Technology behind Google's results
Rolf CoppensAs a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? …
As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? …
When I was a kid, I thought that people that could make smoke circles were really cool. Now I think machines that can do that are even cooler!Â? Made by Takeshi Ishiguro
Good morning anywhere in the world! Waking up is a problem (at least for 50% of the population). That's why alarm clocks exist; machines and devices are invented to solve …
Multi-touch designer and developer Richard Monson-Haefel considers sound as an important part of our user interfaces. As an application of " Calm Technology " which revolves …
I am sorry I couldn't be there— I had an important meeting with my bathtub that could not be rescheduled. This bathtub with an internal multicolour LED light fitting, creating a …
Instruction for the Birds: Land on perch->trigger sound file->observe human response-->behave accordingly. Instructions for People: Listen, you'll be able to understand. The sound …
A screen of water displays images by controlling drops of water falling down. Density creates light/dark shades that create the image— Project site
The pavilion is made of filtered lake water shot as a fine mist through 13,000 fog nozzles creating an artificial cloud that measures 300 feet wide by 200 feet deep by 65 feet …
The GloCar uses LED lights to change body panel colours, intensity and frequency. A driver can thus choose at will to either stand out or blend in. Alongside the cosmetic value …
Crowd counter is a piece of software able to track moving features within a video clip. It works on the assumption that points that move together are most likely part of the same …
"In the morning paper, I can read the weather report as well as the stock quotes. But when I look out of my window I only get a weather update and no stock exchange info. Could …
Remember the datafountain ? Of course there are many other applications of information decoration: datawallpaper, datasounds, datafurniture and dataclimate. The picture above …
Skin conductivity sensors are used to deduce the emotional state of the sleeper. This information is brought to 3-D studio where a script is used to transform this into physical …
This weekend is the last change to visit the Entry 2006 exhibition in the coalwashe building, Zollverein. Over 300 exhibits from more than 20 countries are on display. Next nature …
Eternal Sunset endeavours to ensure you can enjoy the sunset live from any location, at any time. As the sunset moves westward, Eternal Sunset continuously tunes into different …
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 …
Now with Google smart look. Don't worry, it is science fiction (still). Created by Sean Hamilton Alexander.
Wearable Interfaces, Smart Materials and Living Fabrics. V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam-based Virtueel Platform, the expertise centre for …
A tropical fish that fluoresces bright red is set to become the first genetically modified pet to go on sale in the US. Alan Blake and colleagues at Yorktown Technologies …
Kenichi Nagahiro, Honda's chief engine designer, hated diesel engines. When asked to design Honda's first diesel he flatly refused - unless he was allowed to start completely from …
Hotspot 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 …
If you've ever wished for a "hand" to leave behind so that your baby would feel as if you've never left the room, your prayers have been answered with the Zaky Infant …
Toasted bread as an information display device (originally developed in 2001 but somehow still intruiging): a toaster that parses meteorological information from the web and then …
ALLERCA has produced the world's first scientifically-proven hypoallergenic cats. These cats allow some of the millions of people with feline allergies to finally enjoy the love …
The Stock market skirt Nancy Paterson made a blue taffeta & black velvet party dress that represents the real-time stock market situation by lowering or raising its hemline. …
There may even come a moment that our connection with an industrially manufactured coke bottle may be richer and more mythical that our relation with a genetically analysed and …
A transformation of the big flashing arrows from the computer game Need for Speed Underground 2, NFSU 2 to physical space. Although computer games generally try to imitate the …
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 …
The Power Aware Cord transports electrical power while simultaneously visualizing energy usage. Electrical transfer is represented through glowing pulses, flow, and intensity of …
a purse that visually keeps track of valuable items such as keys, wallets, personal identification cards, & cellular phones through various sensors embedded in the bag. if …
The Sababa is the first real time lava visualiser kit of global city flows. It takes the lava lamp one step further by reconstructing it according to the language of the current …
A critical and visual take on culturally emerged Nature. Full of statements from designers and thinkers from around the globe. Wild systems, Genetic Surprises, Calm Technology, …
Did you ever wonder where all that hard drive space went too? Sequoiaview generates organic-like views of the files and folders on your hard drives using cushion treemaps. …
The flower depicted in the image is a good example of Hypernature. While fake nature is always a flatter surrogate of old nature, hypernature is a simulation of an old nature that …
Luna Maurer has launched her long-expected website on december 18th 2006: From July 2005 a camera on the roof of De Balie (famous building in Amsterdam) is 'catching the sky' in a …
A flower arcing from a frosted pane of glass. Rigged with a breath sensor and connected to an internet packet sniffer, the flower is cued in to the wireless network flowing in the …
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 …
Funded and produced by the Public Art Commissions Agency. On roundabout just beyond the Canary Wharf estate there are three trees, two are London planes; the third is a traffic …
Mobile phone operators go to extraordinary lengths to conceal the masts that form their networks. They are being disguised as chimneys, clocks, drainpipes, telegraph poles, and …
A traditional textile heritage is celebrated with flocked wallpaper that comes to life as it reacts to ambient noise levels. The louder the space the brighter the wallpaper glows. …
A technique developed by the German Claus Winterfor an installation artist makes whatever word you type into a computer visible by a "water-curtain". The video shows the World …
An umbrella that provides information about the likelihood of rain so that users can make a simple, informed decision about whether to take the umbrella with them as they leave …
You have the impression that the disasters of the world do not touch you anymore? You feel vaguely sorry for other people's misfortunes but you don't feel the inner urge which …
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 …
The Wind Shaped Pavilion is a design proposal for a large fabric structure that can be used as a public or private pavilion. As a lightweight fabric structure, the wind slowly and …
Silly inventions like these make me wonder why man continuously seeks interaction with the things surrounding him. Should buildings or offices be allowed to talk? "This door was …
Where other trees grow their branches towards the light, willows seem to want to touch the surface. Tim Knowles creates drawings independent of his own hand and when he attaches …
Made of electroluminescent (EL) sheets, Makoto Hirahara's Bright Blind simulates a window where none exists. In all other respects, the artificial blind functions in exactly the …
Just follow the yellow brick road ... thin red cable and you know where to go! Instead of looking at a small 6 inch screen, or listening to less than exact turn by turn …
Japanese researchers have developed head gear that lets people control devices such as an iPod using their teeth. Now that is not really new, except when you take in mind that …
Cory Arcangel hacked and modified a piece of hardware'the cartridge on which the game "Super Mario" is stored, or rather, was stored to produce "Super Mario Cloud" This is …
Many people get a kick out of a direct contact with AC power supply. To that end, people normally use U-shaped fragments of bare wire, paper clips or even usual metal forks. All …
This "printer" is all about creating, storing and recycling householdproducts on demand. link | video
This must be the best worst software concept I've seen this year.. An email mailbox represented as a 3D, virtual LAX airport. in this world's coolest email program, based on the …
For a long time in the history of painting, the landscape functioned merely as a backdrop for people, buildings or symbols. But in the 17th century, artists started making …
Sunsets are loved by people all around the globe. Could this universal aesthetic preference be linked to a deeply rooted understanding of the sunset's importance? Life on earth …
Philips presented an A4-sized colour electronic paper . A paper-thin and bendable viewing panel. "This represents the next generation in display technology," Chung In-Jae, chief …
TiWalkMe is a clock (still in conceptual stage) designed to track 1,000 years using a forest seeded along a ribbon of land to tell time. Annual tree plantings set the pace, …
I applaud any new display technique that isn't emitting light. A recent patent application by Philips for a new type of screen based on "furry" pixels , or physical pixels made …
If you've gotta run the wheel, you might as well do it in bare feet. Many of us are so busy being good little hamsters that we never have face time with green space. A group of …
Tom Ballhatchet introduces mice and hamsters into the officegarden. tomballhatchet.com
If you're longing for the touch of a loved one who is a few thousand miles away, what better way than to pick up the Hug Shirt for the both of you? This shirt is capable of …
In 1998 at the introduction of the iMac , Apple declared that the "i" stood for "internet". Apple later adopted the "i" prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines. …
Picture this: it's 40,000 years ago, and you are an early Homo sapiens. You are standing on the savanna. Look around you. What do you see? No billboards, no traffic signs, no …
The 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 …
Man's ability to control illumination is magical in itself but is seldom experienced as such because light switches are purely functional and generally don't stir up imagination. …
Now here's a nice piece of dead old nature I would like to stick in my computer! Notice the beautiful micro-organism-patterns. Designed by Oooms.nl Related posts: Sunflower …
The VIBE - emotional sensing necklace combines conductive ink and textile sensors. The necklace can read multiple biometric signals of the wearer and communicates them to other …
Philips hits the shops with a product that aims to naturalize alarm clocks. The annoying buzzing machines were once invented to cultivate our day/night rhythms, formerly connected …
The mayor of Sao Paulo decided that he was tired of the wildgrowth of billboards in the city. So he decided to take them all down (not personally). This creates a very pre (or …
Alright, we can agree most of old nature has been altered by human activity. We're not just talking rain forest, icecaps and genetically modified fruit and kittens . Now you might …
The media are disappearing, Nature takes over. Our slogan of the week.
Earlier we discussed the Magical Interaction project, in which Joris van Gelder rethought the boring activity of switching on/off a light by transforming it into a magical …
The Objectuals is a series of work by artist Hyung Koo Lee , it features an interesting mix of visual distortion apparatus for the human body. Lee says that he experienced …
Tickle is a small robot that walks on the human body to generate a pleasant, tickling sensation.It has two motors and rubber feet for a good grip on the skin. When it encounters a …
Aaron Larney made these urban camouflage printed hoodies, just in case you need to blend into your dorm's notice-board. See also: Urban Camouflage I .
For all you self-Googlers out there. And yes.. that means you too! Back in the old days (pre-next-nature) you used to wear gold rings and lots of bling you show off your wealth …
Atkin's Architecture Group recently won the first prize award for an international design competition with this hyperreal entry. Set in a spectacular water filled quarry in …
Behold the BoxFish, Mercedes' bionic concept car. This tropical fish is outstandingly streamlined. Its engineers were able to achieve a wind drag coefficient of just 0.06 in the …
wired.com | video | Related posts: Robotic hand | Bionic arm Invented by Dan Didrick of Naples, Florida, the device has NO batteries, electronics, servos or actuators. Instead, …
Imagine the impossible… a secret transatlantic tunnel running between New York and London, that has lain undisturbed for a hundred years. And imagine an extraordinary optical …
The Ambient Umbrella shows when rain or snow is in the forecast by illuminating its handle. Light patterns intuitively indicate rain, drizzle, snow, or thunderstorms. Local …
Art Directors Andreas Junus and Irawandhani Kamarga; copywriter Darrick Subrata and photographer Anton Ismael (Indonesia) went through some trouble , visualizing Photoshop's …
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 …
With his Waterboxx , Pieter Hoff (The Netherlands) won the Bèta Dragons Award 2008. It is an instrument that supports plants and trees in order to survive in difficult …
Tech company Fuijtsu released a new way to look around you while driving a car. Following the old fashioned neck turning and mirroring this tech has cameras around the vehicle to …
Who likes clouds anyway? Especially for the people still living in the suburbs of Venray (small town in the Netherlands), artist Helmut Smits made this billboard depicting a clear …
Always dreamed of creating your own clouds? You can now create them... from text. Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from any text, url or rss stream you provide. The …
What is that growing on my car dashboard? Is that a tree? Indeed, Ford and Honda's next-generation dashboard instrument clusters feature trees (a vine in Ford's case) that grow …
According to the inventors of the dogpause bowl , slow eating dogs are happier than fast eating dogs. Having a dog in the first place is supposed to improve the quality of life, …
The Waterboard is an interactive installation by Mike Burton giving the user a chance to play with water without getting wet. By drawing lines on the whiteboard, the water will …
So far, over-dependence on GPS devices has resulted in more inconvenience than actual danger, but earlier a U.K. woman sent her £96k Mercedes flying into a river, trusting the …
Shot taken before the robot in question short-circuited and started to kill all humans in sight.
A million years from now that hand would probably look more evolved, but the idea is nice: What if we would mold objects of the now into stone or bricks to preserve them over time …
Human-product relationships increasingly play out in a realm which was previously considered exclusive for human-human and human-animal relationships. Panasonic now redesigned one …
This Honeycomb vase was made from a vase-shaped hive that 40.000 bees colonized for one week, building a hexagonal comb to encompass the existing form. Created by Studio Libertiny …
Why not use the human body to grow products for the medical industry? The designer Michael Burton envisions Future Farm where the body is used as a farm to cultivate clinical and …
Mathieu Lehanneur created a plant-powered indoor filtration system, that pulls in filthy air to be processed through a plant's leaves, roots, and humidity, reintroducing purified …
Lightweeds is a project by Simon Heijdens and currently exhibited at the MoMA - part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition . The organisms - plants, weeds, trees - exist …
So you thought that animated Pixar Lamp from the movies was just a fantasy? Not anymore. Luxalive is a prototype of an reading lamp that moves according to the character of its …
A lot of dead books were used to make this piece of tree trunk. By Jacqueline Rush Lee | Related: Modernistic Tree | Modernistic Chair
An industrial robot has been given an unusual production task; writing out the full Martin Luther bible "by hand" in a calligraphic style. The robot arm appears to be a fairly …
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 , …
Confused with the pile of remote controls in your house? Now here is an idea: get a robot to control them. Researchers at Toshiba have developed a talking robot, named ApriPoko, …
Just because you're feeling paranoid, doesn't mean the fish aren't actually spying on you. Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu created an underwater survey robot that looks …
"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 …
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 …
Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove ('Captain Organic') placed several glowing Solar Trees in the streets of Vienna (October 2007). These solar powered streetlights could save cities …
I used to hear voices in my head, but now they seem to be coming from the walls – am I back in to the womb? No wait.. it's a wall that reacts to the spectators voice (quicktime) . …
Meet midori-san , the first blogging houseplant! Through sensors connected to the leaves of this Sweetheart Hoya reads bioelectric currents through the plant, this gives …
Now why is that girl so excitingly staring at a few blurry blobs on a flat screen? Is it because these blobs are connected to her breath... What? Yes that is right, you are …
Beauty and the Geek jeans by Erik de Nijs. The trousers offer a full Querty keyboard layout as well as a mouse, speakers and a little joystick. As he calls it: "Beauty is skin …
Now this is a spot on example of information decoration : a heat–sensitive wallpaper of which the printed flowers will be blooming when the radiator is on. Created by Shiyuan .
Our society seems to be driven by an obsession of gathering personal data. Yes, they say it is for your own good, so we willingly collaborate by filling in our most intimate …
Water inside your phone used to be rather devastating, but with the NEC FOMA N702iS (only in Japan) , designed by Oki Sato, it is turned into a joy. Watch the faked fluid move on …
"I think we are all "work in progress", this necklace is featuring a cool progress bar to indicate that." Nice work Irina!
Many people tend to eat too fast. As a result they do not receive signals from the stomach that they are in fact full. The result can be overeating and obesity . To encounter …
Using thermochromatic ink, which changes color when the temperature exceeds a specific degree, designer Josien Pieters created a prototype of a dynamic wallpaper that …
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 …
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 …
Dr. 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 …
How to navigate the urban jungle? Adopting the metaphorical image of a dandelion in flight, Dandella is a GPS device that shows you the way. Inspired by how young sunflowers …
Parks are not nature. Parks are culture: man-made simulations of nature, carefully constructed to provide walkers, runners and mountain bikers with a recreational, yet confined – …
Japanese design agency To-Genkyo proposes a dynamic freshness label for meat products. The hourglass-shaped label contains special ink that changes color based on the amount of …
The big lobby to endeavor for a climate neutral lifestyle must have reached its peak. It is common knowledge that recycling electronic and battery operated utensils is better for …
With who or what do we have contact the most in our daily life routines? Our family, our bed pillow, doorknobs maybe? The answer is probably: Display. And now there is even a …
After 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 …
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 …
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers" , a remark made by Thomas J. Watson of IBM in 1943. But what if the number of computing devices connected to each other …
://nextnature.net I tend to think of the Philips Wake Up Light as a product of missed opportunity: Good concept, implementation too cheap and illustrative. Especially the crappy …
Designer Carlijn Compen upgraded her watertap with some LED's that shift color along with the heat of the water. A simple yet effective example of information decoration that will …
It grows freshly in your windowsill; a lawn to linger. By hyock.com | Related: Grass Wheel | Office Grass | Caravan Garden | Parking
Today'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 …
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 …
This extraordinary concept model that came out of the batcave of BMW shows how textile might be the future of car design. By replacing metal bodywork with a strong but flexible …
The Intimacy dress takes our notion personal space to a next level: the closer someone approaches, the more transparent the dress becomes. As such, the garment becomes a sort of …
Mud tub is an experimental tangible interface that allows people to control a computer while playing in the mud. By sloshing, squishing, pulling, punching, etc, in a tub of mud …
Now here is something for the NANO Supermarket : Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratories have developed a special injectable ink with nano–particles. This ink eventually could …
At the beach, I'm always on the look-out for seashells big enough to hold against my ear to hear the sound of the sea . This child-like behavior still resonates with me. But I got …
Using energy is not a social activity. Every electrical device we use has its own carbon “foorpint” which, in excess, can harm other living beings. How and to what extent you’ve …
During the 1960s, monkeys were sent into outer space as part of the US space exploration program. But they didn’t all return, until now. Via scaryideas.com | Related: WWF
Inspired by body language of animals (in particular squamates and porcupines), designer Jop Japenga created a headphone with an adaptive skin that responds to the music played on …
In Next Nature, not only old nature is being idealized. Because of the rapidness of new emerging technologies, we have a tendency to dwell on earlier prototypes. To recall …
There are many advantages of bare feet sporting: better motion control, more feeling in your feet and direct floor contact, etc. In this way you are more grounded and more aware …
The ‘Decay’ project explores how traces of time and use can be embedded in textile. By wearing a carbon fibre suit over a white blouse, textile designer Marie Ilse Bourlanges …
If you happen to be in the neighborhood you might want to attend the Next Nature lecture I will be throwing at the Transnatural symposium this Saturday 13-03-2010 at the Trouw …
What to do when you have a small city with limited space, and you rather turn available space into parking lots instead of parks? You turn to DUS Architects for an unlimited …
In 2009, undergraduates at the University of Cambridge worked with scientists and artists to engineer E. coli into E. chromi , a new type of bacteria that secretes a range of …
By hooking up a commercially available EEG headset to a Nokia N900 smartphone, Jakob Eg Larsen and colleagues at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby have created …
Catalytic Clothing is a fashionably calm technology that aims to tackle air pollution by embedding a substance in the clothing that purifies air when you wear it. The purifying …
Everywhere we go, we conquer the land and shape it to our preferences. The next place to build might as well be the clouds. Tiago Barros , designer and architect, has decided to …
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 …
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 …
Principle number four: Humane technology should resonate with the human senses, rather than numbing them. If you're an office worker or a video game fanatic , you may spend most …
Remember the Information Decoration essay which argued our so-called information society barely employs our human bandwidth, as most of the data in our lives is presented in …
Imagine a world where the shapes of all objects around you would be able to change on the fly. Envision a future where nanotechnology and morphing become ubiquitous and blend in …
#! Possibly the answer for blind people with cynophobia, the fear of dogs. This robot guide dog is stil a bit slow compared to the old nature version, but as technology advances …
We've previously featured architecture that imitates nature by opening its walls like a flower , or drifting like a cloud . However, maybe this is not imitation enough. The next …
Diego Stocco is sound designer and composer from Burbank CA/US. He plays a tree as a rhythmic musical instrument, recording its sounds using a custom stethoscope. I suggest him to …
We all know the cellphone masts disguised as trees , created in an attempt to blend technology within the 'natural' landscape. Now Taiwanese scientists have created trees that …
Blue is a beautiful color, but its sound is simply irresistible. It is the song of the unhappy and the depressed. It is a sound that touches people. It was also the sound of a …
The Animal Architecture Awards have just announced the winners of their 2011 contest. Taking first place is Simone Ferracina's Theriomorphous Cyborg , a (speculative) augmented …
Artist Jaroslav Kyša has invented a novel form of social protest . By scattering seed in front of targets in London, he can attract droves of pigeons that disrupt shoppers and …
This project explores the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs. A four-metre long measuring rod with …
A new Dutch landscape with windmills up to 120 meters. Designed by NL Architects .
In combining the classic feeling of handling a book with the interactivity of the computer, Waldek W?grzyn of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, has created a new human-computer interface.
Text for blind people using the Braille alphabet has been around for some time. But instead of making separate books for the visually impaired, why not change the way we all read? …
A team of researchers from three universities have succeeded in creating the first device that boosts the brain power of primates. In the study, five rhesus macaques were trained …
In 2009 the Initiative for Science, Society and Policy coined the phrase ‘living technology’ [1] to draw attention to a group of emerging technologies that are useful because they …
Apple's recent work on iOS has been using as much references to "natural" elements as possible, making the digital as physical as possible. Doing how they do, they have been …
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. …
This promo video for the Google autonomous car is pretty exciting. I'm sure in a decade driving our own car will seem so old-fashioned,thinking how we ever trusted the physical …
They might not be as fast, but goats offer several advantages over diesel-powered lawnmowers. They're quieter, they emit fewer greenhouse gases, and they fertilize soil as they go …
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 …
Our peculiar image of the week is exemplary of our human longing for technology that intimately integrates with our body & senses. We are all cyborgs .
Nico is cute, cuddly and serious about your child’s health. Many adults smoke around children with no thought for their developing lungs. Covered in nicotine-sensitive nano-cloth, …
Breast cancer is a disease that comes with feelings of helplessness and loneliness. This nanotechnological necklace allows you to regain some control regarding your disease, in …
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 …
Besides children and pets , it turns out that pigs are also attracted to interactive interfaces. Pig Chase is a computer game in which pigs and people can play together. The aim …
Experience full data silence with the Faraday Bag. Made from electromagnetic shielding silver coated fabric, it prevents devices inside it from being contacted. Made by artist …
A while ago we wrote about the Pixelhead mask by artist Martin Backes . Now he informs us that the masks are for sale. Get one while they last!
Venice, Italy is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we must develop living technology.
Roads are a ubiquitous, even defining aspect of our urban and suburban spaces. In the United States alone, parking lots and roads cover 16,000 square kilometers. So why must roads …
Plants have it tough. They're tasty, silent, and stuck to the spot. With Jurema Action Plant, artist Ivan Henriques has given plants the mobility they deserve . Henriques' pieces …
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 …
Is your friend impatiently tapping on her phone, or is she just charging the battery? Researchers at the Berkeley Lab have produced the first virus-powered generator that runs off …
Closed to commercial shipping and fishing, offshore wind farms aren't put to much use besides generating clean energy. Ecofys , a Dutch sustainable consulting company, hopes to …
Retailers have long known that certain smells get us into the buying mood – cinnamon or warm cookies around the holidays, for instance – even if we're shopping for completely …
Artist Bartholomäus Traubeck created a hyper-nostalgic record player that, rather than making music from vintage vinyl records, uses slices of woods to generate sound.
It looks like a normal soccer ball, but Soccket has a secret: a hole for a charging cable. Designed by two Harvard students, the ball has a pendulum-like mechanism inside that …
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 …
With rising energy costs and our growing arsenal of iPads, smart phones, and wearable monitors, we're always on the lookout for new ways to power our devices. Perpetua Power , an …
A new armband interprets your muscle contractions to act as a novel computer interface.
Samsung is working on a brain interface that lets you go truly hands-free with your phone.
A new device replicates the kicking and moving of a baby inside a mother's womb.
A new implant lets blind people see letters, crosswalks and people.
Scientists learn how to harvest electricity from radio waves.
Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
A speculative nanotech pill that lets you virtually rove your body, zapping cancer cells as you go.
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 …
Nano-scale sponges show promise for defeating a variety of bacteria and toxins.
A new website changes the text's font size depending on your distance from the computer.
Need a password that you'll never forget and can never be stolen? Try storing it in a pill in your gut.
Neurofeedback shows promises in treating a range of mental ailments.
A revolutionary new smartphone for the blind uses a completely tactile interface.
For every smartphone user to recognize, is that merely the lighting of your screen, a vibration or ring distracts you from almost every activity. Even when you are spending time …
Yaybahar is an acoustic instrument that emits sounds like a music synthesizer.
Kids learn the basics of electric circuits while playing with clay.
Truly advanced technology will be light as sunshine and indistinguishable from nature.
Your next phone could be the noPhone: a technology-free alternative to any smart mobile device.
Most VR concepts and products are coming from big tech companies. With their ad-driven business models they are likely to fill your Glass, Hololens or Oculus with ads at some …
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.
A wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.
Time measurement tools are perhaps among the most inventive technologies mankind has produced, as it enables us to articulate ‘natural’ time (in the form of lunar years, sun …
Think you've had enough sun? Ask your bikini!
Meet the anti-smartphone. It literally does nothing but make and answer calls.
A team of scientists has developed a way to deliver drugs into our body using nanobots as vehicles and our toughts as controllers.
A robot monk has been created in China, mixing spirituality with artificial intelligence.
Animal Meditation uses meditation guiding sounds to to enable user to feel as if he is an animal.
A smart, huggable bed partner, who also improves your sleep quality. Sounds great, right? Soon, you might be able to order one yourself: Somnox is a soft robotic pillow that gently breathes as you hold it.
The Living Light harnesses plant energy to provide light. We spoke to its designer, Ermi van Oers, to find out more about the unique product.
It's not an easy task to define the practice of designer Jasna Rok . Fashtech pioneer? Radical innovator? Visionary designer? ‘All of the above’ seems only appropriate. In fact, …
There was a time when flipping the switch, and seeing a glass bulb light up, was magical to anyone in the world. Today, the presence of a light switch in a room, is something …
It may soon be possible for your phone to automatically figure out whether it’s you or your five-year-old who’s swiping the screen—and, if it’s the latter, block apps you want to …
The season of giving has come and to make sure you can find the perfect gift for your loved ones we have brought together a collection of Next Nature inspired goodies. Whether you …
We must be mindful about how we engage with technology: what we use it for, why, and whether it helps us or hinders us. Sometimes our tech seems to be flowing in inhumane …
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 …
Today we cannot meet, touch or hug our loved ones. And while we all like the feeling of the touch of another human being, physical contact does not just feel nice, it is crucial …