSo we may think ‘ guided growth ‘ is a typically 21th century design methodology, yet apparently it was also in vogue in the 19th century. According the original description in …
Urban Birds have Bigger Brains
Koert van MensvoortResearchers learned that city birds have larger brains relative to their body size. No, they are not getting big-headed from their exposure to big-city sophistication, but rather …
Visualizing Wifi Landscapes
Rolf CoppensThis project explores the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs. A four-metre long measuring rod with …
Who Owns the Rights to a Toucan?
Allison GuyKellogg, the proud copyright holders of Toucan Sam, recently asked a the Mayan Archeology Initiative to reconsider their logo . Despite the fact that the two birds have entirely …
21st Century Dutch Landscapes
Koert van MensvoortFor centuries the Dutch landscape has been known for its highly cultivated formal structure, however with the introduction of Google Maps a whole new layer of formalization has …
A €1,174 Chicken Coop for the Bourgeois Farmer
Allison GuyLong for farm-fresh eggs on the table? Dream about going to bed each night worrying about racoons, rats and foxes? Like the feeling of scraping chicken shit off your hands? For …
A New "High Line" Leads to Rotterdam
JackThe High Line , the amazing recycling project that converted a former NYC railroad to high-rise park, has inspired the reincarnation of similar disused urban spaces across the …
Architect Aims to Build House From Plastic Waste
Koert van MensvoortInterpreting the plastics in the Earths ecosystem as building material rather than as waste.
Arizona gets a Cactus Cellular Tower Too
Koert van MensvoortOver six years ago we blogged our first cellphone antenna tree, and boy have they been propagating! Nowadays you'll find them in all kinds of species, cactus included.
Artificial Islands for a Tsunami-Proof Japan
Allison GuyKeiichiro Sako of Sako Architects has proposed constructing giant, drum-shaped islands on dry land as a means to protect residents of Tohoku from future tsunamis. The elevated …
Bruce Sterling – Next Literature
NextNature.netAt the Next Nature Power Show 2011 American Science Fiction writer Bruce Sterling – 'perhaps the sharpest observer of our media-choked culture working today in any genre' , …
Cellphone Masts Disguised as Trees are Outdated
Marco van BeersThere is a new version of the well-known cellphone masts disguised as trees. Instead of adding fake nature to these masts, ChamTech Operations wants to put a layer of invisible …
Christian Schwägerl - Riding the Anthropocene
Koert van MensvoortChristian 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 …
Complexity and Evolving Synthetic Soil
Rachel ArmstrongTwenty-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 …
Conservationists Turn Their Sights on Urban Habitats
Allison GuyFor 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 …
Creating the World's Cutest Fruit
Allison GuyJust like corn, bananas , and essentially any other plant we cultivate, the Cutie mandarin is the result of a concerted effort to produce an ideal food. Mandarin oranges come from …
How to build your own Christmas Tree
Koert van MensvoortPolish artist Dominik Lejman has created this nine minute video manual
Dutch protest against Bad Weather
Koert van MensvoortSome countries just don't seem to have real problems. This weekend a protest was organized in Amsterdam against the bad weather . In the first three weeks of July the Dutch …
End of Life Care Machine
Marco van BeersDesigner, 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. …
Featured Page #02: Google Nature
NextNature.netDuring 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 …
Free Range Robot Filters Out the Ocean's Plastic
Allison GuyWhale 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 …
Genetic Screening for Christmas Trees
Allison GuyIf you've turned to plastic Christmas trees because the real ones leave piles of needles behind, science is working to bring live conifers back into your holidays. A $1.3 million …
Get into Buckminster Fuller
Koert van Mensvoort58:10 minute interview with polymath & nextnature thinker avant la lettre Buckminister Fuller.
Goats Replace Lawnmowers in San Francisco
Allison GuyThey 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 …
Greetings from the Ohio Turnpike
Koert van MensvoortApparently freeways have obtained a level of nostalgia that they are now suitable objects to be depicted on postcards (speaking of nostalgic objects). Perhaps one day in the …
Happy Meat
Koert van MensvoortThe Happy Meat project combines the basic principles of the meat-industry and the toy-industry in an uncanny hybrid.
Hidden Cities Emerge from the Amazon
Allison GuyFamed 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 …
Humans Caused Mass Extinctions Before There Were Even Humans
Allison GuyHumans 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 …
In the Future, We Will Mine for Plastic
Allison GuyPeak 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, …
Jewels from the Ocean
Koert van MensvoortDesigner 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 …
Thijs Zonneveld – Let's build a Mountain
Koert van Mensvoort“God created the world, except for the Netherlands. That the Dutch created themselves” , Voltaire remarked in the eighteenth century already to describe the overly cultivated …
Little Green Cows
Rachel ArmstrongThe 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 …
Living with Nature in the Post-Suburbs
Allison GuyMoMA in New York has a new exhibit exploring what can be done with American's only seemingly inexhaustible resource: foreclosed homes and sparsely inhabited suburbs. Nature-City …
Making Deserts Flourish
Simone KochUsing only plastic sheets and an irrigation-nutrient system, a Japanese researcher has found a way to change agriculture as we know it. Professor Yuichi Mori argues in his talk at …
Man-Made Coral Reefs
Koert van MensvoortLast week I had the pleasure of being the studio guest at the Earth Beat radio show. I was treated with examples of 'artificial nature' and asked to respond from a Next Nature …
Nature Disappears from Childrens' Books
Allison GuyIn an analysis of Caldecott Medal winning children's books, sociologist Allen Williams recently discovered that depictions of nature have dramatically declined from 1938 to …
Next What?
John ZerzanIn 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 …
Old meets Next
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar image of the week was spotted in Friesland with the Next Nature spotting app for iphone . Add your spot and win a copy of the Next Nature book .
Power, Water and Shelter from Giant Mushrooms?
Tim HuibertsIn his (fictional!) documentary, designer and artist Tobias Revell sketches the city of New Mumbai powered by giant mushrooms. These genetically-engineered fungal organisms …
Rachel Armstrong - Living Architecture
Koert van MensvoortVenice, Italy is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we must develop living technology.
Salad Dress
Koert van MensvoortPush your organic-sustainable-veggie-lifestyle in the overdrive with the Salad Dress.
Sand Engine Reinforces Dutch Coastline
Koert van MensvoortNow here is an hands-on example of ‘guided growth‘ as a way to steer complex systems.
Seaside Swimming Pool
Koert van MensvoortAlways 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 …
Surviving Progress
Koert van MensvoortMontreal filmmakers Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks’ documentary feature, Surviving Progress presents the story of human advancement and reveals the risk of running the 21st …
The Action Plant Runs Away from Your Touch
Allison GuyPlants have it tough. They're tasty, silent, and stuck to the spot. With Jurema Action Plant, artist Ivan Henriques has given plants the mobility they deserve . Henriques' pieces …
Thirsty? With a Cyborg Bladder, You'll Never Need to Drink
Allison GuySome 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 …
Those Blueberries in Your Cereal, Muffins and Baking Mixes? All Fake.
Allison GuyWhat do blueberries have in common with sugar, corn cereal, modified food starch, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, artificial flavor, cellulose gum, salt and and Blue …
Tracy Metz – Nature is an Agreement
Koert van MensvoortWriter and NRC journalist Tracy Metz dissects our Image of Nature , how it is constructed, by whom and for what reason. Her conclusion: "Nature is an Agreement. Just like the nude …
Turning Wind Farms into Seaweed Farms
Allison GuyClosed 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 …
Urban Heat Causes Trees to Grow Faster
JenniferThe high temperatures of urban environments causes trees to grow faster in the city than in rural areas. Researchers at Columbia's Earth Institute have discovered this by planting …
Using Simple Scents to Trick Shoppers into Buying
Allison GuyRetailers have long known that certain smells get us into the buying mood – cinnamon or warm cookies around the holidays, for instance – even if we're shopping for completely …
Vector Stones
Koert van MensvoortThese stones were dug up by future archaeologists, some centuries after the integration of the digital and the material world was completed. No seriously, our peculiar image of …
Welcome to the Woods
Koert van MensvoortEnter through the gate and suspend your disbelief to indulge in the nature theater. Peculiar image of the week by Nick Zonneveld .
What is Next Nature?
NextNature.netAt the Next Nature Power Show 2011 our master of ceremony, Koert van Mensvoort gave a mini lecture on our changing notion of Nature.
3D Print a New House in One Day
Jonathon Markowski3D printers using concrete can now create complete houses from the ground-up.
A Fake Cruise for a Real Vacation
Alessia AndreottiAll the "fun" of a cruise vacation, with none of the seasickness.
Anthropo-scene #1: From Rocks to Thoughts
ChristianHow geology and humanity turn ancient algae into high-tech gadgets.
Anthropo-scene #3: Morphing Earth, Piece by Piece
ChristianHumans act as bio-excavators that literally move mountains.
Anthropo-scene #6: Military Nature
ChristianMilitary action accidentally restores a lost ecosystem.
Anthropocene Art – Amazon Abstraction
Koert van MensvoortA false-color image of Amazon deforestation reveals surprisingly beautiful patterns.
Artifice Earth: Adam Rutherford on the Promises of Synthetic Biology
NextNature.netAn interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".
Gathering Electricity from the Atmosphere
Stephen Perry"Atmospheric energy" has the power to revolutionize the production of electricity.
Bright Streetlights Make Us No Safer, and Why That's Good News
Allison GuyArtificial lighting at night makes us fat, depressed and sick. What are the alternatives?
CAMOVER: Destroy All CCTV Cameras!
Silvia CelibertiEarn points in an online game by destroying real-life CCTVs.
Can This Virtual World Save the Real One?
Alessia AndreottiA Dutch artist designs a Utopian eco-socialist online society.
Care for a Meat Flower Amuse?
Koert van MensvoortVegetarian food products typically mimic existing meat products. The meat flower reverses this principle.
Cavemen Used 'Facebook' Already
Koert van MensvoortScientists claim to have discovered a “prehistoric version of Facebook” used by ancient tribes to communicate with each other.
Empathy for the Device
Robin PohlKate Darling argues that society needs to update its ethical landscape to include thinking machines.
Tattoos that Make Everyone a Product
Alice FumeyQR and barcode tattoos turn an artist's body into a business card.
Gardening on the Roof of a Bus
Alessia AndreottiA cheeky experiment to reduce CO2 results in a highly mobile garden.
Gated Communities: In Or Out?
Silvia CelibertiUltimately existence (or not) for gated communities comes down to the existential choice: should we be afraid of the future?
Get Ready for the Arctic to Bloom
Allison GuyIn the warming Arctic, an area the size of the US is now covered in vegetation.
Google Wants to Tattoo a Phone Onto Your Throat
Jonathon MarkowskiGoogle has just submitted a patent for lie-detecting throat tattoo that can also make calls.
Herds of Deer-Shaped Power Lines
Allison GuyNot real, but a far more creative way to deal with unsightly public works than tree-shaped antennas . Via Gizmodo .
High-Priced Honey from Parisian Rooftops
Allison GuyFamous Parisian landmarks are home to hundreds of thousands of bees.
Homemade Robot Designed from Recycled Scraps
Alessia AndreottiA Chinese inventor created a $24,500 robot from junkyard scraps.
How Food Scientists Engineer the "Bliss Point" in Junk Food
Allison GuyCheetos and other junk foods are more carefully engineered than the average bridge.
In the (Physical) Cloud
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDutch artist Berndnaut Smilde uses smoke, moisture and lighting to create temporary clouds.
Interview: Floris Kaayk, the Visionary Creative Mind Behind Human Birdwings
Alessia AndreottiFloris Kayak discusses online hoaxes and the future of technology.
Jellyfish Ice Cream Glows When Licked
Alessia Andreotti$220 ice cream glows thanks to synthetic bioluminescent proteins derived from jellyfish.
Let's Build a Garden on Mars
Koert van MensvoortOne would need a gardening robot, fitted plant species and some kind of dome structure for the plants to grow in.
Manmade Global Warming Is at Least 15,000 Years Old
Allison GuyHow the extinction of mammoths changed the atmosphere.
Modern Cave Painting
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkPrimitive man lived in caves. He used the surface of these caves as a canvas (*) to make representations of the things that surrounded him: animals and hunting, stories of magic …
Modern Countries Mapped on Pangea
Koert van MensvoortSome 300 million years ago, all countries were united in the Pangea continent. Unfortunately at the time there weren't any nature preservation organizations around it to protect and it drifted apart.
Modern Fata Morgana
Koert van MensvoortImagine bumping into a cola dispenser after a hike in the pristine Canadian forests for three days. Would you believe your eyes?
Moments in Meat History Part I - Origins of Meat-eating and Hunting
Jonathon MarkowskiAbout 4 or 5 million years ago, major changes in the Earth's climate brought about grassland regions where giant mammals could graze.
Moments in Meat History Part II- The Last Mammoths
Jonathon MarkowskiThe Mammoth was the last of the giant land mammals of the Pleistocene era.
Moments in Meat History Part V- Industrialization of Farming
Jonathon MarkowskiIn 1876, the first cattle feedlot was established near Chicago.
Moments in Meat History Part VII - Factory Farming
Jonathon MarkowskiIn the 1950s, the transition towards what is now known as factory farming picked up speed with farmers.
NASA Might Give the Moon a Mini-Moon
Allison GuyDoes the moon look lonely? NASA may eventually capture an asteroid to put in orbit around the moon, providing a wealth of research opportunities.
Nature Documentary 2.0
Koert van MensvoortIronic nature documentary on the new symbiosis in the ocean between trash and wildlife. Created by Studio Smack for Greenpeace .
Nature through the Windshield
Brendan CormierVolume magazine interviews Next Nature founder Koert van Mensvoort.
New York Preps for Climate Change by Building New Wetlands
Allison GuyNew York City plans to combat hurricanes with "soft edges" composed of marshes and beaches.
Next Natural Goats Adapt to Climb Trees
Alessia AndreottiThanks to evolution goats can climb, shifting their ecosystems to the trees.
Offshore Wind Farms Generate Their Own Microclimates
Patty ChanAs we strive to milk all available energy from nature, we not only harvest but alter our surroundings in the process. By mixing the warm sea air with cooler air above, offshore …
Painting with Toxic Runoff
Allison GuyA professor and an artist have invented a method to manufacture paint from acid mine runoff.
Plastic is a new material in the Earths ecosystem
Koert van MensvoortI 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 .
Plastic makes the world go round
Rolf CoppensCockroaches 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 …
Surviving the Anthropocene in China
Allison GuyHow people adapt to toxic food, air and water in Beijing.
The Interspecies Internet
Koert van MensvoortCould the internet be expanded to include sentient species like apes, dolphins and elephants?
Tree Caught up in the Matrix
Koert van MensvoortImagine how this tree must feel wondering "what is the Matrix?"
Turning Detroit into Farms and Forests
Jonathon MarkowskiConcerned locals are turning Detroit back into farmland and forests.
Wearable Urban Farms
Paul StoutjesdijkGot no space for a farm? Just shrink one and turn it into jewelry!
Why Shopping Malls Are Confusing
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDo you get lost in shopping malls? Do you end up spending more than you intended? It's not your fault.
Wi-Fi Visualization: Surrounded by Waves
Alessia AndreottiAn artist visualizes WiFi waves across landmarks in Washington, DC.
21th Century Fata Morgana
Koert van MensvoortA cave man teleported at today's Bangkok airport would not recognize anything, except for the few trees in the back.
A Net will Collect Debris from Outer Space
Julia WeberJAXA developes a net that could collect debris from outer space.
A Registered Landscape
Lotte BiesheuvelTuscany is known for its natural beauty. But only a few know that this wonderful landscape is actually a really good design work.
Anthropocene: the Shrinking of Aral Sea
Alessia AndreottiAs a consequence of a big water diversion project to irrigate surrounding areas the Aral Sea is drying up.
Artificial Cells Built From Silicon
Alessia AndreottiScientists designed artificial cells built from silicon, able to copy basic functions of life.
Auto Paint Stones
Koert van MensvoortNextnatural stones formed from layers of paint in old car factories.
Balloon-Powered Internet For Everyone
Alessia AndreottiProject Loon by Google has the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas, with a hot air balloon network.
Bioluminescent Forest
Alessia AndreottiTwo artists transformed the forest into a bioluminescent wonderland.
Browsing the Map of Space Ship Earth
Koert van MensvoortBesides finding their way, people look at to transport them to another place, or in this case, another perspective on planet Earth.
Bugs Paintings: Mixing Art and Science
Alessia AndreottiPainter Stephen R. Kutcher uses different insects to create unique paintings.
Camouflaged Ships
Robin BergmanThese unbelievably rich and dazzling graphics were made to avoid enemy attack.
Cleaning the Air with Roof Tiles
Alessia AndreottiSmog-busting roof tiles could clean tons of pollution.
DIY Wire Networks In India
Robin BergmanIndian fragile DIY electronic infrastructure gives an insight into our complex electronic wire systems.
Domestication as a Last Refuge
NextNature.netIn glass capsules endangered rainforest flora will be able to survive regardless of what happens to their natural habitat.
E.T. Video Games are Real Modern Fossils
Alessia AndreottiAn unsuccessful piece of video gaming history became an archeological record.
eTree – Electric Gardening
Alessia AndreottiAn eco-sculpture that looks like a tree. Its foliage is made of solar panels able to produce energy.
Exploring the City Soundscape
Alessia AndreottiBuq are electronic life forms that shift the experience of the street scape from the primarily visual to a more auditory experience.
Floating Underwater Self-Sufficient City
Francesca BarchiesiAsian architects of AT Design Office want to build an incredible floating underwater metropolis that is also self-sufficient.
GMO Trees to Simplify Paper Production
Alessia AndreottiResearchers engineered poplar trees for an easier production of paper and biofuels.
Hemihelix: A New Geometric Shape
Alessia AndreottiRubber band distortions lead to discovery of a new shape called hemihelix.
How Google Maps Solves Borders Issues
Alessia AndreottiGoogle Maps drew up three different topographical plans of Crimea: one for visitors from Ukraine, another one for Russian users; and the third on the international version of the …
In Vitro Recipe #5: See-Through Sashimi
NextNature.netInvisible meat with a pure, delicate flavor. Honest from the Lab.
Indomitable Flock of Balloons Got Wild
Francesca Barchiesi1.5 million balloons were released in once to create a spectacular show becoming uncontrollable and dangerous.
Interview: Chloé Rutzerveld, Designer Who Wants to Grow Healthy 3D Printed Food
Alessia AndreottiFood and Concept designer, Chloé Rutzerveld, explains her 3D food printing project Edible Growth.
Lunar Solar Power Generation
Alessia AndreottiJapanese engineers plan to turn the moon into a giant solar panel station.
Marine Plastic Creatures
Alessia AndreottiPhotographer Kim Preston transforms everyday household plastic objects into sea creatures.
Modern Society Contradictions
Alessia AndreottiPawel Kuczynski portraits the contradictions of today’s world.
Monster Machine Swallows Tree in 15 Sec
Koert van Mensvoort15 seconds, that is the time it takes the mulcher monster to consume a 9 meter-tall, mature spruce – starting at the top, landing at the bottom.
Nature Learned to Turn Plastic into Rocks
Alessia AndreottiPlastic can fuse with rocks to form a new material: plastiglomerate.
Painting the Anthropocene
Alessia AndreottiGovedare paints the human impact on natural environments, showing how nature has become a subset of culture.
Palm Tree Antenna
Koert van MensvoortSpotted near Las Vegas and Hurghada, Egypt. If you know any cellphone tree antenna masts in your neighborhood. Use the Next Nature spotting app for iPhone to add them.
Printing with Grass
Alessia AndreottiThis 3D Grass Printer can print a garden in any shape you can imagine
Professions Of The Future
Francesca BarchiesiAs technology evolves, what today seems like science fiction may be the job market of tomorrow: 11 professions of the future.
Rainbow Station
Alessia AndreottiStudio Roosegaarde created a giant rainbow of light for the Amsterdam Central Station east side.
Raptor Aircraft Paints Rainbows in the Sky
Francesca BarchiesiNext Nature Rainbow painted by F-22 Raptor Jet.
Recovering Phosphorus from Wastewater
Julia WeberResearchers found a technology that allows to recover valuable substances from wastewater.
Reducing Plastic Bags by 80%
Julia WeberThe EU Commission will hopefully reduce the consumption of disposable plastic bags within 5 years by 80%.
Robotic Furniture puts IKEA to Shame
Koert van MensvoortScience 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.
Self-Assembling Fungus Tower
Alessia AndreottiHy-Fi, a structure built from a combination of corn husks and fungus.
Shark Deterrent Wetsuits
Lotte BiesheuvelA new way to project yourself against sharks while enjoying your favorite watersport!
Shock Therapy for a Better Self
Julia WeberThe Pavlok wristband gives its wearers an electric shock if they fail at hitting work deadlines or completing fitness goals.
Spend Eternity As An Artificial Coral Reef
Alessia AndreottiAfter death you could have your ashes made into a rock to form the base of an “eternal memorial reef” .
Technosphere Monitors the Biosphere
Koert van MensvoortThe rise and fall of the Earths forests can now be tracked 'real time' through a new mapping tool called Global Forest Watch.
The Arctic Leisure Resort
Koert van MensvoortIf the global warming trend continues, we might be able to take the whole family on a trip to the North Pole someday.
The Earth As You've Never Seen It Before
Alessia AndreottiBreathtaking satellite images that will change how you see the World.
The First 3D Printed Canal House
Francesca BarchiesiThe first 3D printed house is a recognisable and attractive Dutch Canal House, an exhibition and building site in the heart of Amsterdam.
Updated Next Nature Spotter
Koert van MensvoortJoin us in spotting Next Nature phenomena around the World. Download the free Next Nature Spotter app.
Urban Aquarium in an Abandoned Mall
Alessia AndreottiAn abandoned shopping mall became a self-sustained urban aquarium filled with thousands of fish.
Veggie Burger That Bleeds Like Real Meat
Alessia AndreottiProf. Patrick Brown developed a meatless burger that look and taste like meat, made out of plant ingredients.
Vertical Farms Growing In Giant Trees
Francesca BarchiesiUrban Skyfarm is a giant tree-shaped farm system for environmental improvement in food production and distribution.
Watch Your City at Night from Space
Koert van MensvoortLess than one millennium ago the Earth at night was all black. Today it is all glowing and blossoming.
What Bits Want
Kevin KellyDigital 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.
A Pop-Up Forest in Times Square
Yunus Emre DuyarA new Kickstarter project aims to bring the forest into Times Square.
A Wind Turbine That Looks Like a Tree
Yunus Emre DuyarThe wind turbines of the future will look like post-modern tree sculptures.
Ambient City
Koert van MensvoortHow 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?
Anthropo-scene #10: From Thoughts to Geology
ChristianIt'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 …
Bioprinting in the Kitchen of the Future
Alessia AndreottiCultivator is speculative design project on how bioprinting could find its way into the kitchen of the future.
Controlling the Weather with Drones
Hessel HoogerhuisThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) picked six test sites throughout the US to experiment with drone-based cloud seeding.
Digital Mountains Shouting Your Tweets
Yunus Emre DuyarEver feel the need to hear two digital mountains read your tweets aloud with deep and sonorous voices?
Drinking Water From the Air
Yunus Emre DuyarWarka Water is an alternative water source to rural population that faces challenges in accessing drinkable water.
The Droneport: a New Infrastructure of This Century
Alessia AndreottiArchitect firm Foster + Partners announced plans to build the world's first droneport in Rwanda.
Using Drones to Fight Deforestation
Margherita OlivoBritish company BioCarbon Engineering developed a new ingenious way to exploit drones: reforestation.
Electronic Gadget Cemetery in Ghana
Yunus Emre DuyarAgbogbloshie is a former wetland that is turned into a slum and now it is full of toxic electronic waste.
Ever-Changing Sceneries with Microbots
Yunus Emre DuyarKirsten Zirngibl's illustrations depict imaginary landscapes that are formed by microbots.
Feeding the World with Insects
Abby QinShould we make a next step in what we serve at the table? What about insects? Would you give them a try?
First Entirely Transparent Solar Panel Could Transform our Cities
Margherita OlivoOur 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.
A Wooden Floor that Follows the Curves of the Tree it's Made of
Koert van MensvoortA wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.
From Discarded Mega Oil-Tanker to Village
Alessia AndreottiDutch architect Chris Collaris and designers Ruben Esser, Sander Bakker and Patrick van der Gronde, saw a new sustainable potential in discarded mega oil tankers in the Southern …
Genome Editing - Bringing the Übermensch to a Shelf Near You
Daniel FragaLast 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 …
Computer Generated Deep Dream
Erik van der VeenTurning a normal stroll through the supermarket into a psychedelic dream (or nightmare) of algorithmic pareidolia.
Harvard Creates Half-Man Cyborg Flesh
Yunus Emre DuyarBioengineers at Harvard University have created the first cyborg tissue.
High-Speed Driverless Taxi for the Sky
Abby QinAn innovative solution to a better way for transportation: a high-speed elevated Personal Rapid Transportation system.
Houses to Live Integrated with Nature
Wei Lun WangEasy-to-assemble customized tiny houses that can be covered under layers of soil, turf, or even sand and snow.
Holiday in a Bird's Nest
Alessia AndreottiThe exterior of the this hotel room is constructed with branches, sticks and twigs intertwined to create the look and feel of a real bird nest.
Horizontal Trees
Abby QinBiologist Alina Schick developed trees that grow sideway, instead of growing upwards.
Human-Shaped Power Lines
Alessia AndreottiJust a project for now, but a far more creative way to deal with unsightly public works than tree-shaped antennas.
In Vitro Meat Godfather Dies at Age of 91
Koert van MensvoortDutch 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.
Living Underground with Fake Sunlight
Rolf CoppensCoelux skylight recreates natural sunlight using Nano Technology.
Manta Ray Floating City
Alessia AndreottiFrench visionary architect Jacques Rougerie designed a utopian floating city shaped like a manta ray.
Nasa's Projections on Global Warming
Margherita OlivoResearchers at Nasa's Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) in Maryland can deploy a supercomputer called the "Discover".
Neon Waterfalls
Alessia AndreottiTransforming Northern California waterfalls into a psychedelic scenery using a colorful range of glow sticks, lasers, road flares, headlamps.
Next Nature Talk at Nature 3.x Symposium
NextNature.netKoert van Mensvoort will take part in the Nature 3.x: Where is Nature Now? symposium at the University of Minnesota.
One Tree, 40 Different Types of Fruit
Alessia AndreottiA single tree that can produce 40 different stone fruits, or fruit with pits, including peaches, apricots, almonds, plums, cherries and nectarines.
Pac-Man Boomeranged in the Real World
Alessia AndreottiA life-size replica of the fammous1980s arcade game, complete with big ghosts and pac-dots.
Art Installation Submerges Amsterdam
Hessel HoogerhuisWaterlicht shows how the Netherlands would look without waterworks — a virtual flood.
Robot’s Best Friend
Alessia AndreottiFrom chef, to nurse, and also lover. Get ready, a new generation of robots is going to invade our lives!
Seaweed Farms to Solve the Problem of Ocean Acidification
Margherita OlivoBy burning fossil fuels we are responsible for the increase of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Aside from raising temperatures globally, this is also affecting our …
Self-Driving Cars Practice Kids Recognition
Alexandra BremersThis year's Halloween, Google asked children from the neighborhood to come by in their spooky outfits and play around the self-driving cars.
Soil-Free Farming in the Desert
Yunus Emre DuyarA special absorbant film that require no soil may be able to grow plants more efficiently than soil farming.
Solar Eclipse May Impact Power Supply Due to Increased Use of Solar Panels
Koert van MensvoortSolar eclipse may impact power supply due to increased use of solar panels
Solar Tree That Provides Electricity
Louise HuyghebaertA tree, made with 3D printed leaves that contain solar cells.
Stratospheric Sky Garden with Proto Life
Alessia AndreottiA sky garden of cacti and artificial life forms floating a hundred thousand feet above the Earth's surface.
Surveillance Gulls
Alessia AndreottiSurveillance cameras pose like a flock of seagulls on a rock in Czech artist Jakub Geltner's latest work.
Swedish Underground Cabins
Alexandra BremersIn this era we are reaching for the sky. But back in the 17th century however, something different was happening in Sweden.
The Bamboo Skyscraper
Alessia AndreottiA group of architects looked at natural forests to design the bamboo skyscraper.
The Emergence of 4D Printing
João Paulo Miranda LammogliaAn inspiring TED talk by computational architect Skylar Tibbits about 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time.
The Most Romantic City? Not Paris!
Alessia AndreottiSan Bruno in California is the only city with a hearth-shaped neighborhood.
The Weather Machine
Alessia AndreottiThe Weather Machine: an installation that explores rain, clouds and sun heat to recreate the weather occurring outside.
The World’s Largest Indoor Farm
Alessia AndreottiThe world’s largest indoor farm in Japan is 100 times more productive than traditional agriculture.
Bio-Printer Creates Living Body Parts
Margherita OlivoBioprinter creates bespoke lab-grown body parts for transplant.
4D Printing Inspired by Nature
Margherita OlivoScientists were inspired by nature to developed a method to shape-shift 4D-printed structures that could one day help heal wounds and be used in robotic surgical tools.
Artificial Northern Lights
Monika KozubSwiss artist Dan Acher created a replica of the Northern Lights by way of high-powered lasers.
Bees to the Rescue of Their Queen
Margherita OlivoThousands of bees chased a Welsh woman's car for two days looking for their queen.
Bobbing Trees in Rotterdam
Mathilde NakkenWhen you think about a tree, you image it growing on land. Though the team of Mothership wanted to challenge this image by creating the Bobbing Forest in Rotterdam.
No-Waste Architecture From Seawater
Margherita OlivoThe Salt Project created an additional ecosystem to revive desertified lands.
Cellphones Go Feral
Alejandro AlvarezAfter 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.
Making Power Stations Part of the Landscape
Margherita OlivoCan we have pretty power stations? The design of power stations is becoming more appealing.
Colorless coral: How climate change is affecting the great barrier reef
Jack CaulfieldOur 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 …
Copy-Paste City: from Austria to China
Monika KozubHallstatt, a small UNESCO World Heritage city in central Austria, is the only village in the world entirely copied and rebuilt in China.
A Cryptocurrency Helping to Cure Cancer
Lewis JustPart two of a ten part series exploring the design of an invisible technology: money.
The Danger of a Plastic Sea
Margherita OlivoBy 2050 plastic waste will outnumber the number of fish in the sea. These Surfers are taking action and raising awareness.
The Most Densely Populated Island on Earth
Alessia AndreottiThe island Santa Cruz del Islote is only 0.012 square kilometers in size, but is home to over 1.200 people. That's four times as dense as Manhattan.
Edible Crops Grown in Martian Soil
Margherita OlivoScientists at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, grew edible crops in Martian soil.
Egypt's First Solar-Powered Village
Ruben BaartThis village is powered by building-integrated solar panels and provides shelter for 350 people, putting sunlight to better use.
I Want Wings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicholas CarrRead Nicholas Carr's essay on the transhumanist dream of having wings.
Experience a Real Safari, Google-Style
Margherita OlivoGoogle launched the Mzansi Experience, a virtual tour to South Africa through Street View.
The First Drone Superhighway
Ruben BaartUrban planners proposed a utopian superhighway for the up-and-coming organic smart city Bao’an.
A Floating Tunnel for Norway
Ruben BaartThe Norwegian Public Roads Administration proposed an underwater tunnel hanging from floating pontoons from the southern city of Kristiansand to Trondheim in the north.
Foster’s Prototype for a Droneport
Margherita OlivoNorman Foster's project for a Droneport that will give a valid, affordable alternative to reach and bring help to remote areas.
Guerilla Gardening in Paris
Ruben BaartParis passed a new law that not only allows locals to plant their own urban garden around the city, but also encourages them in doing so.
Holland Before the Dikes
Koert van MensvoortA speculative rendering of a climate change catastrophe? Is this our future? Or our past, long before people starting building dykes in the low lands?
Human Cloning Now Possible in China
Daniel FragaIs human cloning here? Chinese scientist is ready to clone people at his ‘replication factory’.
Hyperloop Set to Change Mass Transit
Megan Ray NicholsThe Hyperloop is a future transportation means that is safer, faster, and cheaper than current forms of mass transit.
Iconic Buildings in Untouched Lands
Margherita OlivoAnton Repponen's project places iconic NY buildings in organic, untouched environments to put them in the spotlight.
Imported African Sun: Coming Soon
Alejandro AlvarezThe recently opened Noor solar power plant is now the biggest in the world. It will power Morocco and if everything goes as planned imported solar energy can be a reality too.
Israeli Tech Turns Any Road Electric
Alessia AndreottiElectRoad developed a unique technology that powers the vehicle wirelessly from the road while driving.
The Largest Solar Power Plant in the World
Margherita OlivoA floating photovoltaic system will lie on the waters of a Japanese dam, representing the largest solar establishment in the world.
Luminous Bike Lane Opened in Poland
Monika KozubThe first self-sufficient luminous bike lane opened last week in Poland.
Lunar Insurrection Vol.2: Harvest Moon
Daniel FragaLunar 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 …
Madrid's Future Is Greener than Ever
Margherita OlivoMadrid's new plans to fight rising temperatures and high pollution rates investing on green urban areas.
Meet the Weather Drone
NextNature.netThe 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.
Moscow Spent $1.3M for a Day of Sunshine
Alessia Andreotti$1.3 million will be spent on dispersing clouds over Moscow for the May 1 holiday.
The New Era of Tourism is Underwater
Margherita OlivoSleeping underwater has always been your dream? Thanks to an ambitious project it will be soon reality.
VR Days Europe: Next Nature Habitat
Monika KozubNext Nature Habitat premiered at VR Days Europe in Amsterdam last weekend.
What Is Next Nature? #5
Ingmar NieuweboerWalking on the grass while there is a road and feeling rebellious.
Next Paradise
Koert van MensvoortTo celebrate the 500 year anniversary for Hieronymus Bosch, Studio Smack made a contemporary interpretation of 'The Garden Of Earthly Delights'.
“Next Tokyo” City Plan Unveiled
Ruben BaartA proposal for a residential skyscraper in Tokyo Bay as part of “Next Tokyo”, takes into account the recurrent threats of rising sea levels, seismic activity and typhoons.
Who Owns the Map?
Ruben BaartIn their pursuit of mapping the physical world online, mapping services simultaneously shape our understanding of it too.
There Are More People Flying in Airplanes right Now, than there were Alive on Earth in the Stone Age
Koert van MensvoortToday 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.
Bionic Prosthetic Arm with Personal Drone
Ingmar NieuweboerWhy would you stick to an elbow, a wrist and five fingers if you could make anything? This guy got a game-inspired bionic arm.
ReGen, the Autarchic Off-Grid Village
Margherita OlivoUtopian off-grid ReGen Village produces all of its own food and energy is being implemented in Almere.
Sea Delicatessen Grow Along Highways
Mathilde NakkenWith winter just around the corner, salt trucks are getting ready to hit the road spreading tons of salt. Ice free asphalt is necessary to drive safely and keep transports …
A Search Engine for Satellite Imagery
Margherita OlivoTerrapattern is a search engine that gathers similar elements of satellite imagery, giving surprising results.
Setting Aside Half the Earth for Nature
Ingmar NieuweboerE.O. Wilson, a respected biologist, has proposed a radical idea: set aside half of the planet as nature preserves.
Solar Energy Day and Night
Margherita OlivoSpecial 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.
Streetlight Disrupts Seasonal Cycle of Trees
Alessia AndreottiProlonged exposure to artificial light prevents urban trees from adjusting to seasonal variations.
'Thinking Soil' Will Change the Way We Build
Monika KozubSelf-constructing foundation thanks to genetically modified microbes.
Meeting the Future at TodaysArt
Monika KozubLast week The Hague hosted a festival dedicated to contemporary experiments in music, art and digital culture.
Towards a Post-Animal Bioeconomy
Ruben BaartAs emerging biotechnologies are blurring the lines between synthetic food and natural food, who will regulate cellular agriculture?
Old Cellphones to Fight Deforestation
Margherita OlivoA Californian engineer is using old cellphones and solar panels to save the rainforest ecosystem against deforestation.
Walk, Talk and Get Paid
Monika KozubAs the digital age makes people more lonely, Chuck McCarthy created a service to walk with strangers.
Welcome to the City Made of Bone
Monika KozubOur cities are made out of steel and concrete. What if we replace them with wood and bone?
Fake Grass Covered Roofs to Produce Energy
Margherita OlivoThe concept of using our rooftops to produce green, renewable energy for our houses is already very common if we look at solar panels. Now an international team of scientists is …
World's "Coolest" Hotel
Ruben BaartSweden's new Icehotel 365 uses solar cooling to stay open all year.
World's First 3D Printed Building
Margherita OlivoThe world's first 3D printed office building opens its doors in Dubai, paving the way for the building of the future.
The World's First Invisible Train
Margherita OlivoJapanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is designing the world's first invisible train.
1537 - Homunculus: the Semi-Human
Elle Zhan WeiIn 16th and 17th centuries, some medical theory believed that a miniature human body can be produced in a flask by an alchemist.
Obsolete Presence
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar object in these summer weeks is a sculpture by Aram Bartholl, made for the Odyssey expo in Arnsberg.
Artificial Sun Tested in Germany
Julie ReindlThe biggest artificial sun was set up in Germany to find out how carbon neutral fuel can be produced.
400 BCE - Myth of Princes Grown in Jars
Elle Zhan WeiIn year 400BCE in ancient Indian Sanskrit epics, 100 princes were created from a jar of ghee.
Billboard Show the Landscape They Block
Koert van MensvoortIn the desert landscape of the Californian Coachella Valley, artist Jennifer Bolande installed a series of billboards that camouflage themselves with the surroundings.
Bionic Leaf Helps Vegetables to Grow
Julie ReindlBionic leaf fertilizes crops to make them weigh 150 percent more
When Buildings Become Trees
Alec SchellinxWhat if buildings could become trees? That vision is what Italian architect Stefano Boeri is aiming at with his Vertical Foresting.
DNA Hacking: Catch a Computer Virus
Jack CaulfieldWe know how it feels to catch a cold; how might it feel to catch malware?
Circular Runway for Airport Efficiency
Elle Zhan WeiThe endless runway is a new airport concept by Dutch scientist Henk Hesselink.
A Whole Forest on a Surface Area of 3.5m2
Julie ReindlUsing moss cultures, the "CityTree" captures and filters toxic pollutants from the air, with the same environmental impact of 275 trees.
Antarctica Is Turning Green
Ruben BaartRising temperatures have boosted the growth rates of seasonal mosses on Antarctica, turning the continent green.
Color Lessons from the Cotinga Bird
Lydia HaldersBrighter inks, without pigment: nanostructured capsules could bring about paints and electronic displays that never fade.
App Activates Cells That Manage Diabetes
Julie ReindlScientists develop engineered cells to be implanted in patients with diabetes to regulate blood sugar levels, controlled with a smartphone app.
ECO Coin Award Interviews: Shubhendu Sharma
Jack CaulfieldWe asked Shubhendu Sharm, our first ECO coin award nominee about his method, business and hopes for the future.
ECO Coin Award Interviews: Sandra Rey
Jack CaulfieldWe 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.
Energy Generated from Polluted Air
Elle Zhan WeiScientists developed a device that converts polluted air into clean air while generating power.
A Fake City for Real Self-Driving Cars
Siebren de VosUber built a fake city called Almono to train self-driving cars. This town is full of fake houses, mannequins and chaotic intersections.
Sustainable Flying with Electric Planes
Elle Zhan WeiGerman company revealed fastest electric plane.
Living on Water for a Sustainable Planet
Charlotte KuijpersCompany 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.
Floating Green Power
Megan Ray NicholsOffshore renewable energy resources, such as floating solar arrays, have begun to pop up around the world.
After Horsepower Comes Robotpower?
Jack CaulfieldWe fear being replaced by robots. They have the potential to be smarter, stronger and more hardworking than us, but so do horses.
The Global Subway Map of the Future
Ruben BaartThe Hyperloop will turn the world into a global village.
Kangaroos Confuse Self-Driving Cars
Julie ReindlVolvo's driverless car system has trouble recognizing kangaroos because it gets confused by the hopping of the marsupial.
Keeping Up with the Eagles: Birdwatching 2.0
Alessia AndreottiThis live stream video of a Bald Eagles family nesting in Florida has counted more than 72 million viewers.
Will Kites Provide Wind Energy in the Future?
Megan Ray NicholsIf you’ve watched clouds roll by, you know wind moves more steadily in the upper atmosphere. Turbines just can’t reach high-altitude wind energy. Kites can!
Space Television Network
Julie ReindlSen is a space television network that provides visuals from other planets in order to prepare us for our multi-planetary life.
The Next Nature Guide to Games in 2017
Jack CaulfieldIn 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 …
Old Cows and New Ideas
Lewis JustWill cows still graze fields in an in vitro future? And what might we do with these animals when they naturally die?
Online Ads in Offline Locations
Ruben BaartEver stood in front of a mountain and wondered which other mountains you might like after seeing this one? No? Well, it's what we do everyday. London-based artist duo Scott Kelly …
Otra Nation: Make Walls Great Again
Elle Zhan WeiThis group of 14 designers, engineers, builders and architects make a proposal of a wall for Trump's ambitious project.
Want Plastic with Your Salt?
Koert van MensvoortA recent study examining the purity of 17 commercial sea salt brands from eight different countries found microplastics in all 17 samples.
Print Your House in a Day!
Julie ReindlA Russian construction firm prints houses in 24 hours on site with their mobile 3D printer.
Refreezing the Arctic
Ruben BaartA team of scientists developed a peculiar strategy to counter the Arctic ice melting.
Rent a Rain Room
Elle Zhan WeiRent a rain room with simulated rain with a motion sensor to go through the rain without getting wet.
Jobs for Facilitators - Robots at Work #3
Mathilde NakkenThis 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.
Rothko in Salts
Alec SchellinxThe multiplication of bacteria "paints" this lake with peculiar colours. Tints vary along magenta, green and yellow, giving it Rothko-like appearance.
From Shopping Center to Urban Farm
Alessia AndreottiRooftop farm takes over Israel’s oldest mall to grow thousands of organic vegetables.
Skyscraper Hanging from the Sky
Elle Zhan WeiWhat if we rethink the system and instead of building from earth to sky, we do it the other way around?
Skyscraper Fails to Load Its Textures
Jack CaulfieldIn New York, observant residents were surprised to see a skyscraper that looked like it was struggling to load its textures.
Sophia: World's First Robot with a Citizenship
Jack CaulfieldSophia the Humanoid, a human-like robot in appearance and mannerisms, was granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia and became the first robot with citizenship.
Sponge Cities: Soak It, Store It, Reuse It
Alec SchellinxThe philosophy behind sponge cities is simple: cities should contribute to solving water related problems instead of causing them.
The Economy of Ecology
Lewis JustWhat if we could redesign the system to work for humanity and the planet we call home? What would the economy of ecology look like?
The Robots Are Coming!
Koert van MensvoortRobots 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?
New Tree Species Found Only in Dubai
Koert van MensvoortA cellphone antenna tree with an empty billboard and a tiny label that reads: Media 24/7.
A Truly Exotic Fruit: the Space Mango
Julie ReindlScientists sent mango embryos to space lab in order to let them develop new genetic traits.
Building a City on Mars by 2117
Elle Zhan WeiThe United Arab Emirates released plans to build a city on Mars.
Untouched Nature? Not in the Amazon
Alejandro AlvarezThe Amazonian rainforest was already transformed over two thousand years ago by people who built hundreds of large, mysterious earthworks.
Virtual Baby Acts and Looks Impossibly Real
Charlotte KuijpersA 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.
LA Turns White to Fight Urban Warming
Siebren de VosLos Angeles is painting its streets white to fight urban warming and expects to lower the temperature by three degrees in the next 20 years.
The City as Technology in Tokyo
NextNature.netAre 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.
The World's First Floating City
Elle Zhan WeiIn effort of protecting and prospering their country, the Polynesian government has signed an agreement to realize the world’s first floating city.
How AI and genomics will impact the future of making babies
Vanessa Bates RamirezAs 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 …
Call for projects: bring your groundbreaking creativity to tackle pressing energy issues
NextNature.netWe 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 …
Adding a new dimension to marine restoration: 3D printing coral reefs
David KlingesThe local fishermen looked on skeptically. From the deck of a small motorboat, scuba divers grabbed odd chunks of ceramic – which could be described as rocky brains stuck on …
Your Next Nature guide to Dutch Design Week 2018
Meike SchipperOver 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 …
Turning surplus bread into craft beer
Meike SchipperGlobally, 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 …
![Visual of #French [Green] DreamTowers](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2018/french-dream-towers/d09be6a9fe-1602632756/han-1xtu-868x486.jpg)
#French [Green] DreamTowers
Alec SchellinxFrenchDreamTowers is an eco-friendly high-rise complex imagined by Paris-based architect studio XTU , for the city of Hangzhou in Southern China. Currently under study, the …
'I volunteer myself to try this cultured meat at my own risk'
Koert van MensvoortThe Netherlands leads in cheese, clogs, and cultured meat. This sustainable and animal-friendly form of meat has largely been developed in our country. In 1997, Willem van Eelen …
Aleph Farms wants to bring clean meat from the lab to the next farming industry
Kelly van GemertGrowing 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 …
A next natural landscape of bikes
Alec SchellinxIt 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 …
On inhumane technology
Jack CaulfieldStick-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. …
On the origin of the word processor
Huub EhlhardtWriting is recognised as one of mankind’s foremost inventions and the mechanization of writing is one of these developments that typify what is commonly regarded as the work of …
The Great Pacific garbage "patch" is now three times the size of France
Ruben BaartMon 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 …
If you could have another sense, which sense would you choose?
Meike SchipperColor-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 …
Reimagining popular apps with the Pyramid of Technology
Alejandro AlvarezToday, 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 …
Sandra Rey wins ECO Coin Award
NextNature.netThis year we are proud to announce that, with her ambitious work within the field of bioluminescence for Glowee, Sandra Rey is the ECO Coin Award 2017 winner.
Skiing on Mars? It's possible!
Kelly van GemertFor 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 …
The New Technology in Agriculture: Trees
Jack CaulfieldNew technologies are changing the landscape, but the latest trend reshaping rural environments and agriculture is agroforestry: the art of planting trees.
The Ocean Cleanup heads for the Pacific
Koert van MensvoortThe Ocean Cleanup claims its device could cut the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in half in five years.
Turning cities into parks: In conversation with Raymond Brouwers on Urban Street Forests
Jack CaulfieldUrban 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 …
The Forgotten Plan to Coat Utah's Delicate Arch with Plastic
Jack CaulfieldArches 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.
How cities are cutting out cars
Vanessa Bates RamirezIt’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 …
Why electric cars should be allowed to drive faster
Koert van MensvoortIn 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 …
4 visions about the future of public transportation
Marcus EnochThe way people get around is starting to change, and as a professor of transport strategy I do rather wonder if the modes of transport we use today will still be around by the …
Why not all buildings have sustainable green roofs
Michael HardmanRooftops 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 …
In conversation with Studio Drift
Meike SchipperA 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 …
These are the meltwater lakes of Antartica
Jennifer ArthurDuring 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 …
Microbiocene: the microbiological archeology of the future
Linda ValentaIn 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 …
How modern technology is inspired by the natural world
John NychkaWhat 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 …
The Coming World: ecology as the new politics
Ruben BaartIn 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 …
The church of AI
Linda ValentaWould 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 …
Why there is a new urgency for speculative design
Freya HutchingsPink 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 …
A path to humane technology
Koert van MensvoortIn 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 …
How Amazon trees write their own autobiographies
Chris HuntTropical 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 …
Why half of the world's beaches could disappear by 2100
Simon BoxallUp 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 …
How China is enjoying blue skies thanks to COVID-19
Britta de VriesSurrounded 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 …
Build an organisation that lasts by creating a superorganism
Tamsin Woolley-BarkerFor 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 …
How fungi can help create a green construction industry
Ian FletcherThe 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 …
How public camera recordings domesticate us
Janina SteinmetzFacial recognition is increasingly being used in many countries around the world. In some cases the take up has been dramatic . As a result, people are being observed by cameras …
Next Generation: Shimmering nature with Elissa Brunato
Freya HutchingsThis 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 …
Suzanne Lee wants to live in a world that uses only sustainable materials
Ruben BaartBiotechnology 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 …
Cyborg artist Moon Ribas feels earthquakes
Freya HutchingsImagine 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 …
Netflix is the new symbol of quarantine
Claire OuwejanSince the 16th of March 2020, the government of the Netherlands applied new measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Schools, cafes, restaurants and sport …
7 ways to connect with your loved ones
Ruben BaartDuring 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 …
Author Jenny Kleeman is meeting the people creating our future
Ruben BaartMeet 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 …
Swiping is the new touching
Nadine RoestenburgFrom 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 …
Towards a global society as a superorganism
Ruben BaartToday 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 …
Why physical distancing feels so unnatural to us
Isabelle Catherine WinderFor 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 …
Exploring the society of trees
Tracy MetzIn conversation with Canadian researcher Suzanne Simard, inventor of the Wood Wide Web.
CO2 injected volcanic rock could save the atmosphere
Kelly van GemertThe 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 …
Cooling buildings with ultra-white paint
Andrew ParnellFrom 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 …
How cyborg soil reveals the secret microbial metropolis beneath our feet
Edith HammerDig a teaspoon into your nearest clump of soil, and what you’ll emerge with will contain more microorganisms than there are people on Earth. We know this from lab studies that …
Evolving In Vitro with Yuval Yancovitch
Kelly van GemertWith 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 …
Printing houses with cow poop
Kelly van GemertNow here's a perspective: a pooping cow is like a living 3D printer
Next Generation: Exploring cybernetic ecologies with Marie Walker-Smith
Liam BekaertThis 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 …
Can microbes communicate with alien species?
Ruben BaartAre 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 …
To save forests, researchers are hooking trees up to Twitter (again)
Ruben BaartIn 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: …
Why urban gardens are crucial for conserving bees and butterflies
Ruben BaartAs 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, …
The next generation xenobots are here
Simon CoghlanIn 2020, scientists made global headlines by creating “ xenobots ” – tiny “ programmable ” living things made of several thousand frog stem cells. These pioneer xenobots could …
Five things not to miss at Floriade
Veronica FanzioHere are 5 things you cannot miss at Floriade Expo 2022
Exploring assisted evolution with Prof. Dr. John van der Oost
Marit BeerseAssisted evolution raises complex questions. The practice involves human intervention to increase the rate of natural evolutionary processes. A technique that inevitably …
Chloé Rutzerveld designs the food of tomorrow
Eleni MaragkouYou 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 …
Fermenting Futures and the beauty of biotechnology
Kelly van GemertExploring 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. …
Driving solar with Lightyear: the world's first solar car
Ruben BaartImagine driving along in your car, powered by the same solar energy that nourishes the landscapes around it. Lightyear 0 is the world's first solar powered car, charging itself …
The Limits and Beyond: A report about the future
Marit BeerseIn 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 …
The Moon Gallery: the first museum in space
Ruben BaartThe 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 …
Next Generation: Wandering through the post wilderness with Melissa Schwarz
Ruben BaartThis 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 …
Reconnecting with wildlife through biodiverse meditations
Ruben BaartSleep and dream like a koala, relax under biodiversity and feel the meditative effect of artificial wildlife.
The information age is starting to transform fishing worldwide
Ioana TomiciPeople 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, …
The Solar Biennale brings new perspectives on the energy of the sun
Ruben BaartThe 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 …
THRIVE: an expo in designing nature and growing technology
Ruben BaartTHRIVE expo showcases the latest works at the convergence of art, design, and biology, which examine current and future uses of biotechnology.
Fashion brand Ganni grew leather with bacteria
Kelly van GemertDanish fashion brand Ganni proposed a post-leather future: they grew imitation leather with bacteria.
Hurray! There are now vaccines for honeybees
Kelly van GemertA 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, …
Next Generation: Going viral with lab-grown meat and Leyu Li
Kelly van GemertTo explore the public opinion towards cultured meat, speculative food designer Leyu Li created fictional influencer “Meaty Auntie” and turned to TikTok.
Gigantic lab-grown mammoth meatball feeds an entire family
Saskia WesselingResearchers used genetic information from an extinct mammoth to create a lab-grown meatball.
We can now grow insulin from lettuce
Selin KirIn 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, …
Will 3D-printed mussel reefs be the next nature?
Saskia WesselingResearchers hope that 3D-printed, biodegradable mussel reefs help the growth of mussel banks.
Carnerie is the grow your own meat device of the future
Kelly van GemertThis speculative kitchen device shows us a future where growing meat at home is not just a possibility but a reality.
What food design can do
Kelly van GemertFood design gives us a taste of innovation. It visualizes, speculates, challenges and problem-solves.
The Museum of Edible Earth
Kelly van GemertWe spoke with the Museum of Edible Earth, a travelling museum dedicated to the prosperous amount of soil samples.
Cooking with mycelium
Ruben BaartResearchers from the University of Colorado created a recipe book to cook with mycelium.
Next Nature's must reads
Ruben BaartTen books that continue to inspire the next nature philosophy—gathered for you to read this summer.
Seeking Symbiosis
Ruben BaartVisual artist Heleen Blanken explores the complex relationship between people, nature and technology.
Future Festive Feast
Kelly van GemertAs the year is coming to a close, many of us are preparing our homes and dinner tables for a festive meal.