Innovation inspired by Old Nature
Koert van MensvoortJanine 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 …
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 …
The first cyborg Olympics will take place in Zurich in October.
LifeHand 2: a prosthetic hand that infers the ability to feel rudimentary shapes and forms by touch.
Why would you stick to an elbow, a wrist and five fingers if you could make anything? This guy got a game-inspired bionic arm.
Open Bionics is helping children in need for bionic hands. With Iron Man, Frozen, or Star Wars-themed prosthetics, their fantasies become reality.
Bioplastics are a form of plastics derived from plant sources such as hemp oil, soy bean oil and corn starch rather than traditional plastics which are derived from petroleum. …
Toys are growing up so we don't have to. Lego introduces: "mindstorms"...
Nature becomes Culture becomes Nature. The Morphotheque series from Erwin Driessens & Maria Verstappen is already a few years old. Still good.
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 …
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 , …
Blinkybugs are small, simple, electromechanical bugs that respond to stimulus such as movement, vibrations, or air currents. They are constructed by hand from LEDs, wire, and …
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 …
Inventors keep coming up with new ways to exploit RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags. Now Kodak wants to use them to probe a person's digestive system. RFID tags are tiny …
Just like centipedes OLE can roll up into a ball when danger threatens and retract its six legs. Its heat-resistant shell is made of a ceramic-fibre compound which can withstand …
I first saw this statement on the Artvertising building . Let this be our slogan of the week.
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 …
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 …
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 …
I think all Nature has a fractal structure, from Planet to Atoms. Website: Fractalary: Fractals from Planet to Atoms
Every fashionable self-conscious modern bird needs one of these futuristic dwellings, no? Designed by Kevin Sethapun.
With their project 'Rules of Six' architects Aranda & Lasch envision an unpredictable, self-generating landscape of interlocking hexagons that could represent rooms, buildings …
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 …
The struggle between the born and the made is being fought out in a wardrobe on Saturn. By: 1stavemachine.com | Related: Sixties Last
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 …
In our NextNature event BVPS (May 2008), Kevin Kelly spoke of technology as the 7th kingdom of life : a form of evolution whithout the nasty side–effect of dying (Every object …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
For over 40 years Australian artist Stelios Arcadious Stelarc has made art with medical instruments, prosthetics, robots, virtual reality systems and biotechnology to investigate …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 | …
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. …
An earlier post on this blog already displayed the possible future of sight using augmented contact lenses. Researchers at MIT take this second sight to a next level by …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
This time no technological enhanced roosters, dogs, cats or wood lice, but sheep! The famous viral Extreme Shepherding by The Baaa-Studs.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Nature as math, math as nature. A short movie by Cristóbal Villa . Thanks Martijn .
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 …
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 …
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 …
All buildings today have something in common: They are made using Victorian technologies. This involves blueprints, industrial manufacturing and construction using teams of …
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 …
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. …
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 – …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Back in 2009 Rob Spence, a cyborg film maker, worked together with a team of ocularists, inventors, engineering specialists on a prosthetic eye which can capture and stream video. …
What are the differences between Earth 1.0 and Earth 2.0 technologies? Rachel Armstrong explains.
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 …
As a gamer, I come across many visions of possible futures. But this trailer from the upcoming video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution , the third part in the Deus Ex series shocked …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Someday robots may lead fish to safety. At least, that's the hope of Dr. Maurizio Porfiri, an Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and expert …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
58:10 minute interview with polymath & nextnature thinker avant la lettre Buckminister Fuller.
Thanks to the collaboration between Makerbot and TeamTeamUsa new biodegradable shells are printed for hermit crabs.
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 …
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 …
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
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 …
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 …
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 …
Neural synapses in the human brain are extraordinarily complex structures. Responsible for relaying information between neurons, chemical synapses govern the release of over 100 …
Tokyo University of Electro-Communications , revealed SHIRI (? = "buttocks"), a "Buttocks Humanoid That Represents Emotions With Visual and Tactual Transformation of the Muscles." …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
An showcase of what we are currently capable of installing in human beings.
Alveoli in human lungs serve as the inspiration for designing better, stronger ways of storing compressed natural gas.
An algorithm observes human players to learn how to beat Super Mario Bros.
Biohacker Tim Cannon inserted a chip into his arm to monitor his bodily data and transmit it to an Android device.
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 …
A Chinese inventor created a $24,500 robot from junkyard scraps.
Invisible ear implants for listening to music, getting directions, and recording conversation.
Unlock our devices with our fingerprint, this technology for security represents a change in our digital life.
The Alternative Limb Project makes beautifully fake artificial limbs.
The Actroid robot holds clues for climbing out of the uncanny valley.
Looking back on the first recorded attack on a human cyborg.
The gumboot chiton snail produces the hardest biomineral known on earth - and it may hold the secret to better nanotechnology.
Filter and recover antibiotics from drinking water using only bacteria, water and sunlight.
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.
Buckle up for another cinematic espresso shot from our favorite performance philosopher Jason Silva.
Human test subjects felt empathy for dinosaur robots being cuddled or abused.
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 …
Scientists designed artificial cells built from silicon, able to copy basic functions of life.
World's first self-regulating artificial heart transplanted in France.
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 …
Maybe in the future swarms of robots could help cleaning oil spills, provide immediate emergency help at a disaster or guide millions of self driving cars.
People have complex relationships with their own (and other’s) bodies. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is believed that your feet are a map of your body and can provide …
The BionicKangaroo technologically reproducesthe unique way a kangaroo moves.
Stretchy artificial skin lets prosthetic hand sense heat, humidity, and pressure.
Italian research studio is working on EYE: a 3D bioprinted sight augmentation.
If we are going to mutate the made & the born, let us at least do this creatively.
Parallel to the democratization of computers some decades ago, biotech is rapidly becoming more accessible to creative people outside of closed institutions.
An inspiring topic about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus gave a talk on how nature influenced our future.
These robotic ants by Festo are learning to work together, like real ants do.
Cultivator is speculative design project on how bioprinting could find its way into the kitchen of the future.
Scientists think the laws governing the structure of galaxies in outer space are the same laws underlying the growth of cities.
Francesca Barchiesi's glove concept allows the user to translate hand gestures into images and information.
The Green Brain Project aims to create drones that will think, act and sense like a bee.
Bioengineers at Harvard University have created the first cyborg tissue.
Thanks to the antenna implanted in his skull, Neil Harbisson can hear images and paint sounds.
It might be possible to grow a new heart in labs using spider silk.
The humanoid robot Yangyang can function autonomously, talking and gesturing while interacting with people.
Dr. Garth Webb, an optometrist from British Columbia, has invented the Ocumetics Bionic Lens : lenses that after being implanted through an eight minute surgery, improve eyesight …
An international team of scientists used nano-sized needles in order to promote production of new blood cells.
Recently 338 sharks in Western Australia subscribed to the microblogging service. They are now tweeting out where they are.
English artist Imogen Heap, with an army of artists, musicians, scientists and technologists, developed the Mi.Mu gloves.
Buckle up for a cinematic espresso shot from performance philosopher and NNN ambassador Jason Silva.
Researchers Fernandez and Ingber imitated chitin in order to produce durable, biodegradable plastics.
A remote-controlled LED chip can make a mouse walk in circles.
A team of cyborgs and digital enthusiasts developed a wearable technology for the body that perceives a human sixth sense.
We humans are changing. We have become so intertwined with what we have created that we are no longer separate from it. We have outgrown the distinction between the natural and the artificial. We are what we make.
Speculative designer Agi Haines' work focuses on (re)designing the human body, and speculates upon future scenarios.
Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine succeeded in hooking up a prosthetic arm to the human brain.
A polymer film coating can turn contact lenses into computer screens.
On June 17th a NNN Fellow Day was organized to explore the future project: Next Senses.
The elderly may toss their walkers for this robotic suit.
Royal College of Art graduate Dani Clode reframed prosthetics as extensions of the body, rather than replacements for missing parts.
To explore deep sea Standfort University developed OceanOne: a humanoid diving robot, which at the same time creates a simulation of the underwater experience on land.
What if your co-worker was a robot? Dutch startup Smart Robotics is a job agency for robots that allows you to hire a smart-robot.
An "electronic personhood" for robots has been discussed in the European Parliament recently, raising big questions about equality, citizenship, legal and ironically, human rights for artificial intelligent machines.
This is post number four of our serie 'Robots at Work'. In this episode we present you five jobs for entrepreneurs, the ones who love doing big business.
The Brazilian model Paola Antonini uses her Instagram to show off her prosthetic limb.
How many cyborgs did you see during your morning commute today? I would guess at least five. Did they make you nervous? Probably not; you likely didn’t even realize they were …
Color-blind artist Neil Harbisson designed a brain-implanted antenna that converts colors into sound. This enables him to hear colors he cannot see, and extends his vision to …
From the Georgia Institute of Technology arrives FingerSound, a smart ring that recognizes thumb gestures and converts them into words and numbers.
A breakthrough technology that responds to signals from the brain has transformed the life of a paralyzed 28-year-old man called Thibault. Four years after the initial incident …
A new implant lets blind people see letters, crosswalks and people.
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 …
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 …
The place on the Web for biotech thinkers, builders, experimenters, students, and others who love the intellectual challenge and stimulation of hobby biotech. Biotech Hobbyist …
Cloaca is a giant machine that makes shit. At one end of the machine, they pour 2.6 gallons of water and a meal from a fancy SoHo restaurant. 27 hours and 33 feet later, a nozzle …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Wearable Interfaces, Smart Materials and Living Fabrics. V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam-based Virtueel Platform, the expertise centre for …
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 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 …
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 …
Enologix makes software that predicts how a wine will rate in reviews even before it is made. It claims that wine quality can be measured chemically, and a score assessed, much …
Just read this article on Darpa 's work on using bugs for war effort . They are planning to make a kind of insect cyborg to use in the army. The Defense Advanced Research Projects …
Genetically modified plants may be the green solution for cleaning up polluted sites . Researchers David Salt and John Freeman aim to develop plants that remove toxic metals from …
Animals do not shape their living environment as radically as humans, but why don't we give them some help. James Auger envisions animals, birds, reptiles and even fish becoming …
Augmented Fish Reality is an interactive installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures. These sculptures allow Siamese Fighting fish (Betta Splendons) to use …
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 …
Botanicalls is a system that allows plants to call their owner when they need more (or less) sunlight or water. It works by placing moisture and light sensors in plants and then …
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 …
In the UK farmers recall simple circles appearing on their land for generations. The British media first reported on the circles in the early 1980s. By 1990 crop circles had …
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, …
If your house just isn't big enough to have a leopard, you can allways buy these 20.000 dollar cats. Nailcaps are included to prevent scratches on the matching cat furniture. I …
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. …
Erich Berger has a 96 year old grandmother who is a cyborg. She features dentures, hearing aids, glasses, pace maker, a metal implant on the pinkie toe, and more. Quotes from the …
NAT, designing nature is about the interface where nature and culture, biology and design intertwine. An exhibition that is a cross between an exotic Garden of Eden and an illegal …
The Made and the Born: Neo-Biological civillization, written by Kevin Kelly, excerpt from Out of Control : The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World, …
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 …
Robotarium X , the first zoo for artificial life, approaches robots very much in the way as we are used to look at life in old nature. We, humans, enjoy watching and studying …
Old nature meets next nature in the design by Jurgen Bey. Related: How to grow a Chair , Folding Chair , Sketch furniture , Dynamic terrain .
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, …
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 …
Energy problem? Why not genetically alter bacteria to have them provide 'renewable petroleum'. Crude oil is only a few molecular stages removed from the acids normally excreted by …
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. …
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 …
Don't you just love that vanishing bioplastic bottle! It is our peculiar object of the week.
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. …
Since the early days of the net, the electronic pastoral has lent itself to all sorts of dubious agendas pushed by science, the military and even libertarian tendencies. In the …
I think I'll have my next one implanted in my tooth . Via joe-ks.com .
In the weeks towards the Biggest Visual Power Show 2008 we post a few video's of earlier power show presentations. Philosopher Prof. Dr. Jos de Mul – author of countless articles …
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 , …
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 …
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 …
At first I thought this first pregnant man was a hoax, but after I saw it on Oprah I realized it must be 'real'. Well, the pregnant man is actually a former woman who had a sex …
"Nature adapts, even to human actions that seem to destroy everything. The amazing power of evolution has given birth to a new species of insect. Their ideal habitats are old …
The 1966 science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage famously imagined using a tiny ship to combat disease inside the body. With the advent of nanotechnology, researchers are inching …
Never thought I would ever empathize with a hermit crab. But somehow the 'situation' the creature is in, provides me with a feeling of recognition. According to this video marine …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
No, this is not another example in our fake for real series , comparing an artificial with a human hand. Rather, you are looking at twice the same hand: with and without its …
The 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. …
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 -- …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Are you ready for some techno-optimism? Buckle up and enjoy the ride with bio-tech evangelist Gregory Stock . Some quotes from his prophetic TED talk : "We are seizing control of …
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 …
By highlighting the geometric and mechanical structure of flowers, computer graphics illustrator Macoto Murayama produced these beautiful renderings. These flowers must not be …
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 …
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 …
Remember Asimo ? Honda has now developped a new Brain-Machine Interface technology that allows humans to control the humanoid robot simply by thinking certain thoughts. The BMI …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
I should tell you the story of how Manko lost a leg. You need to know about this incident to understand his recent works. So please forgive me, I first have to go back to that …
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 …
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 …
Lady Gaga is famous for fashion that exaggerates or obscures her body, but a few months ago, she made a foray into 'actual' body-modification. Gaga appeared on Jay Leno's talk …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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: …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
An interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".
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 …
Floris Kayak discusses online hoaxes and the future of technology.
Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
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 …
Body builders rejoice: scientists have synthesized the world's first artificial proteins.
Should plants be genetically controlled to perform specific functions for us?
Researchers in Tokyo have developed an artificial womb (for goats).
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.
A entomologist gives another explanation for that famous fruit fly with ant-patterned wings: it's not evolution, it's human error.
3D printing cancer could be the future of treating cancer.
Scientists designed a way to improve the efficiency of plants light harvesting during the photosynthesis, using nanotechnology.
Bio-hackers developed a protocol to augment human sight to see into the near infrared range.
Company AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
Julian Melchiorri created a synthetic biological leaf that absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant.
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.
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 …
A wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.
A new biotech startup seeks to hack our cells to use solar energy instead of carbon and oxygen.
Cyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.
A promising way to grow body parts: using an apple.
Introducing nanobionic spinach plants that can detect explosives.
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.