Mediamatic offers a quarantine-approved dinner date
Ruben BaartDinner for two, please! Well we didn't expect to say that in a while. Luckily our friends at Mediamatic are working on an innovative solution. Their 'Serres Séparées' dinner dates …
Search results for Media Schemas
Have you thought about your social media death?
Freya HutchingsRecently, Twitter announced it would be clearing all inactive accounts in an effort to free up dormant usernames and prevent the risk of old accounts being hacked. The new policy …
The Next Nature guide to Transmediale 2019
Ruben BaartBerlin is kicking off its cultural season with the not-to-miss 23th installment of Transmediale . This year the digital art/culture festival focuses on how feelings are made into …
Social media likes change the way we feel about our memories
David BeerMemories are often considered very personal and private. Yet, in the past few years, people have got used to notifications from social media or phone galleries telling them they …
Archaeology of Media
Alessia AndreottiThe Archéologies des Medias exposition turns archaic technology that was once cutting-edge into art.
"News Machine" Illustrates the Effects of Media Distortion
Alessia AndreottiThe News Machine is a contraption that explains the news distortion that happens when a message is broadcast through different media. The starting point is a tweet sent from a …
Virtual Networking, the Future Social Media
Megan Ray NicholsVirtual reality is already becoming a part of the conversation surrounding social media. Will it become the next popular social network?
How Social Media Has Changed Our Response to Disaster
Alessia AndreottiFrom the earthquake in Haiti to Hurricane Sandy to the Boston Marathon bombings, Facebook, Twitter and other social media were used to spread information and help citizens and …
Not a babysitter, but a social media sitter
Ruben BaartIbis, A popular European hotel chain, just introduced the world to the “social media sitter.” It’s the answer to a problem few knew existed, and even fewer though we needed …
Media Sunrise
Koert van MensvoortOr is it a sunset? Not sure. Ubiquitous corporature either way. Image by Mieke Gerritzen .
Your grand-grand-parents new media
Koert van Mensvoort19th century people needed some explanation to understand the difference between the regular candlelight and the electrically simulated candlelight. Note the disclaimer at the …
New Media 80.000 BC
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkEvery medium was new oneday . This point is beautifully illustrated in the movie Quest for fire ( La Guerre de feu by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981), a must-see for Next Nature …
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 …
Faking a Holiday on Social Media
Alessia AndreottiDutch girl fakes an exotic holiday with the power of Photoshop and Facebook.
Remediation
Koert van MensvoortThis disposable aluminum barbecue on top of an original Weber barbecue nicely illustrates how people – time after time – employ technology to make life more convenient while …
The Hedonometer Uses Social Media to Measure Global Happiness
Orfeas LyrasScientists are using Twitter, blogs, and news sites to categorize the global psyche.
Animal Guided Mediation
Elle Zhan WeiAnimal Meditation uses meditation guiding sounds to to enable user to feel as if he is an animal.
Analogue vs Digital: Digital Mediated Experience
he always-available camera in our pockets compels us to shoot photos and videos every minute a day.
The Playboy Interview
In 1961, the name of Marshall McLuhan was unknown to everyone but his English students at the University of Toronto – and a coterie of academic admirers who followed his abstruse …
Interview: Jason Silva, Media Artist and Curator of Awe-Inspiring Ideas
Alessia AndreottiMedia artist, filmmaker and wonderjunkie Jason Silva talks about technological evolution and why humans are gods with anuses.
Feelings Translated to Plants
Koert van MensvoortAmbient Biomedia is an investigative project about using living beings, in particular plants, to display human lifestyle problems information. The working principle of our systems …
(Un)postable: the (un)suitable qualities of social media posts
TeyoshWhen perceiving the world around us as a potential Instagram post, some thoughts, stories and situations can easily be packed into a tweet or a photo, while others are harder to …
Clickvalue is the subjective value of someone's online social media behavior
TeyoshAlthough all likes, shares, and retweets come from the same act of clicking, not all of them carry the same value. If you are in love, the most valuable like will be the one from …
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 …
How to design your future family
Ruben BaartImagine a place called Reprodutopia. How would such a place look like?
How to design your (home)office
Govert FlintDesigner Govert Flint proposes a new office concept, entirely based on movement and play.
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. …
Next Nature's must reads
Ruben BaartTen books that continue to inspire the next nature philosophy—gathered for you to read this summer.
Furniture futures
Nellie FriedrichWondering how next natural furniture may change your way of life? Will we feed our lamps? Grow chairs? Talk with our tables?
What food design can do
Kelly van GemertFood design gives us a taste of innovation. It visualizes, speculates, challenges and problem-solves.
ISEA 2010: Artists addressing NextNature
Ties van de WerffAt ISEA 2010 , the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, media artists and media researchers from all over the world present their work in Dortmund (Germany). This year, …
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.
The Internet of Mycelium
Kelly van GemertA lot of the ground we live on is polluted. More than a third of our soils are moderately or heavily degraded; heavy metals such as lead are increasingly found in urban soils, …
How to design a digital democracy
Rinie van Est10 design requirements to fully immerse ourselves into the 21st Century—in which technology makes our world richer, not poorer.
A new mythology of technology
Ruben BaartIn conversation with architect Julia Watson, a leading expert on Indigenous technologies and author of 'Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism'.
The Material Futures of Central Saint Martins
Zeynep KunduracilarMeet United Matters, a London collective exploring how we might live in the future by blurring the boundaries between craft, science and technology.
Why digital detoxes are a solution looking for a problem
David EllisWith New Year’s resolutions in full swing, many people may have chosen to cut down on their tech use – or even give it up altogether. The growing popularity of such “digital …
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.
Next Generation: Searching for Null Island with Deborah Mora
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 …
Interview: Lining Yao, Interaction Designer and Maker of Novel Materials
Alessia AndreottiWe recently interviewed Lining Yao, Chinese interaction designer who uses organic materials as a technology that brings us back to nature.
Transformative Appetite: Shape-Shifting Pasta
NextNature.netMIT Media Lab developed pasta programmed on a computer.
What we can learn from The Social Dilemma
Vanessa Bates RamirezIs social media ruining the world? Dramatic political polarization. Rising anxiety and depression. An uptick in teen suicide rates. Misinformation that spreads like wildfire. The …
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 …
Geodesign
Nellie FriedrichWe have identified eight key defining moments that tell the story of geodesign, from ancient insight to artificial intelligence.
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, …
Wifi Dowsing Rod
Koert van MensvoortToday's technology advances so rapidly that people are often unable to update their media schemas in time and as a result are left cluelessly in awe of it all. Mike Thompson's …
Next Nature Server Dementia
Over the last few days the Next Nature website has been suffering symptoms of dementia due to a hardware failure at our very fancy and luxurious web hosting provider Media Temple …
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.
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.
A full course cabbage meal to discuss the problem of agricultural over-abundance
Belen MunozLast night we were invited to celebrate the plenty at the third edition of the Neo-Futurist Dinner series at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. This time, the night was hosted by Dutch …
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. …
Design your Self!
Next Nature DevWho are you, who do you want to be, and what do you need to do to get there? We are constantly pushed to lead the perfect life. The media present us with a picture of an existence …
When will the first baby be born in space?
Chris ImpeyWhen the first baby is born off-Earth, it will be a milestone as momentous as humanity’s first steps out of Africa . Such a birth would mark the beginning of a multi–planet …
Nature Loves Technology
Next Nature DevWe interviewed William Myers and Emma van der Leest, curators of Nature Loves Technology, our exhibition at Floriade 2022
Building the farm of tomorrow
Kelly van GemertSeven examples of how design will help us built the farm of tomorrow.
Sonograms of planet earth
Eleni Maragkou, Kelly van GemertTechnology can help us to connect with our surroundings. Think about the microscope: it revealed ecosystems beyond our visual reach allowing us to look at the smallest inhabitants …
Flatscreen TV Now Required for Survival?
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkGRONINGEN (NL) – Low-income people in the Dutch city Groningen should be able to buy a flatscreen television, according to the alderman of social affairs Peter Verschuren. The …
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.
Knotty Objects Summit @ MIT
The Knotty Object summit promises to be a paradise of anti-disciplinary delight. The event held at the renowned MIT Media Lab gathers designers, scientists, engineers and writers …
New Friends? Let Social Textiles Help You
Yunus Emre DuyarA group of students at the MIT Media Lab are working on an electronic textile that might help us interact with people more easily.
Disruptive Roombas Reflect on the IoT
Nadine RoestenburgInternet of Things installation reflects on the adjustments we make to the environment in our attempt to save time and be more productive.
A Robot Will Spark the Next Avant-Garde
Nadine Roestenburg “An illegal theme park exposing the ideology of the aesthetics of hacking”. “A hybrid drone targeting technological domination”. “A psychedelic fridge to raise doubt about fake …
Exploring public spaces, landmarks and landscapes in Beneath the Surface expo
Marit BeerseThe ‘Beneath the Surface’ exhibition organized by Taiwan Designers’ Web at the Chiayi Art Museum teaches us about unconventional connections, past and future.
Seeking Symbiosis
Ruben BaartVisual artist Heleen Blanken explores the complex relationship between people, nature and technology.
8-bit Icon Watch
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkRemember that aggravating 8-bit pixeled watch icon that used to replace your mouse cursor whenever your Apple computer was ‘taking time’ to finish a task? Displaying a wristwatch …
Interact with Friends (in Real Life) with Facebook Monopoly
Alessia AndreottiA Facebook version of Monopoly forces players to interact with each other in meatspace.
Roulette for Your Facebook Account
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA new game lets you play chicken with your life on Facebook.
Six Tweet Under: Live Forever via Twitter
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA new company analyzes your personality and writing style in order to keep producing tweets after you die.
Falling in Love According to Facebook
Alessia AndreottiFacebook data science analyzed what happens to our virtual life when we fall in love.
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.
We Are What We Like
Alessia AndreottiAccording to a study our PC, equipped with a list of things we "Like" on Facebook , knows us better than our friends.
Dinner with Chef Watson
Ruben BaartChef Watson knows over 10.000 recipes. The highbrow robotic cook invited us over for dinner during the first Neo-Futurist Dinner at Mediamatic.
In Conversation with Marleen Hartjes: Introducing a digital door to the museum
Kelly van GemertDon’t be surprised when you catch a human face on a screen strolling through the Van Abbe museum for contemporary art in Eindhoven, as these are Europe’s very first robotic …
China's state news agency has unveiled a virtual newsreader
bryan clarkDon’t adjust your TV set, that’s just a new computer-generated news anchor working out the bugs. Xinhua, a Chinese state-run media company, and Sogou, a Beijing-based search …
How memes are evolving beyond the image
Chloë ArkenboutThe times where memes were geeky and funny, somewhat disturbing images have been over for years. Even a simple frog such as Pepe is not innocent anymore. Memes were hijacked by …
Five things not to miss at Floriade
Veronica FanzioHere are 5 things you cannot miss at Floriade Expo 2022
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 sense of privacy
Marit BeerseHumans’ natural sense of privacy helps them regulate the boundaries of public and private, but fail when trying to identify privacy risks in the online world.
Tesla enhanced Lotus, now Lotus returns the favor
Koert van MensvoortLo and behold the new Lotus Eletre Hyper SUV car. It shouldn't be allowed to exist, yet you may meet it in traffic soon.
Cooking with mycelium
Ruben BaartResearchers from the University of Colorado created a recipe book to cook with mycelium.
Next Senses
Ruben BaartNext Senses explores the unchartered territory of how we could experience the world with technology
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.
Wild wild space
Veronica FanzioWhen Earth goes south, cowboys go all the way up. The Space Rush of 2020s has something to do with settler colonialism.
The Petunia Carnage
Kelly van GemertTo pay tribute to the destroyed orange petunias during the Petunia crisis, Klaus Pichler has composed an illustrative book.
5 must see exhibitions in 2023
Selin Kir1. THE FUTURE IS PRESENT Design Museum Danmark How will contemporary design define the future? THE FUTURE IS PRESENT grasps the very essence of Danish artistry of material …
Meet the BAD Awards winners of 2023
Kelly van GemertThe annual Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award encourages new artists and designers to explore the world of bio art and design. Let's have a look at the three winning projects of this year.
Next Nature: Radikale Mediokrität
Lecture spoken by Henk Oosterling at Biggest Visual Powershow , Zollverein Essen, Germany, 23 June 2006 Damen und Herrn, Next Nature, Nächste Natur ist ein Pleonasmus, ein …
Simulacra and Simulations
The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth--it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. -Ecclesiastes If we were able to take as the …
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 Saving Chandelier
Koert van MensvoortI deem you have to be over sixty to have an object with so many historical layers of media in your house. Let's analyze. We are looking at a chandelier in which the candle …
Sign Out Forever
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkAn earlier post on Next Nature learned that The Good People behind Webwill provide us with a service to extend our lives on social networks after our physical death. But what if …
The Real Coming to America
Jeffrey BraunChristopher Quinn and Tommy Walker's documentary ' God Grew Tired of Us ' tells the odyssey of four boys from Sudan who embark on a journey to America after years of wandering …
Twitter Followers as Currency
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkImagine what you could do if you had one million Twitter followers. You would be so rich! Now seriously: Are followers becoming an alternative currency? Perhaps, although we are …
3D Print Your Body in Gummy Candy
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkFabCafe in Tokyo offers a sweet new way to make self portraits.
A Lifetime of Questions through Google
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkGoogle becomes the authority on existential questions about aging.
Innovative Nostalgia
Koert van MensvoortWe humans simply feel more comfortable with technological change when it comes in a familiar form that refers to an existing and accepted object, habit, value, tradition or intuition.
iTypewriter
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkMiss the soothing clacking of typewriter keys? Long for satisfying clang of a carriage return? Get iTypewriter for iPad.
"Responsive Typography" Tracks Your Location to Automatically Resize Text
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA new website changes the text's font size depending on your distance from the computer.
World's Worst Job? Being a Human Robot at Amazon's Fulfillment Center
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkWorkers are completely controlled by algorithms in Amazon's fulfillment center
Belief System Meets Operating System
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkThe façade of an Indian temple constructed from a large-scale print of a Facebook Wall.
Stewart Helps People to Trust Self-Driving Car
Erik van der VeenStewart is a tactile interface that mediates the communication between human and self-driving car.
Interview: Leanne Wijnsma, Designer for the Instinct Who Uses Smell as Medium
Ruben BaartDutch experience designer Leanne Wijnsma designs for the human instinct and puts the sense of smell back to where it belongs, as modern hazards have shifted to the digital realm.
What Is the Selfie Elbow?
Ruben BaartThe advent of digital communications media is bringing along some health conditions.
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.
Building a City on Mars by 2117
Elle Zhan WeiThe United Arab Emirates released plans to build a city on Mars.
Teens are seeking cosmetic surgery to look like your favorite Snapchat filter
bryan clarkCosmetic surgeons have always fielded seemingly odd requests to recreate body parts from celebrities: Angelina Jolie’s lips, David Beckham’s calve, or perhaps Salma …
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 …
How rich people used to show off their wealth with pineapples and celery
Lauren Alex O HaganA stack of pancakes ladened with syrup, a frothy latte posed next to a white MacBook, a deep pan pizza oozing with cheese. Instagram has made “food porn” – images that portray …
The Coronation
Charles EisensteinFor years, normality has been stretched nearly to its breaking point, a rope pulled tighter and tighter, waiting for a nip of the black swan’s beak to snap it in two. Now that the …
Why I'm turning my son into a cyborg
Vivienne MingImagine if everyone spoke a language that you don’t understand. It’s not a foreign language–it’s been spoken around you since the day you were born–but where as everyone else …
Screen mutations and reframing perspectives with Louisa Zahareas
Ruben BaartIn the digital era of a globalized world, our screens have become a second set of eyes. Communication has advanced leaps and bounds, to a point where we cannot imagine a world …
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: …
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 …
Browse the Catalog For The Post-Human
Veronica FanzioAugment your physiology. Enhance your prospects. From neuro-electronics, to robotic-prosthetics and mind-altering pharmaceuticals.
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.
N is for Nature
NextNature.netThere are people who think what makes a good wine comes from nature - factors like rain and soil and temperature. Then there are those who think it's a matter of second nature - …
Plant Sensors
Koert van MensvoortOne day you will step into the garden to look at the flowers - and the flowers will look back at you. Rich Fletcher, Nikolai Slavov, and Hiroshi Ishii from MIT Tangible Media …
The World is not a Desktop
Mark Weiser (originally written for ACM Interactions ). What is the metaphor for the computer of the future? The intelligent agent? The television (multimedia)? The 3-D graphics …
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 …
Slogan of the Week
Koert van MensvoortThe media are disappearing, Nature takes over. Our slogan of the week.
You only live Twice
Koert van MensvoortYes, I understand the media interest in Second Hype (Of course we don't take it serious as a virtual reality concept. Steering a mouse, sitting behind a flat screen, moving 3D …
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 …
Designing for Next Nature Workshop
Koert van MensvoortDesigning for Next Nature Workshop. This weekend at the Media Design Program @ Art Center College of Design . See also: Call for Proposals .
Fake for Real: A Memory Game about Reality
The Fake for Real Memory Game playfully visualizes the classical theme of Fake vs Real. Is everything that was once directly experienced, in our media society now replaced by …
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 …
A Designers take on Intelligent Design
Koert van Mensvoort://nextnature.net A typographical film on the term ' Intelligent Design ' and its relation with design. Created by Christian Bramsiepe from the Köln International School of Design …
The Breathe Table - Visceral Interaction
Koert van MensvoortNow why is that girl so excitingly staring at a few blurry blobs on a flat screen? Is it because these blobs are connected to her breath... What? Yes that is right, you are …
Sixth Sense
Koert van MensvoortAlthough this TED video has been all over the web and commented on this website already, it still deserves a separate post: Desigineers Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry of the MIT …
Digital Gastronomy
Koert van MensvoortThe food printer seems to be one of those lustrous concepts that continues to pop-up in the fantasy of techno-connoisseurs. Some years ago James King already proposed a printed …
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 …
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: …
Back to the Tribe
Koert van MensvoortTraditionally, technology is seen as a force that diminishes our instincts and puts us at a distance of nature. Increasingly however, we realize technology can also energize and …
Mushrooms in the Mokum
Allison GuyMediamatic is hosting a pop-up urban mushroom farm in the middle of Amsterdam. Rows and rows of shiitake, oyster, and the elusive almond-flavored Agaricus subrufescens are …
The Woods Smell of Shampoo
Koert van MensvoortNamed after the story of a city girl that washes her hair with pine-needle shampoo and one day walks in the woods with her daddy says "Daddy! The Woods Smell of Shampoo", this …
Walter Benjamin on Film and the Senses
During the late 1930’s the philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote its widely influential essay ‘The work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproducibility’. While describing a general …
A Stroll Through the Bubbles of Chemicals and Men
Etienne TurpinA stunning pre-history of the anthropocene
Interview: Rachel Armstrong, Innovative Scientist Who Wants to Grow Architecture
Alessia AndreottiRachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
Yes, Naturally
Ine GeversThe introductory essay from the Yes, Naturally book - available in our store!
In Vitro Meat Cookbook to be Launched
NextNature.netOn the 5th of August, one year after the lab grown hamburger, the In Vitro Meat Cookbook will be presented in Amsterdam.
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.
OUT NOW: The In Vitro Meat Cookbook
NextNature.netOn the 5th of August, one year after the lab grown hamburger, the In Vitro Meat Cookbook was launched.
Pyramid of Technology: How technology becomes nature in seven steps
Koert van MensvoortHow technology becomes nature in seven steps
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.
Analogue vs Digital: Messenger Service
NextNature.netSocial media empowered the mass by providing them with a tool to spread their voices.
Mark Zuckerberg Discovers 'Books'
Koert van MensvoortBooks allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today.
The Golden Quarter
Michael HanlonSome of our greatest cultural and technological achievements took place between 1945 and 1971. Why has progress stalled?
Brexit: the Cultural Climate Warms Up
Daniel FragaOn the aftermath of such a historic day for Britain and the EU, it's easy to get swayed into the polarities of political discourse, particularly on social media and the Internet, where things heat up and move fast. The results of the referendum have just come out, and the Internet is already burning with tension. This is called "climate change" - just not the one you are used to hear about.
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.
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.
Interview: Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret, Designers Exploring Alternative Ways of Thinking & Doing
Ingmar NieuweboerInterview with Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret.
Let's Talk About Virtue Signalling
Daniel FragaWith virtue signalling, the joys of moral superiority are just one click away!
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.
Supermarkets Are Our New Savannah, Especially During Natural Disasters
Megan Ray NicholsBefore a natural disaster hordes of people crowd in supermarkets and fight over the last supplies. It mirrors the savannah with cliques and groups trying to get the available food, water or shelter.
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 …
MIT's new voiceless interface can read the words in your head
Vanessa Bates RamirezThe way we interact with the technology in our lives is getting progressively more seamless. If typing terms or addresses into your phone wasn’t easy enough, now you can just tell …
Here’s how the Dutch are embracing blockchain in the polder
Coen van de VenSmiling broadly and rattling with enthusiasm, the 33-year-old Rylana Doesburg shows off a QR-code on her phone: an angular pattern of black and white squares. “Thanks to this …
How a museum encourages its visitors to examine their relationship with their environment
Linda ValentaLast month I had the opportunity to immerse myself in Tokyo’s newly opened digital art landscape, the Mori Digital Art Museum. The museum stands out for it enables virtual …
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 …
How AI is reshaping electronic music
Linda ValentaThe idea that AI can compose electronic music may sound a little off to people. It raises essential questions about creativity as a product exclusive to humans: can an AI be …
What 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, …
Why superhuman technologies will affect us all
Ruben BaartWhen you look through a super-telescope, you can still see the planet Earth. Once called the blue planet, she now looks red and parched. We had no choice but to abandon her… On a …
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 …
We could power households from the scraps in our food waste bins
Ananya MukherjeeImagine if you could power your kettle using the energy generated from the vegetable cuttings quietly breaking down in your kitchen’s compost bin. That reality might not be so far …
Science Friction explores living among companion species
Ruben BaartIs it possible to imagine other earthly stories? Can we conceive of other ways of living among different species? This exhibition explores these issues with the help of a …
This year's electronic waste weighs more than the Great Wall of China
Vanessa Bates RamirezIt’s widely known that the world has a plastics problem. What’s less widely known is that we have a similar problem with another kind of waste: electronics
Reconnecting with wildlife through biodiverse meditations
Ruben BaartSleep and dream like a koala, relax under biodiversity and feel the meditative effect of artificial wildlife.
How to teleport sushi
Selin KirSushi designed in Japan, printed in Texas. This might sound like a wild dream, but actually became a reality during interactive media festival South by Southwest (SXSW) that took …
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 …
Aquada
Arnoud van den HeuvelOh yes, it's a car alright! A High Speed Amphibian . Simply press a button and drive into the water. The wheels automatically rise and as you press the accelerator nearly a tonne …
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 …
Liquid armor
Arnoud van den HeuvelThe US Army Research Lab in collaboration with the University of Delaware developped a special liquid called s hear thickening fluid . It is actually a mixture of hard …
Review Paradise by the Laptop light
Rolf CoppensA review by Djbroadcast on the Paradise by the Laptop Light event last week. Sorry it is all so Dutch. Wat betekent het begrip natuur voor ons vandaag de dag? We zien 'de groene …
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 …
User Vaporated Content
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkToday, I had the strangest experience. I visited the dutch MSN website (don't ask me why) and found myself erasing al the content with a flick of my cursor. As I moved the cursor …
Blendie - the voice controlled blender
GuusBlendie is an voice controlled blender with a mind of its own. Materials are a 1950’s Osterizer blender altered with custom made hardware and software for sound analysis and motor …
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 …
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 …
Louis Vuitton VS Fake for Real
Koert van MensvoortThe Fake for Real Memory Game – consisting of 60 cards that playfully visualize the classical theme of fake and real in our society – has temporarily been taken offline due to …
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 …
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 …
Brand dating
Rolf CoppensMale - BMW, Armani, Durex - is looking for a Female - Dolce & Gabana, New York Times, Victoria's Secret. Branddating.nl is a (serious) dating site that relies on the …
Computational Wood
Koert van MensvoortDr. Herb Smokler teaches us how to husband and harvest Computational Wood. Omitting he jerky production value of the video, one has to appreciate the inventive idea of treating …
Conversations at the doctor
Koert van MensvoortA mother takes her sick child to the doctor. Who, after careful investigation, concludes the child has a 'virus infection'. The kid is offended and shouts: "But Doctor! I am not a …
Fake for Real Memory Game
The Fake for Real Memory Game consists of 60 cards that playfully visualize the classical theme of Fake vs Real. Is everything that was once directly experienced in our media …
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 …
Placebo Buttons
Koert van MensvoortButtons are everywhere: throughout your day you press them on phones, alarm clocks, keyboards, elevators, dishwashers and of course on the computer screen. Although buttons did …
Plant Plays First-Person Shooter
Koert van MensvoortAfter the plant that glows when thirsty , the plant that calls when thirsty , the dataplant , plantvertizing , the emphatic plant and the blogging houseplant , there is now a …
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 …
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 …
Survival of the bankrupt companies
Koert van Mensvoort"In the environment this company will survive for another 500 years." From the advertising campaign of WWF Brasil. Via I believe in advertising . Related post: Wildlife is …
Augmented (Hyper)Reality
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkAugmented (hyper)Reality offers a glimpse of an alternate universe, with augmented reality cranked up to the next level.
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 …
iBookshelf: Simulation before Extinction
Koert van MensvoortAs technology progresses we constantly have to adapt ourselves to an ever changing media landscape. Designers try to smooth the changes with a ' progressive nostalgic ' strategy: …
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 …
SMSlingshot
Ties van de WerffUrban intervention, naughty boy-style! The public media interventionists of VR/Urban have designed a cool tool to intervene into next nature: the SMSlingshot. A wooden, embedded …
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 …
Bare necessities
JurrianAccording to a research by JWT AnxietyIndex the changing mediascape is upon us. Do to the recession people are forced to validate their luxuries and it turned out that teens and …
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 …
Effortless Learning
Stefan FinckenMatrix-style learning sounds like an impossibility, yet new research suggests it might become reality. Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto …
Pixelhead
Sebastiaan PijnappelI woke up this morning and grabbed my Iphone to have a browse on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I looked at pictures of a far away friend and his family on a night out in …
Bacteria "R" Us
Rachel ArmstrongThere is a domain of creatures that diffusively encircles an entire planet. There are so many of them that they occupy every conceivable ecological niche. Yet, despite their …
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 …
Close Personal Friend
Koert van MensvoortYou may want to spend 24-minutes on this Close Personal Friend. Made in 1996, this film anticipates contemporary phenomena like social media and self-branding.
Featured Page #08: McLuhan’s Tweets
NextNature.netDuring the coming weeks, we present a selection of our favorite pages from the Next Nature book . This week a page that is an homage to Marshall McLuhan, who is one of the most …
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 …
Sight – As Second Life becomes First Life
Koert van MensvoortSo you thought your live was already pretty much media-saturated? Indulge in the design fiction film Sight and you'll realize you ain't seen nothing yet.
The NBIC Convergence: When Machines and Matter ‘Have Sex’
Rachel ArmstrongThe Singularity , as popularized by Ray Kurtzweil, refers to a near term, theoretical time when machine intelligence greatly surpasses our own. At this point we will experience a …
The Right to Privacy
Orestis TsinalisPrivacy is a right. A right given to people by telecommunications companies and social networking websites. It can be described by multiple-choice lists of settings. And it seems …
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...
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 …
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".
Digital Sharing Becomes Physical
Wout KregtingThe embedded "share" button in the new Playstation assumes that sharing is at the center of our existence.
Electricity Travels Through Spider Web
Alessia AndreottiIn future electric cables could be made ??of spider webs. 100% natural electric cables, sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s possible! Researcher at Na tional High Magnetic Field …
Interview: Floris Kaayk, the Visionary Creative Mind Behind Human Birdwings
Alessia AndreottiFloris Kayak discusses online hoaxes and the future of technology.
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.
What Ant Colony Networks Can Tell Us About What’s Next for Digital Networks
Deborah GordonEver notice how ant colonies so successfully explore and exploit resources in the world … to find food at 4th of July picnics, for example? You may find it annoying. But as an …
Anti-Drone Tent
Koert van MensvoortAnti Drone Tent is a small construction of emergency blankets that blocks infrared sensing, making it invisible to drones.
High Frequency Trading Visualized
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar image of the week is titled "High Frequency Captured on the Surface of Augmented Objects" by Ryota Matsumoto , Mixed Media 140718 110cmx85cm.
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.
Robot Swarm that can form any Shape
Koert van MensvoortMaybe in the future swarms of robots could help cleaning oil spills, provide immediate emergency help at a disaster or guide millions of self driving cars.
Using Tomato Skins to Make Car Parts
Alessia AndreottiHeinz and Ford team up to use tomato skins in car parts.
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.
Bio is the New Digital
Koert van MensvoortParallel to the democratization of computers some decades ago, biotech is rapidly becoming more accessible to creative people outside of closed institutions.
DOUG: the First Robot Able to Draw
Margherita OlivoRobots can already read, talk and reason. Yet, they do not seem to have found limits to their artistic skills either. Meet DOUG_1, first the drawing robot.
"The End": a Virtual Opera Singer, Millions of Fans and the Meaning of Death
Alexandra BremersSixteen-year-old Japanese singer Hatsune Miku grew in short time to a worldwide popstar. With her colourful appearance she counts millions of followers on social media, she …
Experience Van Gogh in Virtual Reality
Abby QinAmerica artist Mac Cauley created a new way to experience the painting in virtual reality.
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.
If a Robot Buys XTC on the Dark Web, Who is Responsible?
Alexandra BremersThe Random Darknet Shopper, with bitcoin to burn, has purchased counterfeit jeans, master keys, dodgy cigs and even a bag of ecstasy tablets. Who is legally liable?
Seconds for Sale: Domestication of Time
Sander DijkhuisTime Ingot is a solid piece of lead alloy, its mass can slow down time in the immediate vicinity.
Smog: an Augmented Reality?
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA few days ago, these images of iconic buildings in Beijing as they look with and without intense smog have been posted on Weibo, one of China’s most popular social media …
The Biosphere Code Manifesto
NextNature.netDuring the event The Biosphere Code, Stockholm University researcher Victor Galaz and colleagues outlined a manifesto for algorithms in the environment.
AI Teenage Girl Hit by Depression
Ruben BaartAn AI was intended to improve human-like experiences in regards to the company’s customer service chatbots, but has fallen into a suicidal depression instead.
Who Are These Trolls Invading China?
Margherita OlivoChina's government fabricates about 488 Million social media posts every year as a strategy to distract from critics to the regime.
Design on the Border of Technology and Biology Demands Us to 'Mother' Nature
Koert van MensvoortDesigner and architect Neri Oxman explores how digital fabrication technologies can interact with the biological world. Watch the TED talk.
Designed to Survive Our Roads
Ruben BaartA road safety campaign in the Australian state of Victoria exposed an educational, yet confronting picture to raise awareness to the vulnerable human body on the road.
Designer Dave Hakkens is putting plastic waste to better use
Ruben BaartWe recently handed this year’s ECO Coin Award to Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, founder of the Precious Plastic movement. With his open sourced recycling machines, he provides people around the world the knowledge to start recycling plastic locally.
Interview: Pauline Van Dongen, Designer Merging Fashion and Technology
Margherita OlivoDutch fashion designer specialized in wearable technology, Pauline van Dongen researches the human body in relation to its surroundings.
Explore Mars with NASA's VR Experience
Margherita OlivoExploring the surface of Mars at least 15 years before a human being in flesh and blood will be able to, this is the new ambitious idea of the people at NASA.
Our Tribal Genes Affect Politics
Alejandro AlvarezWhat if the cause of our politic choice was in our evolution, hidden deep in our genes and digging up our tribal instincts?
An AI Is Writing the Next "Game of Thrones"
Jack CaulfieldOne fan has become so impatient for the conclusion to "Game of Thrones", he's programmed an AI to write it for him. Move over, George R.R. Martin!
The Digital Mythology of... Super Mario
Daniel FragaMythology still surrounds us, we just relate to it differently. Games and movies have replaced pantheons and folk tales. Fairies and gnomes left the forests and the rivers and moved to virtual realities.
The Ephemeral Future of Internet Data
Nadine RoestenburgWhat the Internet would look like if all data were ephemeral?
HUBOT: Meet the Supersmart Handyman
NextNature.netDon’t worry, a handyman doesn’t have to be a bookworm. You rather work with your hands than sitting in the library. And yet, you often need to read the manuals of the broken …
The making of the Modular Body
Jack CaulfieldRemember the Modular Body? Curious about how OSCAR was really created or keen to know more about the project as a whole? Check out the making of videos!
Swap Your Smartphone for a Pineapple
Nadine RoestenburgDutch commercial telecom provider Ben recently launched an advertising campaign to sell smartphone plans by promoting disconnection.
The Dictionary of Online Behavior adds a virtual layer to your vocabulary
Ruben BaartTo some extent, it's a chicken-and-egg question: Are you unable to think about things you don't have words for, or do you lack words for them because you don't think about them? …
Digital islands: How this tiny country is embracing e-governance
Gudrun JakupsRecent years have proved that if you want to look for which countries are adopting innovative digital governing solutions, you don’t look at the usual tech suspects like the US or …
'Halfseen' means reading (the beginning of) a message without opening it
TeyoshThe appearance of “seen” has created a new phenomenon: opening messages partially, having a peek at the beginning of the message and assuming the rest so that the other person …
Interview Mark Wigley: "We are living in an ecology of antenna"
Ruben BaartWith the invention of the radio antenna in the late 19th century, we became a different species: Introducing the human insect. A species, able to communicate across oceans using …
'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 …
Interview: Jeremy Bailenson on his latest book "Experience on Demand"
Katherine Oktober MatthewsVirtual reality has come a long way. Like most technological leaps, it’s had a huge push from the entertainment industry, but current applications span a wide range of social and …
The next sexual revolution is going to be all about technology
Peter DiamandisSex is one of the most powerful, fundamental human drives. It’s caused wars, and built and destroyed kingdoms. It occupies a significant percentage of most people’s thoughts. As …
Welcome to the CRISPR baby world—here’s what you should know
Vanessa Bates RamirezLast week, the gene editing world was hit by news the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. In a video on YouTube , Dr. Jiankui He at Southern University of Science and Technology in …
How Pokémon are affected by climate change
Ruben BaartYou know climate change is real when dead coral Pokémon start to wash up on (virtual) beaches. Behold, Cursola, world’s first dead coral Pokémon. On the origins of Cursola While …
How to play e-dead
TeyoshPlaying e-dead means to avoid being visibly active online because of not having answered to someone’s message or comment. This is a part of a social media code of conduct; if you …
A guide to parenting with AI Barbie
Siri BeerendsThe rise of artificial intelligence has brought us more advanced toys. If AI Barbie and her talking robotic friends are going to raise our kids, what would their parenting style …
Next Generation: Growing technology with Prosthetic X
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 …
Five ways AI could make your car as smart as a human passenger
Max EizaDriving long distances without a passenger can be lonely. If you’ve ever done it, you might have wished for a companion to talk to – someone emotionally intelligent who can …
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 my chatbot fell in love with me
Tim DaalderopThe virus is forcing all of us to sit at home. While we are allowed to have social contact—albeit at an appropriate distance, intimate contact is hard to find. How to cope with …
POND is a symphony of lights and water
Nellie FriedrichHave you ever gone a day without water? Most likely you have experienced low energy levels or fatigue after a few couple of hours. Water gives us energy. More than that, water is …
‘Optimism is our duty’: in conversation with Koert van Mensvoort
Ruben BaartWe 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, …
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 …
Why screen games are still real play
Marcus CarterPlay is a core part of a healthy childhood , through which children develop social, communication, cognitive and physical skills. Children’s play adapts to its circumstances. …
Why your pets can't spread the coronavirus
Sarah CaddyA Pomeranian dog in Hong Kong grabbed the international media’s attention this week after scientists found traces of coronavirus in the canine. Following confirmation that the …
It's been fifty years since we took the first full photo of Earth from space
Robert PooleThe image of the whole Earth as seen from space has become a symbol of the environmental movement. Time for an update?
Next Generation: Building aquatecture with Shaakira Jassat
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 …
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.
Future cities: why we need to reimagine the look of urban landscapes
Ruben BaartIn imagining future urban landsapes, we need to answer questions about what can be sustained and what cannot, where cities can be located and where they cannot.
Metaverse: 5 things you need to know
Steve BenfordWhat is the metaverse and to what extent should we believe that the vision being presented to us is really going to be central to our daily lives?
Next nature disasters: the Facebook outage of 2021
Veronica FanzioWhere were you on the 4th October 2021? During the day that will be remembered for the Facebook outage, not everyone was equally impacted.
Billionaire space race: the ultimate symbol of capitalism's obsession with growth
Tim JacksonMars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids, laments the Rocket Man in Elton John’s timeless classic. In fact, it’s cold as hell. But that doesn’t seem to worry a new …
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 …
e-Paper
Arnoud van den HeuvelWill our mobile devices look like this in two years time? This is an example-application of the featherweight QVGA (320x240 pixels) active-matrix display: Phillips e-paper . (It …
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 …
Evolving Logo
Koert van MensvoortGenerative graphics and organic information design are making their way into the world of the applied arts. For the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, …
Close to skin technology
Wearable Interfaces, Smart Materials and Living Fabrics. V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam-based Virtueel Platform, the expertise centre for …
Hotspot Bloom
Dr NaturalHotspot Bloom is a wearable flower that glows and changes color to indicate the signal strength of a nearby wireless network (802.11b/g). With its mobile interface, Hotspot Bloom …
Inner life of a cell
Rolf CoppensYou know.. cells have feelings too... and friends.. Check the video here
Klima Kontrolle
Koert van MensvoortKlima Kontrolle (video) is a project by Roel Wouters and Luna Maurer . A fan is placed in front of a computer screen and accelerates until it blows away the entire desktop. …
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", …
Semantic landscapes
Koert van MensvoortSemantic landscapes use the natural metaphore to visualize abstract data. The project above visualises different meanings of the word 'cold' in Biomedical patent documents.
shadow-creatures and digi-ants
Arnoud van den HeuvelNew creatures arise through interactive media. Shadowmonsters found here Digitally generated ants found here
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 …
The infoBreath
KarlA flower arcing from a frosted pane of glass. Rigged with a breath sensor and connected to an internet packet sniffer, the flower is cued in to the wireless network flowing in the …
What's Epic?
Arnoud van den HeuvelEpic is a fictional prospect (from 2004) on the future culture of media and internet-corporations. The human addiction to news and information must - according to this video - …
C_YK
Rolf CoppensT-Mobile is the proud owner of a trademark which says it owns the colour Magenta. T-Mobile and its parent Deutsche Telekom, have trademarked magenta. The move means that if you …
Attack of the Metal Eating Plants
Koert van MensvoortGenetically modified plants may be the green solution for cleaning up polluted sites . Researchers David Salt and John Freeman aim to develop plants that remove toxic metals from …
Biotypography
Rolf CoppensIsraelian typographer Oded Ezer looks at the world from his point of view, through letters and numbers. So why not turn the world into typography. A short interview taken from …
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 …
Corporate Slogan Poem*
Koert van MensvoortWhere do you want to go today? Think different. Just do it. Sense & simplicity. Have it your way. Can't beat the feeling. Make it real. The best a man can get. Be an original. …
Deep in the Forest : Owls, Logs and Noise
SaraStarting as noise makers, the owlproject work on different products which are deeply rooted in nature. And electronics.With their logs the owlproject travel around the world, …
Dishmaker
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis "printer" is all about creating, storing and recycling householdproducts on demand. link | video
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 …
Fake for Real: Redefining Nemo
Koert van MensvoortAfter having seen Disney's blockbuster 'Finding Nemo', every scuba diver that happens to meets with the original white orange striped clownfish underwater, will unmistakable think …
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. …
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 …
Friending, Ancient or Otherwise
By ALEX WRIGHT, Published in NY Times December 2, 2007 The growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook , MySpace and Second Life has thrust many of us into a new …
Human LCD
Koert van MensvoortNew media technology from South Korea: a gigantic human display compiled from supporters cheering their soccer teams . One pixel per supporter. See also: Skyscreen , A4 e-paper .
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 …
Little Trees - Smells to refresh your Car
Koert van Mensvoort"ROYAL PINE", "VANILLAROMA", "NEW CAR SCENT", "WILD CHERRY". Which of these smelly little trees doesn't fit in the row? After careful consideration I decided the "NEW CAR SCENT" …
Corporate Logo Landscape
Koert van MensvoortFor centuries artists painted trees and clouds because that is what they saw around them, nowadays they remix brands and logo's because that is what surrounds them. A city child …
Microsoft Surface Computing Parody
Dr NaturalHave you heard of Microsoft's desktop follow-up Surface Computing ? It is a table size multi-touch screen only, eliminating mechanical intermediaries like the mouse and keyboard …
Modernistic vs Nextnature Architecture
Koert van MensvoortWhile the Freedom tower , replacing the WTC twin towers, is being constructed at ground zero, I still enjoy looking at some of the earlier submitted proposals. They tend to be …
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 …
Next Friday: 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 Friday 23 November 2007 16:30 - 18:00, as …
Out of Body Experience
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDid you have your Out of Body Experience today? We knew already that our nature is merely how we perceive it, but now scientists from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne …
Printing virtuality
Arnoud van den HeuvelPhone, internet, television, photography, even books or music: today it is hard for the mind to escape from virtual worlds. A day without communication or interaction could make …
Robot farmer Mr Woo
Arnoud van den HeuvelComedian Paul Merton went to China for Five.tv (early 2007) and near Beijing he reads the following headline: This farmer grows robots...
The 21th Century Paradigm
The history of art through the ages reveals a constancy that, by conscious or unconscious applications, provides us with an omnipresent correlation dealing with the …
Toys'R'Us
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkMarch 2007 gave birth to Knut, the übercute baby icebear in the Berlin Zoo. A unique event, since it was 30 years ago a baby icebear was born in the zoo. Within weeks, Knut has …
A Mobile Phone Embedded in Asphalt
Koert van MensvoortIf future anthropologists would ever dig up this cellphone, they might identify it as some sort of mysterious pseudo-religious device carried around fervently by early 21th …
Britney
Rolf CoppensNobody in recent history was (and is) made by media like Britney Spears. This one is for you, B. Made by
Burka dating
Rolf CoppensThis burka transmits a self-chosen image of the women wearing it over bluetooth to nearby sellphones. It's a concept by Markus Kison, and it seems like no laws of the Koran are …
Consuming Illusions
Koert van MensvoortSo you thought the 'consumption of illusions' was a typical digital world activity of second life residents and gaming addicts? Never underestimate virtuality in everyday life. …
Enjoying Nature in the Cave
Koert van MensvoortNow let us analyze this setup for a moment: You are looking at an avatar character inside a 3D model of a virtual reality cave, enjoying a 'natural' landscape – welcome in the …
Fake for Real video
Video of the Fake for Real Memory Game , presented by Hendrik-Jan Grievink & Koert van Mensvoort at the Style First exhibition in the museum Mudac , Lausanne, Switzerland. …
Happy Meal
Koert van MensvoortHow to create your own milkshake with globally available ingredients. Video by Oskar Nilsson, taken from Shampoo Generation DVD . See also: Image Consumption , Million Dollar …
Human Nature as Pathology
Koert van MensvoortModern society seems to have transformed human nature into a pathology. Our emotions are controlled by drugs. We are forced to operate within a narrow bandwith of what are …
Oil Price Threatens Biofuel Firms
Dr NaturalEconomy is ecology? Technology Review writes the price of oil has dipped to levels that could be far too low for many advanced-biofuel startups to succeed, especially those that …
Pondering the Future
Dr NaturalPeculiar image of the week. Langley researcher Elton W. Miller stands poised in the Propeller Research Tunnel, as if pondering the future of aviation in this image from mid-1927. …
Smart Forests - EWAN
Arnoud van den HeuvelAt Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Christopher Love and colleagues are working to find out whether energy from trees can be used to prevent forest fires. A sensor system …
Software that Ranks Female Beauty
Koert van MensvoortEarlier we reported software that predicts how a wine will rate in reviews even before it is made . Now, for puber-geek delight, lets try that for women. Tel Aviv University …
The Blogging Houseplant
BramMeet midori-san , the first blogging houseplant! Through sensors connected to the leaves of this Sweetheart Hoya reads bioelectric currents through the plant, this gives …
Wear Your Social Network
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkGet Wickd (props for the name boys – totally wicked!) is a tech-fashion brand that sells basic clothes with barcodes that can link your mobile phone to any page on the web, from a …
BVPS Next Nature in LA - Pictures!
May 17th 2008. Biggest Visual Power Show: Next Nature in LA . More pictures below. We are all born in a world that has been designed already. BVPS intro video by Floris Kaayk. Big …
Zombie Spam – botnet resurrects from death
Koert van MensvoortComputerworld reports a big spam-spewing botnet, that was shut down a few weeks ago, has been resurrected and is again under the control of criminals. The "Srizbi" botnet returned …
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. …
China limits use of 'virtual' currencies
Dr NaturalBy DAVID BARBOZA SHANGHAI — China made public on Tuesday regulations aimed at cracking down on the use of virtual currencies amid worries that a huge underground economy was …
Controlling the Uncontrollable
Arnoud van den HeuvelIt is a home to crawlers, virusses, search engines, gamers, spammers, chatters, twitters, bloggers, worms and spiders. If calling it alive goes too far, it's still safe to say …
Ear on your arm? Why not?!
ewesFor over 40 years Australian artist Stelios Arcadious Stelarc has made art with medical instruments, prosthetics, robots, virtual reality systems and biotechnology to investigate …
Earrings for Spontaneous Seeding
Arnoud van den HeuvelSeed bombs away, because these earrings may awake the Guerilla Gardener in you... You never know when an opportunity for planting might present itself. Be prepared with these tiny …
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 …
Five strategies of Biomimicmarketing
Koert van MensvoortGreen electricity, Organic Shampoo, Jaguar convertibles, Red Bull, Bio Beef, Alligator gardening tools, Camel cigarettes and Puma sneakers. Once you develop an eye for it, it is …
How to Grow your Own Toaster
Koert van MensvoortNow here is an experiment any one can do at home: Look around in your house and try to find a consumer product of which you know where it was made and by whom. Got any? Indeed, …
Nature Transformer – Microwave Festival 2009
If you happen to be in the neighborhood, you may want to attend that inspirational Next Nature lecture Dr. Van Mensvoort will be throwing this Sunday 15-11-2009 at the Microwave …
OOMouse versus Magic Mouse
Arnoud van den HeuvelRecently were introduced, the OOMouse ... ...and the Magic Mouse . Both tools are developed to browse the ones and zeros more easily. It almost seems unfair to compare them, so I …
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 …
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 …
Shoulder Pads: Fashion tide back to the 80's?
Norma de BoerFashion has a natural cycle of its own, which is more dependent on market and media forces than seasons or weather. Trends are predicted, recycled, set and followed. Seasons in …
Strategy #5: Brand It ‘Naturally Made’
Koert van MensvoortThe fifth category encapsulates the products that are ‘naturally made’. Arguably, here the natural claim is the most convincing. Think eco-tomatoes, bottled mineral water from a …
Tangible hologram projector
Koert van MensvoortUsing ultrasound technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a holographic projector that displays three-dimensional virtual objects you can feel with your …
Webby Awards
How sweet. Nextnature.net is a Webby Awards honoree . ‘As a result of the superior quantity and quality of sites entered, the 13th Annual Webby Awards recognized sites and teams …
Who designed the banana?
Koert van MensvoortLooking at a banana from a design perspective, one immediately notices the fruit is highly ergonomic and sophisticated: Bananas fit perfectly in the human hand, they come with a …
??????????
Koert van MensvoortThis translation of the essay ' Real Nature is not Green ' is a special treat from and for our fellow Next Nature explorers in China. We thank the people of the Microwave …
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 …
Ars Electronica 2010: Artists Adressing NextNature
Ties van de WerffSind wir noch zu retten? That was the slogan of this year’s Ars Electronica festival in Linz (Austria). Titled ‘REPAIR’, the media art festival urged to leave our scepticism and …
Candlelight Switch
Koert van MensvoortCreated for the niche target group of nostalgic button freaks, by Aram Bartholl .
Clouding the brain
Ties van de WerffMan is a flexible species. We tend to adapt quite rapidly to new environments. But how fast can these adaptations turn to new evolutionary traits? For instance: to what extent is …
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 …
There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkSo you’re triggered by our call for products and now you’re considering to send in one, two or maybe three of your brilliant products for the Nano Supermarket? Good. Or – and this …
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 …
Follow The Money
Koert van MensvoortIf you happen to be in the neighborhood, you may want to attend the lecture I will be throwing at the Follow the Money – The database as a narrative form conference this Thursday …
From Main Street to the Mansion: Disney, Playboy and the Next Nature of Sex and Death
Peter LunenfeldNature demanded that we make a choice between immortality and sex, but the Next Nature of the 21st century may not. For help, we can look back to the 20th Century, which had many …
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 …
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 …
How does your Graph feel today?
Orestis TsinalisWith all the new health management gadgets available becoming more and more widespread and cheap (even in the form of free iPhone apps), your brain, your stomach, your heart, …
LED Religion
Koert van MensvoortThe Catholic Church is not exactly renowned for its progressive attitude towards technological progress. Just think of the belligerent attitude the Church still has towards …
![Visual of MANKO & Plagiarism [#1]](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2010/manko-plagiarism-1/b50dcc7ae7-1602632753/manco-530-868x486.jpg)
MANKO & Plagiarism [#1]
Aston RevolaIn this first review of the works of Manko, we'll discuss the complex sorts of plagiarism in Augmented Reality art that are typical for our contemporary art scene. This introduces …
![Visual of MANKO & Vacuum [#2]](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2010/manko-vacuum-2/3276be3198-1602632753/manco-3-530-868x486.jpg)
MANKO & Vacuum [#2]
Aston RevolaI should tell you the story of how Manko lost a leg. You need to know about this incident to understand his recent works. So please forgive me, I first have to go back to that …
Marching Back to the Tribe
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkHurray, the Next Nature tribe is growing! Today, we’ve welcomed our 2,000th friend on Facebook . And what better way is there to honour this person with a celebrational parade …
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. …
Milk comes from Bottles
Koert van MensvoortMilk is good for you and we all should drink lots of it. Common knowledge so far, but do you actually know where milk comes from? Supermarket? Factories? Luckily this milk …
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 …
Nano-Silver Foam Condom For Women
Koert van MensvoortAs we are calling for debate-provoking nanotech products that might hit the shelves of the Supermarket in the next ten years , some products much crazier than the ones we could …
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 #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 …
Squirming ‘umbilical’ phone cable
Koert van MensvoortThis umbilical cord-inspired charger cable by interactive media artist Mio I-zawa comes to life when connected to an iPhone. Don't watch the video if you are anthropomorphobic . …
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 …
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 …
Urban Dolls
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkThe idea of altering your body for aesthetic purposes is still somewhat frowned upon today. But more than because the very idea of improving yourself, this is about its …
Where's your Head at?
Michael KluverThe issue of cloning is a much-debated one. Where is the fine line that divides the ethical from the unethical? Let’s say we take it over the top and start cloning away just for …
X-Ray Visions
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkAnyone who ever saw an x-ray picture of himself will probably recognise the uncanny feeling of staring at your own skull or bones and being confronted by one of nature’s grim …
Angel with Cellphone adorns Cathedral
Koert van MensvoortTo mark the twelve-year restoration of the Sint Jan cathedral in Den Bosch, a new statue of an angel carrying a mobile phone was added to the building. The angel joins the many …
Facing your Car
MattijsDo cars have a face? You would be inclined to say yes immediately. And you would be right as well, because they do. Study has confirmed through a complex statistical analysis that …
I am not a Robot. I am a Unicorn.
Arnoud van den HeuvelAt Cornell Creative Machines Lab they were curious to see how two "chatbots" would make conversation. Powered by Cleverbot , created by AI researcher Rollo Carpenter, the robots …
Incredibly Shrinking Humanity
Allison GuyArne Hendricks thinks we can solve the ecological crisis by shrinking every human on earth to 50cm tall: http://bit.ly/sxxNr1 #powershow
![Visual of Manko & Dinner [#7]](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2011/manko-dinner-7/fa6279d39a-1602632753/manko9-868x486.jpg)
Manko & Dinner [#7]
Aston RevolaManko blinked. Then blinked again, and again and again. While he did, he went through various layers at once and he was dazzled and amazed, his jaw dropped at all that he saw. He …
![Visual of Manko & Life [#8]](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2011/manko-life-8/f762250e48-1602632753/manco-8-868x486.jpg)
Manko & Life [#8]
Aston RevolaManko sighed. Nada: 'Did you like it?' Manko: 'I have to admit that if this is the starter, I'm not sure I'll survive the main course.' Everyone at the table laughed. Manko: 'Let …
![Visual of Manko & The Children [#9]](https://nextnature.net/media/pages/magazine/story/2011/manko-the-children-9/3d8fe20352-1602632753/manko9-868x486.jpg)
Manko & The Children [#9]
Aston RevolaAs they went down the elevator shaft, going deeper underground, neither Nada nor Manko spoke a word. To Manko it seemed to take forever. In his mind, he went over the long …
Morphing Cutlery
Koert van MensvoortImagine a world where the shapes of all objects around you would be able to change on the fly. Envision a future where nanotechnology and morphing become ubiquitous and blend in …
NextNature.net = Webby Honoree
Ok, we like this. Nextnature.net is a Webby Awards honoree ( again ). ‘As a result of the superior quantity and quality of sites entered, the 15th Annual Webby Awards recognized …
Not So Horseless Carriage
Koert van MensvoortSometimes next nature breaks down and things fall back on an older nature. Luckily, this guy still had a horse around. Peculiar image of the week. Via Kottke .
Peelable Ice Cream
Koert van MensvoortFiled under Biomimicmarketing . Pleases your inner monkey. Peelable banana ice cream by Nesle . Thanks Jurrian.
Physical Scrollbars
Koert van MensvoortScrollbars is a series of installations and physical scrollbar-representations created by Dutch artist Jan Robert Leegte. According to the artist, most of us consider the …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Trips to the Moon
Billy SchonenbergWhen watching a science fiction flick, it can be hard to determine what time in the future it is set, although this is a usually an integral part of the movie. However, it is …
Virtual Offline Shopping
Marco van BeersAs the second most hardest working people on this planet, Koreans obviously dread their weekly shopping for groceries. It is therefore that Home Plus (Tesco in Europe) plastered …
Voodoo Phone
Koert van MensvoortJapanese professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University has quite a track record of threading the uncanny valley. Remember his Doppelgänger Robot and Geminoid Female ? His …
We are all born in a World...
Koert van Mensvoort...that has been designed already. Peculiar baby of the week. Source: Adbusters , via: Masters of Rietveld .
Archaeologist Finds Ruins of 'Friendster'
Koert van MensvoortLast month internet archaeologist Dr Maxwell Fry stumbled upon the perfectly preserved ruins of an online community called 'Friendster'. Remember, that predecessor of Facebook, …
Bacteria Inspire Magnetic Hard Drive
Allison GuyCertain types of bacteria can navigate using magnetic nanoparticles as tiny compasses. Researchers at the University of Leeds have extracted the protein that controls this process …
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, …
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' , …
Charging Phones by (and with) Camp Fire
Allison GuyWith areas of New York still without electricity, BioLite recently came to the rescue of Brooklynites by setting up a charging station with camping stoves that convert excess …
Coca-Cola embraces Organic Coke?
Koert van MensvoortCoca Cola company is considering to actually bring Organic Coke to the market?
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 …
Illiterate Kids Learn to Hack Tablet Computers with No Outside Help
Allison GuyThe One Laptop Per Child program is experimenting with what at first seems to be the lazy way to philanthropy: dropping off tablet computers in remote Ethiopian villages and then …
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, …
Is the Human Body Redundant?
Rachel ArmstrongThe increasing ‘liveliness’ of machines and accessibility to the virtual world has raised questions about whether it is possible to uncouple the mind from the body in through a …
Mul & De Mul – God's Browser
Koert van MensvoortPhilosopher and professor Jos de Mu l and media artist Geert Mul set out to visualize the Gods Browser in a unique art-science collaboration. The result is a conceptual poem of …
Nanotech Generates the Blackest Black
As the NANO Supermarket opens discussions on the ethics, purpose and usability of nanotechnology, Frederik De Wilde is researching its artistic possibilities. De Wilde is a guest …
Nature is Dead, Long live Nature
Koert van MensvoortLike we did to old nature before, we must now cultivate our technological environment.
Robots Invade Stores to Steal Our Jobs
Allison GuyThere's a new threat to the world's unemployed. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robot that helps to organize shop inventories, making that trip to the …
The Ecological Human
Rachel ArmstrongThe nature of humanity in the twenty-first century is, according to sociologist Steve Fuller, a ‘bipolar disorder’ beset with dualisms of identification such as divine/animal, …
Transfer Your Window!
Jaap ArtsImagine you buy a special kind of window which you can place on your wall wherever you want, enabling you to get different views, not always looking at the same tree or house of your neighbors.
Turn Your Laptop into a Retro Typewriter
Allison GuyMiss the soothing clacking of typewriter keys? Long for satisfying clang of a carriage return? Noisy Typer , a piece of freeware for your Mac, adds the nostalgic noises of a …
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 …
33% of All Seafood in the United States Is Fraudulently Labeled
Allison GuyA new study from the marine conservation group Oceana reveals that a full one-third of seafood across the US is mislabeled. Not surprisingly, the most expensive fish is also the …
CAMOVER: Destroy All CCTV Cameras!
Silvia CelibertiEarn points in an online game by destroying real-life CCTVs.
Clothes that Turn Heat into Electricity
Allison GuyWith rising energy costs and our growing arsenal of iPads, smart phones, and wearable monitors, we're always on the lookout for new ways to power our devices. Perpetua Power , an …
Computer Algorithms Are Already Replacing Human Journalists
Allison GuyWill writing software eventually replace journalists?
Design Indaba Interview
NextNature.netOur South African friends of Design Indaba made a nifty little video of the presentation we did at What Design Can Do this spring.
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.
Hire a Hyperreal Girlfriend to Look Better on Facebook
Insoo HwangBaudrillard intersects with social media in the world of fake online girlfriends.
Jason Silva and the Dawn of Nanotech
Alessia AndreottiBuckle up for a new series of videos from performance philosopher Jason Silva.
Moving From Password to Biometric Data
Alessia AndreottiUnlock our devices with our fingerprint, this technology for security represents a change in our digital life.
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.
Swallow a Pill to Turn Your Body into a Living Password
Jonathon MarkowskiNeed a password that you'll never forget and can never be stolen? Try storing it in a pill in your gut.
The Talking Window: a New Audio Medium
Alessia AndreottiAdvertisers have figured how how to induce auditory hallucinations into your morning commute.
3000 Years Old 8-Bit Music Instrument
Alessia AndreottiThe more iconic video game audio track played with an ancient woodwind. The resulting sound is pure 1980s nostalgia.
Beyond the Possible with Floris Kaayk
Koert van MensvoortFloris Kaayk, artist and fictive documentaries maker, confronts us with the impossible.
In Vitro Recipe #12: Meat Flowers
NextNature.netIf vegetarian products can mimic meat, then why not the other way around?
In Vitro Recipe #9: Meat Oyster
NextNature.netAs ocean-based oyster beds have all but vanished, in vitro oysters may prove an exquisite alternative.
Modern Society Contradictions
Alessia AndreottiPawel Kuczynski portraits the contradictions of today’s world.
NANO Supermarket Best Product 2014
Alessia AndreottiA jury of design and science experts awarded the best NANO Supermarket product a € 2.500 prize.
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
Peculiar Transportations
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkLast friday, these curious next natural transportations happened around our office in Amsterdam. All within the timeframe of a few hours. The surrealists where right. Have a nice …
Razorius Gilletus Flexball Subspecies
Koert van MensvoortThe latest subspecies in the Razorius line is the Razorius Gilletus Flexball. While Gillete proclaims they reinvented shaving, others argue Gillette's new razor is everything that's wrong with America.
Scan Yourself With Your Digital Doctor
Mateja VidakovicThere seems to be a high demand for the ability to self-diagnose. Consider Scanadu , a company developing a medical device for self-diagnosis, has become the highest funded …
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 Mood Ring of the 21th Century
NextNature.netThe Moodmetric ring measures the autonomous nervous system signals that can be used to understand emotional reactions and improve quality of life.
The Self-Portrait of the Digital Age
Alessia AndreottiThe series Museum of Selfies combines the original art of portraiture with its modern counterpart, the the smartphone self-portrait.
Wow, Cool! A 3D model of the Save Icon!
Koert van MensvoortWhen a floppy disk becomes a 3D printed save icon.
A Robot Scientist Could Cure Malaria
Yunus Emre DuyarAlthough there seems to be no effective drug in use to cure malaria, a scientist robot named Eve may have found a cure.
Analogue vs Digital: Drone Wars
NextNature.netThe use of armed drones has dramatically escalated in the war in Pakistan.
Analogue vs Digital: Innovative Nostalgia
NextNature.netBrowsing through your virtual bookshelf gives you the feeling of having an easily accessible collection of books, just like your good old analog one.
Animals Give Leadership Lesson to Humans
Margherita OlivoWhat are the characteristics of the perfect leader? The answer could be found looking at nature.
Bistro In Vitro to Be Launched
NextNature.netInspired by the award winning In Vitro Meat Cookbook , Next Nature Network and Submarine Channel present Bistro In Vitro : an online design fiction documentary about the future …
Controlling Smart Devices with the Skin
Len KromkampiSkin is a flexible, stretchable and visually customizable on-body touch sensor for mobile computing.
Death Threat by a Twitter Bot
Louise HuyghebaertDutch developer Jeffrey van der Goot got questioned by the police after one of his Twitter Bot released a tweet containing a death threat.
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.
Exploring Detroit’s Next Nature
NextNature.netFrom August 1 till 16 2015, Next Nature Network’s art director Hendrik-Jan Grievink will be co-tutor of the GDA Summer Sessions.
FB Graffiti: Reviving Ancient impulses
Alessia AndreottiFB Graffity: the extension that lets anyone “vandalize” the pictures shared by other users on Facebook
Genetic Modification Could Prevent TB
Yunus Emre DuyarIt was announced this week that genetic modification allowed scientists to produce cattle resistant to tuberculosis.
Google's Smart Interactive Clothing
Alessia AndreottiProject Jacquard makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile.
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.
Interview: Nadine Bongaerts, Synthetic Biologist Bridging Science with Society
NextNature.netWe recently talk to Nadine Bongaerts about the role and impact of synthetic biology, the gap between biosciences and society and the importance of communication to overcome the fear of new technologies.
Interview: Suzanne Lee, Fashion Innovator Who Grows Clothing in the Laboratory
Alessia AndreottiWe recently talked with Suzanne Lee about the textile industry and technology, growing leather in the lab, and the use of new alternative materials in the future of fashion.
Intimate Technology: the Battle for Our Body and Behaviour
Rinie van EstTechnology is nestling itself within us and between us, has knowledge about us and can act just like us.
Jazz-Playing Robot Challenges Human-Computer Interactions
Margherita OlivoA musical robot able to improvise a jazz solo in response to an actual person performing jazz.
Let Strangers Cheer You up on Twitter
Yunus Emre DuyarThere is now a new application that allows random people to cheer you up on Twitter.
Solar Tree That Provides Electricity
Louise HuyghebaertA tree, made with 3D printed leaves that contain solar cells.
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.
How Technology is Becoming More and More Sensitive
Margherita OlivoOver the past decade scientists have tried to get technology surfaces to be as sensitive as our skin, especially as our fingertips. Human tact is a very sophisticate interface …
The Plastic Problem #1: Biobased and Biodegradable Plastic
Alessia AndreottiWhat are then the actions to foster for an effective sustainability? A series of articles will try to point the plastic poblem.
When Was the Last Time you Were Bored?
Alessia AndreottiThe Bored and Brilliant project asks people to measure their smartphone use take some conscious steps to limit the digital interactions.
72h Offline Challenge for Teenagers
Monika KozubAround 100 Polish teenagers aged between 12 and 18 agreed to withstand 72 hours totally offline: no phone, no computer, no TV. What were the results?
Breaking Language Barriers
Margherita OlivoWe have witnessed significant progresses in the field of real-time translation, and this new wearable translator, called ili, sums up perfectly this essence.
Bye Bye BlackBerry
Ruben BaartBlackBerry has just confirmed that it will no longer create its own phones, marking the end of an era for the once dominant leader of the smartphone market.
Making Power Stations Part of the Landscape
Margherita OlivoCan we have pretty power stations? The design of power stations is becoming more appealing.
Coming Soon: Video Face Hacking for All
Alejandro Alvarezteam of computer scientists at the universities of Germany and California has created what they call photoshoping videos in real time.
Disney-Themed Prosthetics for Children
Ruben BaartOpen Bionics is helping children in need for bionic hands. With Iron Man, Frozen, or Star Wars-themed prosthetics, their fantasies become reality.
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.
I Want Wings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicholas CarrRead Nicholas Carr's essay on the transhumanist dream of having wings.
Facebook Provides a Suicide Prevention Tool
Ingmar NieuweboerFacebook provides a new tool for suicide prevention
Feeling Lonely with 1000 Facebook Friends
Ingmar NieuweboerLoneliness is a major social issue and can only be 'cured' with real world interaction.
Fiction to Reality: Invented Traditions
Alejandro AlvarezIt’s true that mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead dressing as skeletons and setting shrines to death, but the carnivalesque parade with giant puppets was a surprise to every local who watched the movie.
Safe Driving Rewarded with Free Coffee
Ruben BaartAs part of a new traffic safety initiative, a car manufacturer, a telecommunications operator, and a coffee chain have joined forces to develop a new app designed to promote safer driving.
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, …
How Data Reformed Politics
Ingmar NieuweboerBig data is reforming politics, but is it for the better?
Technology: Intrusive or Supportive?
Ioana TomiciIs the use of personal devices becoming a replacement for the spectrum of emotions that make us all humans?
Robot Babies to Prevent Pregnancy
Ruben BaartAn Australian study has shown the use of lifelike robot babies increased teen pregnancy, rather than discouraging it.
Interview: Agi Haines, Speculative Artist Who Wants to Redesign the Human Body
Ruben BaartSpeculative designer Agi Haines' work focuses on (re)designing the human body, and speculates upon future scenarios.
King Bee Inspecting His Drones?
Koert van MensvoortFacebook boss Mark Zuckerberg at the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona.
Man Controls Prosthetic Arm with His Mind
Ingmar NieuweboerResearchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine succeeded in hooking up a prosthetic arm to the human brain.
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 Next Nature Sneaker Series
Mathilde NakkenWe present for the real sneaker heads amongst us, six new futuristic pieces of footwear. Going from pineapple leather to self lacing 'Back to the Future' Nikes.
Pokémon Go Improves Players' Mental Health
Ruben BaartPokémon Go is shaping social relationships amongst individuals.
Bodily Currencies: Blood, Sweat and Tears
Lewis JustWelcome to the access and experience economy. Currency: sweat, blood and action.
A System that Predicts Crime
Ingmar NieuweboerAn experiment tries to prevent crime by identifying aggressive behavior with new surveillance technology before actual violence is used.
Walk, Talk and Get Paid
Monika KozubAs the digital age makes people more lonely, Chuck McCarthy created a service to walk with strangers.
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.
1896 - Baby Incubators in Coney Island
Elle Zhan WeiIn 1896 Dr Couney incubated premature babies. He saved at least 6.500 premature infants from death by putting them on display in Coney Island.
AI & VR Impact on Architects and Engineers
Megan Ray NicholsFuture workspace, human interaction and unique experiences: here’s how artificial intelligence and VR impact on architects and engineers.
Air Pollution Mask for Kids
Ruben BaartDanish design studio Kilo created an air pollution mask suitable for kids aged six and up.
Ectogenesis, Artificial Womb, Human Egg?
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkThe artificial womb is on the verge of becoming a reality, but how it will affect our culture is for us to decide.
Ad Blockers Go Real Life
Koert van MensvoortThe Brand Killer augmented reality headset boomerangs ad blocking into the physical realm.
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.
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.
Digital Detox: Disconnect to Reconnect?
Nadine RoestenburgDo you feel information overloaded? Do you experience stress? Do you feel like you are addicted to your smartphone, laptop, or the Internet? Get yourself digital detoxed!
GM Ants Show How Insect Societies Work
Julie ReindlScientists gene modify ants in order to find out more about their social behavior.
NNN Presents HUBOT - The Job Agency for People and Robots
NextNature.netA horse can run faster than a human, yet nobody claims horses will make mankind dispensable. When a man rides a horse and the two work together, something new happens. Then, what …
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 …
HUBOT: Meet the Data Waiter
NextNature.netAs a data waiter you are working at the Tinder restaurant. Upon arrival, visitors log in with their social media account. An intelligent algorithm matches the guests based on …
The Idea for Lab-Grown Meat Was Born in a Prisoner-of-War Camp
Chase PurdyThe phone call was as unexpected as the American accent at the other end of the line. And when she hung up a few moments later, Ira van Eelen had to stop to catch her breath. More …
Intimate Technology Series on NNN
NextNature.netWe called upon artists, filmmakers and film enthusiasts around the world to create a one-minute videos for the intimate technology series.
New AI Model Can Mimic Any Human Voice
Elle Zhan WeiLyrebird is an AI model capable of synthesizing anyone’s voice from just a one-minute audio sample.
Nomophobia: the Fear of Phonelessness
Jack CaulfieldNomophobia, no-mobile-phobia, is the fear of being separated from your smartphone.
One Minute on the Internet
Ruben BaartWith the rise of modernity, we have domesticated ourselves with new technology: discover how the world spends one minute on the Internet.
Pay with Your Face
Elle Zhan WeiFace-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals.
AI Foodcial Recognition
Julie ReindlPic2Recipe is an artificial intelligence system able to recognize ingredients, identify a dish and suggest recipes from a single image.
Robotization Makes Work More Human
Koert van MensvoortImagine being 16 and studying for a job that soon won't exist. What kind of future is that? New occupations will come thanks to robotization.
Jobs for the Extraordinary-Robots at Work #5
Mathilde NakkenThis is post number five of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this last episode we present you five jobs for the extraordinary, the ones who won't let themselves be categorized.
Slaughterbots Video Depicts Killer Bots Nightmare
Koert van MensvoortThis seven-minute video, titled 'Slaughterbots', shows a future in which palm-sized autonomous drones commit untraceable massacres.
Smartphones Will Soon Be a Thing of the Past
Megan Ray NicholsSmartphones have become almost a part of who we are. According to tech industry experts, however, the smartphone's days are numbered and that number is lower than you might expect.
Smell of Data Documentary on Nextnature.net
Ruben BaartThe Smell of Data documentary will make its online debut on nextnature.net.
The Story of Money: Shells
NextNature.netThe story of money: an accessible roadmap from prehistory to digital age, from cows to credit, from gold mining to bitcoin mining. This episode: shells.
Robotic Tarzan Controls Crops
Julie ReindlA robot inspired by a sloth was developed in order to control crops growing in our fields.
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.
Turning Air Pollution Into Ink
Elle Zhan WeiIntroducing world's first ink completely made from air pollution.
Turning Glass Bottles into Sand
Julie ReindlA machine lets drinkers instantly turn their empty beer bottles into sand.
A Virtual Cure for the Socially Withdrawn
Julie ReindlUsing alternative reality as a cure for the socially excluded.
Wind Turbines Threatens Birdlife
Elle Zhan WeiA wind farm in Scotland is on hold because of its lethal killing power towards seabirds.
Drones Protect Indonesia from Volcanic Danger
Jack CaulfieldIn Bali, volcanic danger looms large. Scientists are trying to use drones to forestall the danger and make the invisible workings of the volcano visible.
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 …
This Twitterbot imagines the Fanta flavors that will fuel your summer
Kelly van GemertToday, artificial intelligence is doing all kinds of things: It can write an episode of game of thrones , it may revolutionize the teaching industry , and it's drawing new streets …
Future AI may hallucinate and get depressed — just like the rest of us
Tristan GreeneScientists believe the introduction of a hormone-like system, such as the one found in the human brain, could give AI the ability to reason and make decisions like people do. …
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 …
A happy birth day to Louise Brown
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDear Louise Brown, On behalf of the future I would like to congratulate you on your birthday. It has been 40 years that you where born into this world on July 25th 1978, …
Why insects are not the new sushi
Jonas HousePeople across the world have been eating insects for thousands of years. We know that approximately 2,000 species are edible and that these insects are eaten in many different …
Interview: Huub Ehlhardt on the evolution of products
Kelly van Gemert"To understand why a product is the way it is today, you need to learn about its evolutionary background." Meet Huub Ehlhardt, an engineer with a PhD in product design . Huub …
Why in the future, we will all wear one piece of garment
Ruben BaartIt's not an easy task to define the practice of designer Jasna Rok . Fashtech pioneer? Radical innovator? Visionary designer? ‘All of the above’ seems only appropriate. In fact, …
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 …
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 …
Brain-assisted driving: Mind-control your car
Charlotte KuijpersBefore fully autonomous cars take over our streets, we may experience a transition phase: Fasten your seatbelts, as Nissan introduced a so-called Brain to Vehicle (B2V) system to …
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 …
Period emoji could smash the stigma surrounding menstruation
Cara CurtisAstonishingly, we’re still living in a world where most women feel uncomfortable talking about their periods and some don’t even have access to sanitary products. This is why …
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 …
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 …
ReTuna: the Shopping Mall Selling Nothing but Recycled Products
Jack CaulfieldA Swedish shopping center is bucking the trend of mindless consumption. At the ReTuna Återbruksgalleria every product is made of recycled materials.
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 …
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 …
This tiny tooth sensor tracks what you eat, and it could help you be healthier
Vanessa Bates RamirezThe South Beach diet. The Atkins diet. Eating paleo. Cutting out gluten. Going vegan. The list of fad diets and health crazes goes on, yet health statistics in the US and around …
People are less likely to turn a robot off if it asks them not to
Tristan GreeneA team of German researchers published a study earlier this week indicating people can be duped into leaving a robot turned on just because it “asks” them to. The …
Here’s what manufacturing enhanced with virtual reality will look like
Megan Ray NicholsRobots are coming for our jobs. Virtual reality is coming to make the jobs that remain easier to accomplish. All of the world’s manufacturing sectors are in the process of …
'WFF' is a person who you encountered briefly, but stays in your online life forever
TeyoshBefore social networks, there were episodic characters in our lives - people we've only met once or twice, and we haven’t heard from since. Nowadays whoever, we once add a person …
Next Nature is hiring an army of bots
Next Nature DevAs we showed with HUBOT , we can use new technologies and robotics to make our work more enjoyable, interesting and humane. Aside from our speculative jobs, a lot of robotic …
This artificial reef was just deployed in Sydney Harbor
Vanessa Bates RamirezEarth’s oceans have seen better days. They’re inundated with plastic waste, both whole single-use plastics and tons of plastic microparticles that find their way back into our …
The Artificial Womb project receives funding to develop a prototype
Freya HutchingsHooray! The team of researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (whom we previously collaborated with to design a prototype for an artificial womb ) has been awarded a …
Beyond biomimicry: a new urgency
William MyersDesigners face an unprecedented urgency to alter their methods and reprioritize their goals to address the accelerating degradation of the environment. This new …
How to bingewatch the Intimate Technology series
Next Nature DevTechnology is coming closer to us. In the form of decades old headphones or state-of-art devices. It has always been a part of our lives and this only seems to develop further: …
FRAP: Fear of a Recently Added Person
TeyoshDo you know that feeling when you add someone on your social media and you cannot help to think that, now that this person sees your profile, your posting will never be the same? …
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 …
Iceland is mourning a dead glacier
Rupert ReadDeath certificates and commemorative plaques aren’t something you’d normally associate with a glacier. But that is exactly how Iceland recently mourned the loss of 700-year-old …
In conversation with Jalila Essaïdi
Freya HutchingsWhat do in-vitro human skin, spider silk and cow manure have in common? They are all unlikely materials that can cloth, protect and inspire humans, as realized by award-winning …
Discussing bio-based material experiences with Elvin Karana
Meike SchipperThe world of design is in need of new materials that align with the urgency for sustainability. Issues such as climate change, plastic waste and harmful materials require us to …
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 …
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 …
NATURE is an exhibition where biology and design meet
Ruben BaartCube Design Museum in Kerkrade and Cooper Hewitt in New York present the comprehensive exhibition NATURE - in which internationally renowned designers, artists and inventors …
10 Next Nature dinner table conversation starters
Ruben BaartSummer is here and the sun is out, and yes, this is awesome. After a long day in the sizzling summer sun, you get a group of people together to share some delicious food, …
Experience biodesign at DDW19
Ruben BaartBio design crosses the border between the ‘made’ and the ‘born’. Enabling living organisms as essential design elements, it brings us products that adapt, grow, sense and repair …
Why some plastic packaging is necessary to prevent food waste
Manoj DoraThere has been a surge in awareness of the damage that plastic pollution does to our planet in recent years. It has spurred a number of campaigns to remove single-use plastics …
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 …
Work with us!
Next Nature DevWe are a network of makers, thinkers, educators and supporters. With members in 44 countries, we are the international network for anyone interested in the debate on our future – …
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 …
Open call: speculative product advertisements
Next Nature DevIn anticipation of the forthcoming Next Nature Magazine, we call upon you, dearest creatives, to submit a fictitious editorial advertisement: The Infotizement. The infotizement is …
Fake for real: Octopus lips
Freya HutchingsA recent lip filler trend blew up on social media. 'Devil lips' , or Octopus lips, have attracted divided opinion online. When the body modification hit Instagram, some spectators …
Our Next Nature Future Lab plan received funding
Next Nature DevHooray! This just in: Next Nature Network is granted a significant contribution from the Dutch government intended to develop a Future Lab for design & technology in Eindhoven …
Her is an outlook on the possible future of dating a chatbot
Ruben BaartWith most of us stuck at home because of lockdown, for the singles around us intimacy may have turned into a distant dream. Could we find our salvation in technology? And what …
Next Generation: Cooking with viruses with Pei-Ying Lin
Britta de VriesThis story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Want to see your work here? Get in touch and …
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 …
Next Generation: Hearing the first breath of Earth with Dora Lionstone
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 …
Next Generation: illustrating the remains of the anthropocene with Louise Silfversparre
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 …
Next Generation: Designing modular fashion with Mathilde Rougier
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 …
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 …
Next Nature announces their 2021-2024 plans
Next Nature DevWith great pleasure we announce our plans for 2021-2024: ‘Hello, Superorganism’ . Our human presence has a huge impact on the planet; plastic in the oceans, climate change, mass …
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 …
Team Human is a manifesto for humankind
Ruben Baart' Team Human ' is a manifesto—a fiery distillation of media theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilization and human nature. In one hundred lean and incisive …
How technology keeps us connected
Britta de VriesAt this moment in time, many people are staying at home in order to flatten the curve . It is times like these that we realize how vital technology is to us and our societies. It …
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 …
Virtual makeup: maybe they're born with it, maybe it’s XR
Ruben BaartAs our reality exists increasingly within digital realms, our virtual world demands a virtual identity. Our work is hybrid, our social identity is online and our connection is …
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 …
14 Golden Rules of working with a robot
Next Nature DevThe 14 Golden Rules of HUBOT are rules of conduct which must be followed and which everyone needs to hold each other to account. Themes like respect, teamwork, creativity, and …
5 Dutch exhibitions you cannot miss this summer
Ruben BaartInterior based on bacteria, spaces morphing perception and the merging of man, animal and machine. These five must see exhibitions in the Netherlands explore the intersection of …
How can Big History help us think about the future?
Noriko Wynn'Big History' is a multidisciplinary study that seeks to put the human story into the context of a 13.8 billion-year story from the Big Bang to now.
Cyborg mythologies #3: in god we trust, all others bring data
MaithriThis is #3 in our cyborg mythologies series, where we explore the cyborg as a historical being intertwined within mythologism, ancient religion and sacred iconology. A way to …
This exhibition explores the open ends of the apocalypse
Ruben BaartThe exhibition "Apocalypse - End Without End" shows that the end is a human invention
Dune explores the geopolitics behind resource extraction
Oli MouldDune offers a useful allegorical narrative of the “scramble for Africa”, which saw European empires carve up the continent into colonized powers.
The Institute of Digital Fashion explores what's next in the industry
Ruben BaartTrading animal skins for pixels, our digital selves call for a digital wardrobe. The Institute of Digital Fashion , led by CommuneEast founder Leanne Elliott Young and Digi-Gxl …
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.
Working with microbes to clean up electronic waste
Sebastien FarnaudIf you were to stack up all the electronic waste produced annually around the world it would weigh as much as all the commercial aircrafts ever produced, or 5,000 Eiffel towers. …
Next Generation: Exploring blood, salt and iron as biomaterials with Hedwich Rooks
Kelly van GemertThis story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch: magazine@nextnature.net. …
How technology will help us adapt to climate change
Ruben BaartClimate change will transform how we live, but these tech and policy experts see reason for optimism
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.
Growing artificial muscles
Marit BeerseA team of researchers from Freiburg University has developed an artificial muscle that may result in improvements in medicine, prosthetics, and implants.
The long history of the metaverse
Tom BoellstorffMany aspects of the current metaverse were already familiar 143 years ago.
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 …
Using tattoos in medicine
Marit BeerseWhat if we can use tattoos to measure the concentration of certain components in your blood? Scientists developed a film that can detect the amount of oxygen.
Next Generation: Demonstrating non-human narratives with Lindsey Bundel
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 …
Next Generation: Designing ecological webs with Miriam Lellek
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 …
Next Generation: (Un)learning Time By Light with Valentine Maurice
Kelly van GemertThis story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your …
Next Generation: Redesigning Burberry with Jiyong Lee
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 …
Sónar Lisboa: a festival for body and brain
Ruben BaartSometimes a festival can be so much more. Tapping into arts, design, and electronic and experimental music festival, Sónar Lisboa (8-10 April) is one for the body and for the …
Next Generation: Designing a living menstrual cup with Lucrezia Alessandroni
Kelly van GemertWhat if living objects could re-connect humans with their menstrual cycle and change the way we perceive it?
Next Generation: Unlearning botanical narratives with Nina Škerjanc
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 …
We’re all radioactive – life isn't possible without it
Marit BeerseMost radiation is natural and life on Earth wouldn’t be possible without it.
Artist refuses photography prize after admitting his image was AI-generated
Vanessa Bates RamirezA German artist refused a photography prize after admitting his image was AI-generated.
This billionaire wants to live forever
Eleni MaragkouFrom the mythical fountain of youth to the many anti-aging procedures available today: humans have dreamed of internal youth for a long time already. At lot of us perceive aging, …
Dancing at the intersection of natural and virtual worlds
Eleni MaragkouExploring the intersection of technology and art, a team of creatives presents a virtual performance that pushes the limits of human expression.
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.
Paco Rabanne's AI-designed perfume can connect with your phone while making you smell sexier
Selin KirPaco Rabanne already positioned himself as a cutting-edge designer by establishing his reputation as one of the trailblazers during the space age movement of the 1960s. With his …
People would rather give up sex and vacations than their smartphones
Koert van MensvoortDid you know that some Dutch people are so addicted to their devices that they'd rather give up sex, vacations, or even a finger than their phone?
Soon you can have dinner in space in a low-carbon balloon (if you're rich)
Kelly van GemertGet ready to take your dining experience to literal new heights, soon we are able to enjoy high cuisine at the edge of space. French company Zephalto is introducing extravagant …
Nurturing architecture
Ruben BaartThe way we currently build is not sustainable. We will have to develop a sustainable living environment that matches our human needs, intuitions and potential.
Enter the symbiocene
Glenn AlbrechtWhat if we would use the idea of symbiosis as the basis for the next period of Earth’s history?
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.