Search results for biomimicry

Visual of Biomimicry in Action

Biomimicry in Action

An inspiring topic about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus gave a talk on how nature influenced our future.

Visual of When Is Biomimicry Not Really Biomimicry?

When Is Biomimicry Not Really Biomimicry?

A entomologist gives another explanation for that famous fruit fly with ant-patterned wings: it's not evolution, it's human error.

Visual of An introduction to biomimicry

An introduction to biomimicry

The first time I explained biomimicry to a stranger was not in a talk or a workshop but in a big-box bookstore just after Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature had come out. I …

Visual of

"Biomimicry", the Documentary

Biomimicry is a documentary on the topic of how life and biology can be the mentors for our own innovation in the world.

Visual of Beyond biomimicry: a new urgency

Beyond biomimicry: a new urgency

Designers face an unprecedented urgency to alter their methods and reprioritize their goals to address the accelerating degradation of the environment. This new …

Visual of Structuring biomimicry, improving building's resiliency

Structuring biomimicry, improving building's resiliency

The same way Einstein assumes the speed of light to be a constant of reference for his Theory of Relativity, the philosophy of biomimicry assumes Nature as a constant of reference …

Visual of Could Biomimicry Help us Solve the Refugee Crisis?

Could Biomimicry Help us Solve the Refugee Crisis?

From nutrients within an organism, to organisms within collectives, to populations within a territory and so on - nature offers models on how to deal with highly complex systems.

Visual of How a starfish inspires robotic design

How a starfish inspires robotic design

In a feat of biomimicry that seamlessly marries biology with physics, tests carried out at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering made fascinating …

Visual of How a mantis shrimp can one day help build self-growing roads

How a mantis shrimp can one day help build self-growing roads

Don’t get fooled by the colourful, unsuspecting demeanour and size of the mantis shrimp. Known as “death incarnate” to its prey on the seafloor, the crustacean hides two …

Visual of Matilde Boelhouwer wants to make urban environments flower again

Matilde Boelhouwer wants to make urban environments flower again

Matilde Boelhouwer is a designer whose work speculates between art, design, science, biology and food. Matilde shapes this obligation into a studio which mainly focuses on the …

Visual of Discussing non-human centered design with Kelvin Godee and Simon Wijrdeman

Discussing non-human centered design with Kelvin Godee and Simon Wijrdeman

What if design began to put everything but the human first? The needs of the human not paramount to the design process, but instead the other entities that we cohabit planet earth …

Visual of Fish-inspired soft robot takes a deep dive

Fish-inspired soft robot takes a deep dive

The deepest regions of the oceans still remain one of the least explored areas on Earth, despite their considerable scientific interest and the richness of lifeforms inhabiting …

Visual of Turn your garden into living artworks for bees

Turn your garden into living artworks for bees

Art not for people, but for insects. That is the goal of the Pollinator Pathway project by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. With her concept she wants to change the way we perceive our …

Visual of In conversation with Jalila Essaïdi

In conversation with Jalila Essaïdi

What do in-vitro human skin, spider silk and cow manure have in common? They are all unlikely materials that can cloth, protect and inspire humans, as realized by award-winning …

Visual of Meet Biomimic Alyssa Stark

Meet Biomimic Alyssa Stark

Using biology as a model for innovation and progress, Alyssa Stark embodies the essence of Biomimicry.

Visual of How modern technology is inspired by the natural world

How modern technology is inspired by the natural world

What do a kingfisher, cocklebur pods and a Namibian beetle have in common? Besides being living organisms, they have all served as inspiration for creative human technologies to …

Visual of Next Generation: Unleashing nature’s untapped potential with Amelie Unger

Next Generation: Unleashing nature’s untapped potential with Amelie Unger

This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …

Visual of Innovation inspired by Old Nature

Innovation inspired by Old Nature

Janine Benyus talks about biomimcry at TED (video) . Of course, we “like” her book and appreciate the concept of biomimcry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to …

Visual of 6 designers changing the future of fashion

6 designers changing the future of fashion

We live in a world of fast or disposable fashion. This industry is increasingly impacting the environment due to the use of toxic chemicals, water and energy consumption, heavy …

Visual of Discussing bio-based material experiences with Elvin Karana

Discussing bio-based material experiences with Elvin Karana

The world of design is in need of new materials that align with the urgency for sustainability. Issues such as climate change, plastic waste and harmful materials require us to …

Visual of Pirjo Kääriäinen on new ecological biomateriality

Pirjo Kääriäinen on new ecological biomateriality

Meet Pirjo Kääriäinen, professor of design driven fibre innovation at Aalto University, Finland. Kääriäinen founded CHEMARTS —a collaborative program at the university that brings …

Visual of Build an organisation that lasts by creating a superorganism

Build an organisation that lasts by creating a superorganism

For the past 25 years, I’ve studied everything from baboon cooperation in Ethiopia and orca whale innovation in the Bering Sea, to the Argentine ant invasion in my kitchen, and my …

Visual of Harvesting Water from Thin Air

Harvesting Water from Thin Air

Scientists in Harvard University have designed a new material inspired by organisms, such as cacti, that can effectively harvest water from thin air.

Visual of Enter the symbiocene

Enter the symbiocene

What if we would use the idea of symbiosis as the basis for the next period of Earth’s history?

Visual of Interview: Rachel Armstrong, Innovative Scientist Who Wants to Grow Architecture

Interview: Rachel Armstrong, Innovative Scientist Who Wants to Grow Architecture

Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.

Visual of Wasps Inspire Robotic Needle for Surgery

Wasps Inspire Robotic Needle for Surgery

The Wood-Boring Wasp inspired scientists to create a new robotic needle which will be used in brain surgery.

Visual of How a Hummingbird Creates Green Energy

How a Hummingbird Creates Green Energy

A start-up company build a wind turbine inspired by the hummingbird.

Visual of How biotechnology could shape the future of product design

How biotechnology could shape the future of product design

Humans have been manipulating living things for thousands of years. Examples of early biotechnologies include domesticating plants and animals and then selectively breeding them …

Visual of Next Generation: Sensing the critical zone with Menno Brouwer

Next Generation: Sensing the critical zone with Menno Brouwer

This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …

Visual of No-Waste Architecture From Seawater

No-Waste Architecture From Seawater

The Salt Project created an additional ecosystem to revive desertified lands.

Visual of Experience biodesign at DDW19

Experience biodesign at DDW19

Bio 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 …

Visual of Nurturing architecture

Nurturing architecture

The way we currently build is not sustainable. We will have to develop a sustainable living environment that matches our human needs, intuitions and potential.

Visual of Biomimicmarketing

Biomimicmarketing

The sciences of biomimicry studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs to solve human problems: Culture imitates nature. The Black&Decker …

Visual of Better Than Nature?

Better Than Nature?

At the turn of the millennium, miniaturized canines acquired the cherished status of living, designer handbag ornaments.  These teeny tiny photogenic doggies, which had been …

Visual of NANO Supermarket Jury Report 2012

NANO Supermarket Jury Report 2012

After the successful introduction of the NANO Supermarket in 2010 it became even more clear that the contest and the presented results produced discussions and many challenges to …

Visual of Using Bacteria as a Future 3D-Printer

Using Bacteria as a Future 3D-Printer

What if 3D objects could not only be printed by normal techniques, but naturally grown, using photo sensitive bacteria?

Visual of Suzanne Lee wants to live in a world that uses only sustainable materials

Suzanne Lee wants to live in a world that uses only sustainable materials

Biotechnology is nearly as old as humanity itself. The food you eat and the pets you love? You can thank our ancestors for kickstarting the agricultural revolution, using …

Visual of In conversation with cyborg choreographer Moon Ribas

In conversation with cyborg choreographer Moon Ribas

If we could extend our senses in order to perceive the planet in a deeper way, would our understanding and our behavior towards it be different? We caught up with cyborg …

Visual of Next Generation: Launching the Eva Biodesign Lab with Carlos Silveira

Next Generation: Launching the Eva Biodesign Lab with Carlos Silveira

This story is part of  Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here?  Get in touch  and plot your …

Visual of How to plant seeds with your shoes

How to plant seeds with your shoes

Imagine helping nature restore itself simply by going for a run. In a fusion of fashion and conservation, London-based designer Kiki Grammatopoulos has introduced her concept …

Visual of Beaver 2.0

Beaver 2.0

Visual of Biopresence - Human DNA Trees

Biopresence - Human DNA Trees

Imagine a graveyard without tombstones, instead there are growing trees that contain genetic material of the deceased people burried there. Biopresence creates Human DNA trees by …

Visual of Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2 is a manmade closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona. Constructed between 1987 and 1989, it was used to test if and how people could live and work in a closed …

Visual of Excitement Clothing

Excitement Clothing

The body suit pictured above has LEDs that illuminate according to the wearer's state of excitement. Skin signals are measured and change light emission through biometric sensing …

Visual of Excuse me, is Your Tooth Ringing?

Excuse me, is Your Tooth Ringing?

The 'tooth phone' consists of a tiny vibrator and a radio wave receiver implanted into a tooth during routine dental surgery. Sound, which comes into the tooth as a digital radio …

Visual of Close to skin technology

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 …

Visual of NOT (Natural) AND NOT (mechanical) = human

NOT (Natural) AND NOT (mechanical) = human

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) You dehumanize a man as much by returning him to nature - by making him one with rocks, vegetation, and animals - as by turning him into a machine. Both …

Visual of Plant Sensors

Plant Sensors

One 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 …

Visual of Treehouse

Treehouse

A tree house that looks like a fruit hanging in a tree. Found here

Visual of Wildgruen

Wildgruen

Mandy Meißner's "Wildgruen", a plant that can move and communicate. In her view, plants need to be freed from their isolation, both in the way that they can only lean towards the …

Visual of 10 Biomimic Gadgets

10 Biomimic Gadgets

Coming across an image like this, makes one wonder at first: is it a giant punch-bag? Some sort of soft water-drop-sculpture? No, it is the Emergency Outdoor Survival Cocoon , …

Visual of Augmented Animals

Augmented Animals

Animals do not shape their living environment as radically as humans, but why don't we give them some help. James Auger envisions animals, birds, reptiles and even fish becoming …

Visual of Augmented Fish Reality

Augmented Fish Reality

Augmented Fish Reality is an interactive installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures. These sculptures allow Siamese Fighting fish (Betta Splendons) to use …

Visual of Bioprinting in Hawai

Bioprinting in Hawai

This Fall, the 1st world Bioprinting Congress is organized in Honolulu, Hawai. Four whole days of biopatterning, bioassembly and biofabrication! The ironic choice of location …

Visual of Bone Chair

Bone Chair

Joris Laarman 's Bone chair takes its inspiration from the efficient way that bones grow (adding material where strength is needed and taking away material where it's …

Visual of Deep in the Forest : Owls, Logs and Noise

Deep in the Forest : Owls, Logs and Noise

Starting 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, …

Visual of Plantvertising

Plantvertising

You put all that care into your plants, and what do you get in return? Magic. Buy a can with a bean seed , add water, watch it sprout with a message etched on the leaf. Well in …

Visual of Walking Energy Cells

Walking Energy Cells

Remember this one? Body heat is used to power machines in The Matrix . Nine years after the first of the trilogy came to screen, a company comes up with a body-powered-battery. In …

Visual of Feelings Translated to Plants

Feelings Translated to Plants

Ambient Biomedia is an investigative project about using living beings, in particular plants, to display human lifestyle problems information. The working principle of our systems …

Visual of Bananawall

Bananawall

Who would not need a bananawall in their officegarden? This modular freestanding, indoor/outdoor bananawall system was designed by Stefan Sagmeister . It is made of 7200 banana's. …

Visual of Big Dog got puppies

Big Dog got puppies

We posted this fella two years ago but the guys at Boston Dynamics haven't been sitting still. Improvements have been made and Big Dog got puppies! Little Dog (a learning robot …

Visual of Biomechanical Energy Harvesting

Biomechanical Energy Harvesting

Let's face it: every time your cellphone battery runs empty you feel amputated and you quickly run back to your house to connect to a powering-adapter. Bionic Power Inc. is now …

Visual of Bionic woman

Bionic woman

More bionic experiments can be found here .

Visual of Driving on Algue

Driving on Algue

Green bubbles? Yes, they seem to be everywhere nowadays. But for a change we aren't talking about those greenish marketing bubbles of the flourishing sustainability cult. …

Visual of Elephant sends sms messages to rangers

Elephant sends sms messages to rangers

In the Kenyan wildlife conservancy Ol Pejeta elephants are tagged with a GPS-triggered text messaging device. Before the elephants start raiding the nearby villagers' harvest they …

Visual of Futuristic Bird Dwellings

Futuristic Bird Dwellings

Every fashionable self-conscious modern bird needs one of these futuristic dwellings, no? Designed by Kevin Sethapun.

Visual of High Performance Hip

High Performance Hip

A commercial by an orthopaedic reconstruction company introducing the next generation of joint replacements: " Highly advanced hips and knees. Engineered to meet the needs of your …

Visual of Roboswift, Eyes in Disguise

Roboswift, Eyes in Disguise

With its 50 cm wing span and 80 grams of weight, this high tech bird is ready to infiltrate swift surveillance squads next summer. Aerospace engineering students at TU Delft , …

Visual of Smart Forests - EWAN

Smart Forests - EWAN

At 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 …

Visual of Social Networking down to the Genetic Level

Social Networking down to the Genetic Level

If you've ever wanted to know just exactly how much DNA you share with your ridiculously tall brother or doppelganger best friend, you'll soon be able to find out. 23andMe , a …

Visual of The Blogging Houseplant

The Blogging Houseplant

Meet midori-san ,  the first blogging houseplant! Through sensors connected to the leaves of this Sweetheart Hoya reads bioelectric currents through the plant, this gives …

Visual of A hermit crab in a glass house

A hermit crab in a glass house

Never thought I would ever empathize with a hermit crab. But somehow the 'situation' the creature is in, provides me with a feeling of recognition. According to this video marine …

Visual of Architecture that repairs itself

Architecture that repairs itself

Venice, Italy is sinking. To save it, Dr. Rachel Armstrong in her TED talk argues we need to outgrow architecture made of inert materials and, well, make architecture that grows …

Visual of Artificial 'Trees' to Stop Climate Change

Artificial 'Trees' to Stop Climate Change

The fabrication of forests with artificial trees is one of the best strategies to stop climate change, according to scientists of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers . The …

Visual of Bacteria that Turn CO2 into Energy

Bacteria that Turn CO2 into Energy

We’ve written earlier about man–made bacteria that eat waste & shit petrol . How about a genetically modified bacteria that can eat CO2 and excrete methane that could power …

Visual of Battery-Free Implantable Neural Sensor

Battery-Free Implantable Neural Sensor

The shrinking size of electronics allows for the implantation of increasingly sophisticated electronic devices in the human body, paving the way for new prosthetics and …

Visual of Bioluminescent Trees will Replace Streetlights?

Bioluminescent Trees will Replace Streetlights?

Most people know about light emitting organisms such as jellyfishes, fireflies and mushrooms . Some time ago, genetic engineers transferred genes responsible for the luciferin and …

Visual of Bionic Pinguins

Bionic Pinguins

Festo Bionic Learning Lab demonstrates their new technologies inspired by nature. Another step towards artificial pets replacing extincted animals, or just an exposé of scientific …

Visual of BioStream

BioStream

A renewable energy technology company in Australia designed this power generation system inspired by the shape of the tailfins of sharks, tuna and mackerel. The currents on the …

Visual of Brain Scan Replaces Job Interview in 5 Years?

Brain Scan Replaces Job Interview in 5 Years?

Forget about palmistry! MRI scans for candidates in top jobs such as bank directors could soon become part of the job-application package, says Erasmus University researcher Prof …

Visual of Craig Venter – Catalyst of evolution

Craig Venter – Catalyst of evolution

If the six hour crash course on synthetic genomics is a bit too much for you, there is always a more snappy TED lecture in which Craig Venter ponders on whether we can create new …

Visual of Crash course on synthetic genomics

Crash course on synthetic genomics

Next Monday when your colleagues ask you what you have been doing for the weekend, you might answer you something default like you went out with friends, danced, biked to the …

Visual of Cyborg Insects

Cyborg Insects

Scientists at the University of California created a neural implant for a beetle that gives them wireless control over the insect. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes …

Visual of Deliver us from Skeuomorph Prosthetics

Deliver us from Skeuomorph Prosthetics

No, this is not another example in our fake for real series , comparing an artificial with a human hand. Rather, you are looking at twice the same hand: with and without its …

Visual of Ear on your arm? Why not?!

Ear on your arm? Why not?!

For over 40 years Australian artist Stelios Arcadious Stelarc has made art with medical instruments, prosthetics, robots, virtual reality systems and biotechnology to investigate …

Visual of Eyeborg

Eyeborg

The Eyeborg Project is the work of Rob Spence, a 36 year old filmmaker residing in Toronto, Canada and Kosta Grammatis – an unemployed engineer from San Francisco, California. …

Visual of Flyvertising

Flyvertising

To draw attention to a stand at the publishing house of the Frankfurter Buchmesse , a publisher hired some flies. The paper mini-banners -- attached with self-dissolving wax -- …

Visual of Food Design in the 21th Century

Food Design in the 21th Century

Old nature provided us with a wide variety of food: fresh milk, crispy vegetables, nutritious meat. Yet this is not enough, we want more: We want a printed steak , square …

Visual of Fresh from the Pharm

Fresh from the Pharm

Will we in the future still buy several needs according food in shops, or will we grow M&M’s ourselves? There is a lot happening on in the field of food technology , think for …

Visual of Future babes

Future babes

A future in which prosthetic patches prevent bodies from aging? Or a sexists view on femininity in robotics?   Either way, the question is whether they are up- or downgrades of …

Visual of Growth Assembly

Growth Assembly

Though the example product seems a little far-fetched; growth assembly could be quite revolutionary. Worldwide shipping of manufactured things is very inefficient. Why not ship …

Visual of Hyperfins

Hyperfins

The next step in biomimetic body extentions for propelling yourself through water. Man moves on from copying ducks to become a dolphin-like cyborg. With these fins you can be …

Visual of Immune Systems

Immune Systems

Quite a multi-layeredness of the artificially strengthened immune systems they have in place at the Thai border. Microbes and terrorist: hand in your passport. Peculiar image of …

Visual of Implantable Silicon-Silk Electronics

Implantable Silicon-Silk Electronics

Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania are creating electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body, through the use of thin, flexible silicon electronics on …

Visual of Inorganic Flora

Inorganic Flora

By highlighting the geometric and mechanical structure of flowers, computer graphics illustrator Macoto Murayama produced these beautiful renderings. These flowers must not be …

Visual of Next Nest

Next Nest

When a bird builds a nest, we call it nature, but when a human puts up an apartment building, suddenly it’s culture? As if the dividing line between nature and culture wasn't …

Visual of Pelvis Rocking Chair

Pelvis Rocking Chair

It is nature, but not like we know it when chairs biomimic the pelvis. This anatomic Ruby rockingchair was designed by Pouyan Mokhtarani , Tehran (Iran). Via b oingboing.net | …

Visual of Robot hand meets Sushi

Robot hand meets Sushi

We are anxiously waiting for the robot that makes the sushi, but at Squse , they have created the hand that can carefully place the delicacies in a box without crushing them. …

Visual of Sunlight-shaped Furniture

Sunlight-shaped Furniture

Austrian designers Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler have created a solar powered machine that makes arrays of furnishings that vary based on how much sunlight it receives over …

Visual of Tree Shapers

Tree Shapers

Peter Cook and Becky Northey are tree shapers. Their designs are so ten years ago ; but still worth a post. Materials used: water, sunlight, soil... and a sprout planted in 1998 …

Visual of Turning Brain Waves into Tweets

Turning Brain Waves into Tweets

Are you using Twitter and looking for faster ways to update your followers with your utterly mundane status on what you are thinking? Adam Wilson from the University of Wisconsin …

Visual of USB Finger

USB Finger

No this isn't photoshopped. After a motor accident Finish hacker Jerry Jalava decided not to use a normal prosthesis and felt that a prosthesis usb memory stick would enhance his …

Visual of 3D Bioprinter promises tissue on demand

3D Bioprinter promises tissue on demand

Behold "the world's first production model 3D bio-printer." A machine capable of arranging human cells and artificial scaffolds into complex three-dimensional structures, which …

Visual of Acoustic Botany

Acoustic Botany

With his speculative ‘acoustic garden’ David Benqué tries to explore our cultural and aesthetic relationship to nature. He states that the current debate around Genetic …

Visual of BioPong

BioPong

Techno-artists love insects. Especially their unpredictable behaviour. Eindhoven (NL) based design studio Ehdv used tracking software and connected some camera’to a bunch of wood …

Visual of BioPong II

BioPong II

This time no technological enhanced roosters, dogs, cats or wood lice, but sheep! The famous viral Extreme Shepherding by The Baaa-Studs.

Visual of Computer versus Bacteria: Round Two

Computer versus Bacteria: Round Two

Last year, scientists managed to use the bacteria Escherichia coli to solve a mathematical problem , described in this research . This year, the building blocks of a computer are …

Visual of Craig Venter unveils 'Synthetic Life'

Craig Venter unveils 'Synthetic Life'

Craig Venter announces what might be a historic milestone in the nature caused by people. For 15 years, Craig Venter and his team of scientists have tried to synthesize life from …

Visual of Cuddly Scooters

Cuddly Scooters

Why do we grow attached to things? Patricia Piccinini captured it well in this peculiar work: The Stags - 2008 (Culture becomes nature) The Nest - 2006 Thicker than Water - 2007 …

Visual of Fake blood cells deliver medicines

Fake blood cells deliver medicines

Newly created synthetic particles that mimic red blood cells may one day carry drug molecules and/or oxygen through bloodstreams, scientists write in the Proceedings of the …

Visual of FluDOC – Glowing Bacteria Show if You Have Influenza

FluDOC – Glowing Bacteria Show if You Have Influenza

Bacteria are traditionally perceived as infectious and unhealthy, but that is about to change. This week designer Jan van der Asdonk graduated from the Next Nature Lab at the TU/e …

Visual of Grow-a-NanoRaptor

Grow-a-NanoRaptor

Now 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 …

Visual of Having Invented the Gods, Perhaps we can Turn into Them

Having Invented the Gods, Perhaps we can Turn into Them

My name is Jason Silva. I've spent the last 5 years hosting and producing a tv show on Al Gore's Emmy-winning Current TV network and I'm a fellow at the Hybrid Realities …

Visual of How to Grow an Organ

How to Grow an Organ

Buckle up for the state of the art in the fusion of the made & the born. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine presented footage of his …

Visual of Injured Cat gets Bambi-style prosthetics

Injured Cat gets Bambi-style prosthetics

A cat that had its back feet severed by a combine harvester has been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation by a UK vet. The custom-made implants that "peg" the …

Visual of Join the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award

Join the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award

So, you are well aware that biotech will drive our evolution , you took the crash course on synthetic genomics , you've got your map of the DNA world in your backpack and are now …

Visual of Let the Bacteria do the Cleaning

Let the Bacteria do the Cleaning

Dusting furniture and floors should be history in forty years time, as special bacteria in a yet to develop cleaning product will be eating the dirt. The speculative cleaning …

Visual of Mad Cow Motorcycle

Mad Cow Motorcycle

What do you get when you combine bike parts, an electric motor, and a cow skeleton? Our peculiar object of the week was created by artist Billie Grace Lynn . Seen at Museum of Art …

Visual of Nanoparticles in Sunscreen Damage Microbes

Nanoparticles in Sunscreen Damage Microbes

Nanotechnology has been hailed for its benefits because of the potential ability to create drugs that could cure cancer and radiation poisoning, make miniature pollutant filters …

Visual of Nature by Numbers

Nature by Numbers

Nature as math, math as nature. A short movie by Cristóbal Villa . Thanks Martijn .

Visual of Nomadic Plants

Nomadic Plants

Nomadic Plants are a species assembled from a group of robotic-electronic-biological organisms living in symbiosis in order to survive in habitats affected by human activity. The …

Visual of Our Heart as a Power Plant

Our Heart as a Power Plant

Nanowire generators could one day lead to medical devices powered by the patient's own heart. A tiny, nearly invisible nanowire can convert the energy of pulsing, flexing muscles …

Visual of Reading the Body: Finger Length Ratio Predicts Athletic Ability

Reading the Body: Finger Length Ratio Predicts Athletic Ability

The human body is increasingly recognized as a biometric source of information for a wide spectrum of issues, including security, psychopathology, personality and health. Earlier …

Visual of Remote Control Mouse

Remote Control Mouse

Mind control for beginners: A mouse expressing ChR2 channels in its neurons starts running when it receives blue light in its motor cortex. Unsure what applications the …

Visual of Runaway Robots Hunted by the Mammals They Were Designed to Replace

Runaway Robots Hunted by the Mammals They Were Designed to Replace

Last week, the U.S. Navy announced that four of their “ REMUS 100 ” unmanned underwater vehicles sailed off-radar and stopped responding to commands. The ‘bots were part of a …

Visual of Self–Repairing Architecture

Self–Repairing Architecture

All buildings today have something in common: They are made using Victorian technologies. This involves blueprints, industrial manufacturing and construction using teams of …

Visual of Self-healing Surfaces

Self-healing Surfaces

What if a scratch on your car door could heal itself, just like the human skin does? Engineers are working on a way to transfer the self-healing ability of the skin to surfaces …

Visual of Nano Product: Spider Silk Condoms

Nano Product: Spider Silk Condoms

Are we creating the penicillin or the asbestos of the 21st century? In the months preceding our Nano Supermarket Project , we share some speculative nanotech products with you. …

Visual of Stelarc wins Prix Ars Electronica

Stelarc wins Prix Ars Electronica

Glad to announce that performance artist Stelarc – who already for some decades incorporates themes of cyborgization and other human-machine interfaces in his (very bodily) work – …

Visual of Amber Case: We are all Cyborgs Now

Amber Case: We are all Cyborgs Now

Technology is evolving us, says cyborg anthropologist Amber Case in her 8 minutes of TED . We become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens, relying on …

Visual of Augmented Ecologies

Augmented Ecologies

It might take a while before this goes mainstream, if ever, but there is a certain luster in being a plant VJ. Augmented Ecologies is an installation by Guido Maciocci, who rigged …

Visual of Bare necessities

Bare necessities

According 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 …

Visual of Beetle Egg

Beetle Egg

Our peculiar image of the week presents us the lustrous uncannyness of a Beetle car in its embryonic stage. Rest assure: this is fiction, however, metaphorically the sculpture by …

Visual of Biomodd at work

Biomodd at work

Modding is the act of adapting hardware/software to have it do what you want it to do, which does not always correlate with what it is originally built to do. Biomodd (ding) is …

Visual of Bugged Bugs

Bugged Bugs

Some of you might remember the Next Nature article by Rolf Coppens called Withus Oragainstus . Since then there have been occasional newsreports on cyborg insects. For instance …

Visual of Crickets Inspire New Sensitive Sensor

Crickets Inspire New Sensitive Sensor

Inspired by crickets, researchers of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente in the Netherlands have build a biomimetic sensor that can measure changes …

Visual of E.Coli produced Spider Silk

E.Coli produced Spider Silk

In a previous post we have reported on spider silk, it's applications and the way it is produced. Adding the gene responsible for the production of the spider silk protein to …

Visual of Earth 2.0 with Rachel Armstrong

Earth 2.0 with Rachel Armstrong

What are the differences between Earth 1.0 and Earth 2.0 technologies? Rachel Armstrong explains.

Visual of First Lab-Grown Organ Transplanted

First Lab-Grown Organ Transplanted

Another step in the fusion of the made & the born: Surgeons in Sweden have successfully transplanted a fully synthetic, tissue-engineered organ – a trachea– into a man with …

Visual of Fly Paper Clock

Fly Paper Clock

Bionic horror by designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau , who have created a clock that traps insects on flypaper before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The resulting …

Visual of Growing Cement like Coral

Growing Cement like Coral

Corals are the master builders of the animal kingdom. Powered on plankton and their symbiotic algae, hard corals extract the carbon dissolved in seawater and turn it into their …

Visual of Humane Technology #5: Empower People

Humane Technology #5: Empower People

Principle number five: Humane technology doesn't outsource people, but instead empowers them. How healthy or humane is it to have an escalator to the gym? Humane technology should …

Visual of Living Life Support

Living Life Support

Designer Revital Cohen imagines a future where life-support machines are replaced with life-support animals. In this scenario, a transgenic lamb is allowed to frolic in the fields …

Visual of New steps to meld mind and machine

New steps to meld mind and machine

Until now we've seen the types of brain-computer interface where the human has to put on some sort of bulky hat full of wires to control a machine. It won't be like that for long: …

Visual of Playing with Microbes – Biotic Games

Playing with Microbes – Biotic Games

Stanford researchers are developing 'biotic games' involving paramecia and other living organisms. So far, they have created three games that mimic classic video games. The …

Visual of Policing Genes

Policing Genes

The genetics of the plants in your garden could become a police matter. Pharmaceutical companies are experimenting with genetically engineering plants to produce useful and …

Visual of Tattoo 2.0

Tattoo 2.0

As a child you probably had one of those temporary tattoos that come packed with over-sweetened chewing gum. It was a nice decoration, and a way to stand out. Recently researchers …

Visual of The Roots of Plant Intelligence

The Roots of Plant Intelligence

Plants behave in some oddly intelligent ways: fighting predators, maximizing food opportunities ... But can we think of them as actually having a form of intelligence of their …

Visual of Vertical Farming

Vertical Farming

Columbia professor Dickson Despommier imagines filling New Yorks skyscrapers with farms. As over 50% of the world population now lives in urban areas, this scenario could solve …

Visual of Think Breast is Best?  Try Udder

Think Breast is Best? Try Udder

Scientists in China have created transgenic cows that produce 'human' milk.  The researchers boosted the fat content of the milk and added three types of proteins, unique to …

Visual of Tree Temple

Tree Temple

So we may think ‘ guided growth ‘ is a typically 21th century design methodology, yet apparently it was also in vogue in the 19th century. According the original description in …

Visual of What Robots dream of...

What Robots dream of...

You may think it's a cliché, but deep down inside robots want to be birds and fly high in the sky. Hooray for the good people of Festo , that demonstrate at TED how they turn the …

Visual of Army Protected Organic Foods

Army Protected Organic Foods

Over the last few decades, the public has been – and still is – creating awareness on the values of organically produced foods. For many foodies an important value of organic …

Visual of Bacteria Inspire Magnetic Hard Drive

Bacteria Inspire Magnetic Hard Drive

Certain 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 …

Visual of Better Walking with Robotic Legs

Better Walking with Robotic Legs

The Berkeley Robotics & Human Engineering Laboratory is researching a way to improve the performance of human bodies. They are doing innovative research in the field of …

Visual of Bioinspired Robojelly Can Swim Forever

Bioinspired Robojelly Can Swim Forever

Scientists have developed a biomimetic robot that will be able to swim forever, since its artificial muscles are powered by water. And since Robojelly lives underwater, it will …

Visual of Corpus 2.1

Corpus 2.1

Could you imagine yourself having QR-code freckles, or a chlorophyl skin? Dutch artist Marcia Nolte visualises these kind of speculative scenarios in a very non-spectacular yet …

Visual of End of Life Care Machine

End of Life Care Machine

Designer, artist and engineer  Dan Chen has developed the ' End of Life Care Machine ', a machine designed to guide and comfort dying patients with a carefully scripted message. …

Visual of Free Range Robot Filters Out the Ocean's Plastic

Free Range Robot Filters Out the Ocean's Plastic

Whale sharks are great at filtering; plastic needs to be filtered. For now, however, whale sharks only have an appetite for plankton. Industrial designer Elie Ahovi has jumped …

Visual of Get into Buckminster Fuller

Get into Buckminster Fuller

58:10 minute interview with polymath & nextnature thinker avant la lettre Buckminister Fuller.

Visual of Hermit Crabs Can Live Like Kings Again

Hermit Crabs Can Live Like Kings Again

Thanks to the collaboration between Makerbot and TeamTeamUsa new biodegradable shells are printed for hermit crabs.

Visual of Is the Human Body Redundant?

Is the Human Body Redundant?

The increasing ‘liveliness’ of machines and accessibility to the virtual world has raised questions about whether it is possible to uncouple the mind from the body in through a …

Visual of Latro Algae Lamp

Latro Algae Lamp

As advances in nanotechnology bring us increasingly energy efficient products, plant life such as algae could become attractive sources for tapping energy. The Latro lamp by …

Visual of Little Green Cows

Little Green Cows

The world is alight with algae fever. In this age of deep ecological design aspirations, the range of speculative design projects based on algae technology is growing. Algae are …

Visual of Mice Reporting For Duty

Mice Reporting For Duty

Researchers have developed genetic manipulated mice, with extra smell receptors that make them highly sensitive to the smell of explosives. Scientists hope to use these mice in the future to discover land mines

Visual of Mushrooms: The New Solution for our Plastic Problem?

Mushrooms: The New Solution for our Plastic Problem?

You cannot look around your local environment without seeing something made out of plastic. Almost all the stuff we buy is packaged in plastic. Since recycling packaging materials …

Visual of Nanotech Diatoms

Nanotech Diatoms

No, those aren't plastic trinkets or beads from a craft store. They're diatoms, a group of single-celled algae, and unlike almost all of our current technologies, they can rapidly …

Visual of Nanotech Water Bottle Harvests Water from the Air

Nanotech Water Bottle Harvests Water from the Air

The Namib desert gets less than a half an inch of rain per year, yet the stenocara beetle manages to survive in these punishing conditions. The beetle's secret lies in an array of …

Visual of Regrowing Bones with Silk

Regrowing Bones with Silk

Time to add another superpower to insect silk, which already includes  bulletproof skin  and  implantable microelectronics .  Recent research  indicates that silk may be an ideal …

Visual of Replacing Synapses with a Single Switch

Replacing Synapses with a Single Switch

Neural synapses in the human brain are extraordinarily complex structures. Responsible for relaying information between neurons, chemical synapses govern the release of over 100 …

Visual of Robutt

Robutt

Tokyo University of Electro-Communications , revealed SHIRI (? = "buttocks"), a "Buttocks Humanoid That Represents Emotions With Visual and Tactual Transformation of the Muscles." …

Visual of Rule #6: Meet People’s Expectations

Rule #6: Meet People’s Expectations

For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here.   People expect many things from each other: Expect them to say hi in the …

Visual of Spider-Man Gloves

Spider-Man Gloves

Imagine how much easier the job of window cleaners would be if they could simply scale walls like Spider-Man instead of using elevators, ladders and other gear. Ever since the …

Visual of The Ecological Human

The Ecological Human

The nature of humanity in the twenty-first century is, according to sociologist Steve Fuller, a ‘bipolar disorder’ beset with dualisms of identification such as divine/animal, …

Visual of Thirsty? With a Cyborg Bladder, You'll Never Need to Drink

Thirsty? With a Cyborg Bladder, You'll Never Need to Drink

Some desert animals, like the kangaroo rat, get through their lives without needing to drink even a drop of water. Now, a Japanese design company aims to make humans just as …

Visual of Who will Question Bio-Engineering?

Who will Question Bio-Engineering?

Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe presents a parade of recent bio-engineering experiments, from glowing monkeys , to genetically boosted salmon , to cyborg insects . He asks: isn't it …

Visual of Will a Cockroach Save Your Life?

Will a Cockroach Save Your Life?

Often cockroaches aren’t people's best friends, but maybe in a few years you will be relieved when you see a cockroach. Researchers of the North Carolina State University …

Visual of A Robot to Make Rats Depressed

A Robot to Make Rats Depressed

The robot in the picture above chases and attacks the living rat rights besides it. The W-3, as the robot is named, is designed to make rats seriously depressed. In fact, this …

Visual of Artifice Earth: Adam Rutherford on the Promises of Synthetic Biology

Artifice Earth: Adam Rutherford on the Promises of Synthetic Biology

An interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".

Visual of Bacterioptica

Bacterioptica

Living lamps like Latro Algea Lamp by Mike Thompson are nothing new. But design studio MADLAB has created Bacterioptica , a lamp that contains organisms and bacteria from the …

Visual of Chrysler Looks to Human Lungs for a Better Gas Tank

Chrysler Looks to Human Lungs for a Better Gas Tank

Alveoli in human lungs serve as the inspiration for designing better, stronger ways of storing compressed natural gas.

Visual of DIY Body Modification to Hack Evolution

DIY Body Modification to Hack Evolution

Biohacker Tim Cannon inserted a chip into his arm to monitor his bodily data and transmit it to an Android device.

Visual of Electricity Travels Through Spider Web

Electricity Travels Through Spider Web

In future electric cables could be made ??of spider webs. 100% natural electric cables, sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s possible! Researcher at Na tional High Magnetic Field …

Visual of Bionic Eye: Limited Vision to the Blind

Bionic Eye: Limited Vision to the Blind

A new implant lets blind people see letters, crosswalks and people.

Visual of Homemade Robot Designed from Recycled Scraps

Homemade Robot Designed from Recycled Scraps

A Chinese inventor created a $24,500 robot from junkyard scraps.

Visual of Invisible Headphone Implants

Invisible Headphone Implants

Invisible ear implants for listening to music, getting directions, and recording conversation.

Visual of Moss Table Powers Its Own Lamp

Moss Table Powers Its Own Lamp

When moss photosynthesize, they release nutritious fats, carbs and proteins into their roots to feed colonies of helpful, symbiotic bacteria. In the process of breaking down these …

Visual of Moving From Password to Biometric Data

Moving From Password to Biometric Data

Unlock our devices with our fingerprint, this technology for security represents a change in our digital life.

Visual of Researcher Create Fully Artificial Proteins

Researcher Create Fully Artificial Proteins

Body builders rejoice: scientists have synthesized the world's first artificial proteins.

Visual of Strawberry Noir

Strawberry Noir

Should plants be genetically controlled to perform specific functions for us?

Visual of The

The "Actroid" Lives in the Uncanny Valley

The Actroid robot holds clues for climbing out of the uncanny valley.

Visual of The birth of the artificial womb

The birth of the artificial womb

Researchers in Tokyo have developed an artificial womb (for goats).

Visual of The First Recorded Attack on a Cyborg

The First Recorded Attack on a Cyborg

Looking back on the first recorded attack on a human cyborg.

Visual of The Future of Solar Power? Snail Teeth!

The Future of Solar Power? Snail Teeth!

The gumboot chiton snail produces the hardest biomineral known on earth - and it may hold the secret to better nanotechnology.

Visual of The

The "Silk Pavilion" Combines Digital and Biological Architecture

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.

Visual of Toss the Brita: Bacteria Can Filter Antibiotics from Water

Toss the Brita: Bacteria Can Filter Antibiotics from Water

Filter and recover antibiotics from drinking water using only bacteria, water and sunlight.

Visual of 'Victimless Shelter' Grown from Pig Cells

'Victimless Shelter' Grown from Pig Cells

While Next Nature was busy dreaming up new in vitro meat (IVM) foods, the mad scientists of Terreform ONE in New York went ahead and designed an entire dwelling made of IVM pig cells.

Visual of We Feel Empathy for Robots (Even if They Don't Look Human)

We Feel Empathy for Robots (Even if They Don't Look Human)

Human test subjects felt empathy for dinosaur robots being cuddled or abused.

Visual of What Ant Colony Networks Can Tell Us About What’s Next for Digital Networks

What Ant Colony Networks Can Tell Us About What’s Next for Digital Networks

Ever notice how ant colonies so successfully explore and exploit resources in the world … to find food at 4th of July picnics, for example? You may find it annoying. But as an …

Visual of 3D printing Tumors to Cure Cancer

3D printing Tumors to Cure Cancer

3D printing cancer could be the future of treating cancer.

Visual of Bionic Plants

Bionic Plants

Scientists designed a way to improve the efficiency of plants light harvesting during the photosynthesis, using nanotechnology.

Visual of Design by Termite

Design by Termite

Why not outsource your laser engraving jobs to termites?

Visual of First Completely Artificial Heart Transplant

First Completely Artificial Heart Transplant

World's first self-regulating artificial heart transplanted in France.

Visual of Get Infrared Sight with a Vitamine Diet

Get Infrared Sight with a Vitamine Diet

Bio-hackers developed a protocol to augment human sight to see into the near infrared range.

Visual of Spider Silk will be Commercialized in 2015

Spider Silk will be Commercialized in 2015

Company AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.

Visual of Technology Reflexology

Technology Reflexology

People have complex relationships with their own (and other’s) bodies. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is believed that your feet are a map of your body and can provide …

Visual of The Bionic Kangaroo

The Bionic Kangaroo

The BionicKangaroo technologically reproducesthe unique way a kangaroo moves.

Visual of The First Man Made Leaf Looks like a Leaf

The First Man Made Leaf Looks like a Leaf

Julian Melchiorri created a synthetic biological leaf that absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant.

Visual of Animals Give Leadership Lesson to Humans

Animals Give Leadership Lesson to Humans

What are the characteristics of the perfect leader? The answer could be found looking at nature.

Visual of Bio Art & Design Awards 2015

Bio Art & Design Awards 2015

If we are going to mutate the made & the born, let us at least do this creatively.

Visual of Bio is the New Digital

Bio is the New Digital

Parallel to the democratization of computers some decades ago, biotech is rapidly becoming more accessible to creative people outside of closed institutions.

Visual of Bionic Ants That Work Together

Bionic Ants That Work Together

These robotic ants by Festo are learning to work together, like real ants do.

Visual of Caress of the Gaze

Caress of the Gaze

Designer Behnaz Farahi envisions an interactive 3D printed outfit that can detect and respond to the gaze of the other and respond accordingly with life-like behavior.

Visual of Cities Evolve in Similar Ways as Galaxies

Cities Evolve in Similar Ways as Galaxies

Scientists think the laws governing the structure of galaxies in outer space are the same laws underlying the growth of cities.

Visual of Drone Operated by Honeybee Brain

Drone Operated by Honeybee Brain

The Green Brain Project aims to create drones that will think, act and sense like a bee.

Visual of First Bionic Rose with Electronic Circuits

First Bionic Rose with Electronic Circuits

For the first time, researchers at the University of Linkoping , Sweden, have succeeded in establishing organic circuits within living plants. They combined electronics with the …

Visual of A Wooden Floor that Follows the Curves of the Tree it's Made of

A Wooden Floor that Follows the Curves of the Tree it's Made of

A wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.

Visual of Hacking Human Cells to Use Solar Power

Hacking Human Cells to Use Solar Power

A new biotech startup seeks to hack our cells to use solar energy instead of carbon and oxygen.

Visual of Heart Tissue Grown with Spider Silk

Heart Tissue Grown with Spider Silk

It might be possible to grow a new heart in labs using spider silk.

Visual of Meet Yangyang, Actroid From China

Meet Yangyang, Actroid From China

The humanoid robot Yangyang can function autonomously, talking and gesturing while interacting with people.

Visual of Organs Could Self-Heal with Nanoneedles

Organs Could Self-Heal with Nanoneedles

An international team of scientists used nano-sized needles in order to promote production of new blood cells.

Visual of Over 300 Sharks are Now on Twitter

Over 300 Sharks are Now on Twitter

Recently 338 sharks in Western Australia subscribed to the microblogging service. They are now tweeting out where they are.

Visual of Smart Gloves Turn Gestures into Music

Smart Gloves Turn Gestures into Music

English artist Imogen Heap, with an army of artists, musicians, scientists and technologists, developed the Mi.Mu gloves.

Visual of Technology Made us Human

Technology Made us Human

Buckle up for a cinematic espresso shot from performance philosopher and NNN ambassador Jason Silva.

Visual of Turning Cockroaches into Rescue Robots

Turning Cockroaches into Rescue Robots

Cyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.

Visual of Using Shrimp Shell to Produce Bioplastics

Using Shrimp Shell to Produce Bioplastics

Researchers Fernandez and Ingber imitated chitin in order to produce durable, biodegradable plastics.

Visual of Wireless Controlled Mouse, the Animal!

Wireless Controlled Mouse, the Animal!

A remote-controlled LED chip can make a mouse walk in circles.

Visual of 4D Printing Inspired by Nature

4D Printing Inspired by Nature

Scientists were inspired by nature to developed a method to shape-shift 4D-printed structures that could one day help heal wounds and be used in robotic surgical tools.

Visual of Artificial Northern Lights

Artificial Northern Lights

Swiss artist Dan Acher created a replica of the Northern Lights by way of high-powered lasers.

Visual of The

The "Dog" That Will Save Lives

A laboratory is developing a synthetic dog that will be used for surgery trials, saving many canine lives and changing the veterinary world.

Visual of Body hair helps animals stay clean – and could inspire self-cleaning technologies

Body hair helps animals stay clean – and could inspire self-cleaning technologies

Watch a fly land on the kitchen table, and the first thing it does is clean itself, very, very carefully. Although we can’t see it, the animal’s surface is covered with dust, …

Visual of Insects are helping us develop the future of hearing aids

Insects are helping us develop the future of hearing aids

The human ear is a miracle of mechanical evolution. It allows us to hear an astonishing range of sounds and to communicate and navigate in the world. It’s also easy to damage and …

Visual of Interview: Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret, Designers Exploring Alternative Ways of Thinking & Doing

Interview: Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret, Designers Exploring Alternative Ways of Thinking & Doing

Interview with Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret.

Visual of Nature-Inspired Nano-Robots

Nature-Inspired Nano-Robots

Researchers developed tiny, autonomous robots able to repair circuits.

Visual of Shark Drones Clean up the Port of Rotterdam

Shark Drones Clean up the Port of Rotterdam

In the port of Rotterdam you might be able to cross a floating Waste Shark: a robot able to collect up to 500 kilos of trash.

Visual of Fellow Day: Next Senses

Fellow Day: Next Senses

On June 17th a NNN Fellow Day was organized to explore the future project: Next Senses.

Visual of A Robot to Help The Refugee Crisis

A Robot to Help The Refugee Crisis

In the last months we've been witnessing a refugee crisis of huge proportions. More than a million people crossed the sea to flee violence in Africa and the Middle-East. Together …

Visual of This Indestructible Micro-Animal Will Help Us

This Indestructible Micro-Animal Will Help Us

Will a small step for Ramazzottius Varieornatus be a giant leap for mankind?

Visual of A Taste of RoboBee Honey

A Taste of RoboBee Honey

Where most researchers are focusing on keeping bees alive, researchers of Harvard are developing a bee replacement; the Robobee. The Robobee is only the size of half a paperclip, with ultra thin wings flapping 120 times per second. The main goal is to build a mechanic pollinator.

Visual of Bionic Leaf Helps Vegetables to Grow

Bionic Leaf Helps Vegetables to Grow

Bionic leaf fertilizes crops to make them weigh 150 percent more

Visual of ECO Coin Award Interviews: Ritsert Mans

ECO Coin Award Interviews: Ritsert Mans

We asked Ritsert Mans, our second ECO coin award nominee about his bike, the technology that fuels it and his hopes for the future.

Visual of Grow Your Own Bio Bot

Grow Your Own Bio Bot

Researches at the University of Illinois released a step by step guide to build 3D printed bio robots with living muscles.

Visual of Designer Anouk Wipprecht combines fashion with robotics

Designer Anouk Wipprecht combines fashion with robotics

We met Anouk Wipprecht and talked about smart fabrics and accessories that can listen to our body, therapeutic fashion and the future of dressmaking.

Visual of A Panda Shaped Solar Plant

A Panda Shaped Solar Plant

China recently built a panda shaped solar plant to get kids interested in green energy.

Visual of Smartflower Solar Device

Smartflower Solar Device

POP is an all-in-one solar energy system that hold visible benefits for humans.

Visual of The Solution to Nuisance Birds? The Robird

The Solution to Nuisance Birds? The Robird

Birds are fascinating creatures, but for farmers, airport staff, and waste management specialists, they can prove to be a profound nuisance. How to deal with a flock of birds …

Visual of Robotic Tarzan Controls Crops

Robotic Tarzan Controls Crops

A robot inspired by a sloth was developed in order to control crops growing in our fields.

Visual of This 3D-Printed Structure Can Fold Itself

This 3D-Printed Structure Can Fold Itself

Researchers at the University of Technology in Delft have created flat structures able to fold themselves into three-dimensional constructions.

Visual of This bio-brick is made out of urine mixed with sand and bacteria

This bio-brick is made out of urine mixed with sand and bacteria

The world’s first bio-brick grown from human urine has been unveiled by University of Cape Town (UCT) master’s student in civil engineering Suzanne Lambert, signalling an …

Visual of The return of Rayfish Footwear?

The return of Rayfish Footwear?

Rayfish Footwear was a fictional company that offered personalized sneakers crafted from genetically modified stingray leather. This online science fiction story allowed customers …

Visual of These robotic flowers are attracting bees

These robotic flowers are attracting bees

It is trying its very best to stay hidden: but would you be fooled by its fake nature ? This synthetic pollinizer, a conceptual project by artist Michael Candy , may intuitively …

Visual of How animal filters unmask the estranged relation to our wild self

How animal filters unmask the estranged relation to our wild self

Would you like a dog snout, cat eyes or fluffy bunny ears? The choice is yours. Virtual selfie filters have become a widespread phenomenon on social media platforms such as …

Visual of This artificial reef was just deployed in Sydney Harbor

This artificial reef was just deployed in Sydney Harbor

Earth’s oceans have seen better days. They’re inundated with plastic waste, both whole single-use plastics and tons of plastic microparticles that find their way back into our …

Visual of How to biofabricate leather

How to biofabricate leather

Leather is one of the oldest and most versatile materials in the world. It’s a supple, tough, relatively strong and durable material and it’s relatively impermeable, yet …

Visual of Lessons in bio design from Emma van der Leest

Lessons in bio design from Emma van der Leest

As a young bio designer at the start of your career, you'll have to overtake all kinds of obstacles. From the collection of living materials to working in a laboratory and …

Visual of The path towards solar democracy with Marjan van Aubel

The path towards solar democracy with Marjan van Aubel

Solar cells are often considered an eyesore, used for their sustainability yet not for their beauty. Installed on roofs or in solar parks, they take up precious space. Well that’s …

Visual of Maurizio Montalti talks about the cycle of life

Maurizio Montalti talks about the cycle of life

As modern humans, we are out of balance with our natural environment. With use of technology, we try to prolong our human lifespan and create materials that live longer than we …

Visual of In conversation with Studio Drift

In conversation with Studio Drift

A flock of drones that fly like birds, drifting blocks of concrete, a choreography of opening and closing flowers. The work of Studio Drift is challenging the distinction between …

Visual of Next Generation: Visualising the diversity of microbial species with Valerie Daude

Next Generation: Visualising the diversity of microbial species with Valerie Daude

This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …

Visual of Discover the art of the living at Centre Pompidou

Discover the art of the living at Centre Pompidou

Go forward to nature at the La Fabrique du Vivant (the Factory of Life), the newly opened exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Exhibiting the recent works of fifty …

Visual of NATURE is an exhibition where biology and design meet

NATURE is an exhibition where biology and design meet

Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade and Cooper Hewitt in New York present the comprehensive exhibition NATURE - in which internationally renowned designers, artists and inventors …

Visual of Watch this robot fish swim through the ocean

Watch this robot fish swim through the ocean

Earth’s oceans are having a rough go of it these days. On top of being the repository for millions of tons of plastic waste , global warming is affecting the oceans and upsetting …

Visual of Social animals are the inspiration for robot swarms

Social animals are the inspiration for robot swarms

From flocks of birds to fish schools in the sea, or towering termite mounds , many social groups in nature exist together to survive and thrive. This cooperative behaviour can be …

Visual of ‘Optimism is our duty’: in conversation with Koert van Mensvoort

‘Optimism is our duty’: in conversation with Koert van Mensvoort

We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …

Visual of The new Next Nature book is here!

The new Next Nature book is here!

We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …

Visual of Next Generation: Writing a design manifesto with Pleun Wilting

Next Generation: Writing a design manifesto with Pleun Wilting

This story is part of  Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here?  Get in touch  and plot your …

Visual of Building Floriade 2022

Building Floriade 2022

We met at the Floriade grounds in Almere with Xander de Bruine, program manager Floriade Expo 2022, with project manager Jennifer Palumbo. Along with head curator William Myers we …

Visual of Will 3D-printed mussel reefs be the next nature?

Will 3D-printed mussel reefs be the next nature?

Researchers hope that 3D-printed, biodegradable mussel reefs help the growth of mussel banks.

Visual of Furniture futures

Furniture futures

Wondering how next natural furniture may change your way of life? Will we feed our lamps? Grow chairs? Talk with our tables?