More than Fake Nature: The Surprising Sociology of Museum Taxidermy
Allison GuyThe greatest taxidermy in the world reveals a great deal about our changing notions of nature.
The greatest taxidermy in the world reveals a great deal about our changing notions of nature.
Scientists are working on an ingenious approach to carbon capture that will enhance the way plants isolate carbon dioxide from other emissions in order to contain it.
The Animals, made up using tube lines, stations and junctions on the London Underground map. I like these because it makes such a complex system really personal and funny. Watch …
Lucy the Margate Elephant is a New Jersey landmark built in 1881. Pilgrims came from all around to gaze in wide wonder at the Elephant god (after gambling). The back of this …
Compubeaver by Kasey McMahon "I am interested in the way we interact with nature. As we become increasingly reliant on technology, we become disconnected from our natural …
Feel unhappy? Little depressed? Headaches? Why not try a little trip to de Arizona desert? Richard Chaplin built the Interstellar Light Collector. As is often the case, tragedy …
Designer Robbie Tilton's keyboard replaces the impersonal metal of a keyboard with lush imitation moss and wooden keys. Though it's a good example of fake nature , Tilton's …
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 …
Dutch photographer Koen Hauser blends parts of the human body with parts from anatomical models. You know, the ones you had in biology class and gave you this fine colorful …
This is one of the weirdest things I ever saw... It's a commercial for a construction company. The text goes a little bit like this: Anabukikonten is "Anabuki Construction Co." …
Sculpture, android bird's voices, a mechanical reconstruction of organic life-forms, electronically controlled by Judith Fegerl Taking "The Chinese Nightingale", a tale of Hans …
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 …
A group of manufacturers are selling canned oxygen. It comes in flavors and it's a bit like bottled water: a thing that you can get for free but might pay for anyway. But why …
Gummed tape with a fruit-like print on its surface. The tape reminds us of the feeling of peeling fruit when opening a box. A design for opening, rather than packaging. Designed …
Remember the beautiful sequoiaview harddisk visualisation posted a while ago? Above a more illustrative harddisk tree visualisation by professor Jack van Wijk. Branches are …
The construction of this nucleair powerplant near Kalkar (DE) started in 1973. After the build was finished, in 1991 it was decided not to use it for political reasons. The …
Seoul Commune 2026: Reconfiguring Towers in the Park, by the Korean office for architecture Mass Studies. I think in the future... buildings will grow.
Another peculiar image by jeroen diepenmaat
Carolina Sobecka released her tiger into the night, projected by a moving car. The animal's movements are programmed to correspond to the speed of the car. As the car moves, the …
Semantic landscapes use the natural metaphore to visualize abstract data. The project above visualises different meanings of the word 'cold' in Biomedical patent documents.
In "Dutch dress up" (a travelling exhibition of accesoires by 40 Dutch designers), Silvia B is presenting new glove-models showing a specific skin peculiarity. In general clothes …
An online application that generates artificial flowers from text . Type in any sentence you like and it is being transformed to a fake flower. via information aestethics
The largest indoor beach in Europe, near Berlin. www.my-tropical-islands.com
Don't let the sun have the monopoly on making people love you more. Get the USB Desktop Tanning center and, in the comfort of your own cubicle, a scrumptiously golden tone can be …
Joyful recycling from Japan, comes this powerful frog that can crush cans! You can buy it from this Japanese store . A less whimsical can crusher can be found at Amazon for $20. …
This is not a mountain, this is a building. Expedition Everest is a "themed roller coaster" attraction created by the imagineers of Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. …
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 …
Espace Pur by Marc Hottinger & Lucien Iseli (MID-ECAL) is an air ionizer that uses dust as pixels and that displays patterns thanks to it, in a very slow motion way. It cleans …
Here's an animal-friendly alternative for Tinkebells Cat Bag and it scares the crap out of mice! There's also an instant infant and a cuddly fish bowl . These cardboard-pets were …
Google Video is no longer in operation. Sorry for the inconvenience "It's a high form of masturbation" A RealDoll is a realistic life-size sex doll that cost more than an average …
This week's peculiar images: Let the forces of nature redecorate your house once in a while... Some think it sucks, others call it a rebirth ! via designverb.com | Related posts: …
A bug that does the cleaning? This 1-meter (39-inch) tall, 1.35-meter (53-inch) long prototype robot ' named "Lady Bird" ' is designed to clean public restrooms at highway rest …
"ROYAL PINE", "VANILLAROMA", "NEW CAR SCENT", "WILD CHERRY". Which of these smelly little trees doesn't fit in the row? After careful consideration I decided the "NEW CAR SCENT" …
Edward Burtynsky is a photographer that makes pictures scarred or altered landscapes, changed by industrial activities. His work shows the disappearance of nature and the …
Products by 100%... to make the light in your house/office feel more natural. 100per.com
Packet Garden is an experimental artwork that seeks to provide an alternative and accessible approach to visualizing daily internet use. Plants are also grown for each protocol …
Ever since Rosie from 'The Jetsons,' robots have been the next big thing, but the business case was never there. So far, companion robots have been a big flop in the market , but …
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 …
The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth--it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. -Ecclesiastes If we were able to take as the …
This morning I found a tree stump in my laminate wooden floor?! Oh well, that's the peculiar object of the week, created by David Lefkowitz .
Victoria has great realism, perfect imperfections, and incredible ease of use. Based on live human models she is trying to close the gap between real life and models typically …
For the nostalgic office workers. Buy them here , or here .
This ad is made by some people who claim that they eat only meat. Their establishment is called meatatarians/ . We have seen food fights , plants that eat insects, but we haven't …
Anyone can build the house of their dreams via scaryideas.com The previous images are of course created for commercial purposes, but just take a look at the domestics below and …
Integrating nature in our technology. There are four different laptops: Floral Blossom (pink), which has a tropical, flowery scent; Musky Black (black), which incorporates a waft …
Now this is how you do it. First you take the meat of a hundred animals; chickens (19%), turkeys (17%). Secondly, you blend them in a large tank with water, mais, wheat, oil, fat, …
Remember the classical dadaist fountain of Marcel Duchamp – who placed an urinal inside an art gallery and proclaimed it was Art? San Fransisco based artist Clark Sorensen takes …
These photo's were send to us by NextNature.net reader Gordon Cohen, who decided he liked the corporate animal backdrop so much that he and his girlfriend had it laser etched on …
This weeks peculiar image was made by Elephant Artist Sri Siam at the Lamphang Elephant Camp in Thailand. It is hard to tell whether the elephants actually know what they are …
José E. Rivera emailed us this image of his strangely evolving mouse. We are clueless on what motives or evolutionary pressure a computer mouse might have to transform itself into …
Ask a child to draw a mountain and you will get something like the Matterhorn. The shape of this famous mountain, situated on the Swiss-Italian border in the Alps, is one of the …
While swimming in second life, India Leigh came across this cool lion fish. See also: Redefining Nemo , Augmented Fish Reality , Who wants to drive a fish? .
Or you could get an iDog. This electronic animal with musical sensibilities. It sits on your desk and sings along with the music you are playing. Dog haters don't need to worry; …
Somehow I feel there is some deeper meaning in this cheesy video. No? See also: Water in my Phone .
This Japanese Juice box is camouflaged from modern box designs and tries to convince consumers with its appealing 'natural' look. A schoolbook example of biomimicmarketing ; …
Lilium Urbanus is a collaborative senior thesis project by Anca Risca and Joji Tsuruga, recent graduates of SVA. Pretty cool to watch, the video is a metaphor of urban landscapes …
This is the peculiar image of the week, sorry Koert ; ) Excuse my crap quality.
Fifteen policemen rushed to the scene, after a couple reported to have bumped into a "corpse" while out walking their dog in a mountain forest in Izu, central Japan. The officers …
Super Mario and Rene Magritte mashed up for Dadaist delight. Available as a T-shirt . See also The surrealist were telling the truth .
In the category: Creativity with modernistic tree trunks . Created by the good people of Draw me a sheep , who with this project aim to explore today’s human relationship with …
"At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets." – Oscar wilde Picture by Noor Bongers , shot at Sedona, …
With her babybunnies series provocateur/artist/designer Tinkebell aims to provide an analysis of the consumptive attitude people have in relation to their pets. This latest work – …
Visiting the American Natural History Museum in New York, I pictured myself in about, let's say 150 years from now, trying to explain my younger family members what nature looked …
In 1921 the word "Robot" (meaning "labor") was introduced by Czech writer Karel ?apek . In his play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots), robots seem happy to work for humans. …
“Transformation” is the title of the video by a group of bio–industrialists called Foster Farms . They also sell chicken products, but that’s just to fund their quest for fair …
This rather illustrative but nonetheless peculiar object of the week is for all you Goths out there. Surely Douglas Engelbart – who invented the computer mouse in 1967 – would not …
But they love dinosaur! Judge for yourself whether this dinosaur nugget product is supposed to give kids a history lesson on the evolutionary relation between dinosaurs and birds …
If you would have shown this picture to people 50 years ago, they might have imagined it to be one of those promised 21th century space stations encircling some alien planet in …
Fashion becomes nature down under. 24 Flashers were deployed throughout high traffic areas in chilly Sydney and Melbourne to promote sunny Queensland as a holiday destination this …
Wool sculptor Stephanie Metz researched the meaning of 'cute' through the morphology of some Teddy bear species. Related posts: PacMan's Scull | Animatus
This is Petra. In 2006 she fell in love with a peddle boat designed to look like a swan and has never left its side. In winter, when swans should be flying southwards, the peddle …
Volkstuintjes (or peoples gardens) might be a typical Dutch / European tradition, offering gardening space in urban environments in which people don't have their own gardens. It's …
Recently, two new inventions have been developed. One, the mosquito-buzzer produces a 5 or 6 KHz buzz, which is (or should be) only audible for people under 25 years old. A …
Image created by Lisa Oppenheim using images downloaded from the internet of sunsets taken by soldiers in Iraq, then positioned in front of the setting sun in New York. Via VVork .
The Nanputo Temple in Xiamen (Southeast China) is an oasis of quietness, religious practice and leisure for Chinese amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the fastest growing …
Pe Lang and Zimoun have created a range of sound objects, also referred to as the Untitled Sound Objects . These sound objects are mainly triggered by simple vibration motors, …
A wood of logo's. Installation created by Karl Grandin – yup, same guy made the nextnature.net wallpaper– at the powershow in Paradiso, Amsterdam 2005. See also: Animal Sweater .
Recently, I had a nice day in the Dutch dunes with the people of Blocter.com , who show the people behind blogs. We closely investigated the Scottish highland cattle that acts as …
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 …
An interviewer once asked Pablo Picasso why he paints such strange pictures instead of painting things the way they are. Picasso asks the man what he means. The man then takes out …
This one is kinda sporty! Again created by Jitish Kallat – this emerging indian artist must have a whole skeleton-automotive-industry in place by now? Related: Aquasaurus , …
This picture was taken in Zambia by Sarah Los (NL) while on wildlife safari . Every fairly trained "NextNature spotter" should be able to distinguish the cellphone-tree masts from …
This skeleton truck was dug up created by Jitish Kallat . Related: Skeleton mouse , Animatus , Pacman’s skull .
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 …
Peculiar object of the week. See also Banana Juice box , Modernistic Watermelon , Cubic Fruit , How to grow an Orangina Bottle .
Let's do a quick poll here. What would you rather own if you could choose between a car or a garden? Kevin van Braak combined both symbols of freedom and domesticity into this …
I went to Disneyland and all I got was this lousy rock... Via ivaniannoli.com | Related: Ceci n'es pas une Montagne | Summit of the Mount Everest On Tour | Treetrunk Trashcan | …
I found this ad very ironic; after killing the giant panda (by turning it into a logo) WWF is complaining that the Chinese are killing the living version of it. I wonder if they …
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 …
Apparently, camouflaging oneself with digital patterns rather than nature-imitated patterns functions as a better camouflage within "old-nature" situations. So the digital …
Image: A. Sidorov Have you ever fantasized about creatures which carry the biggest smile? Or creatures which are so deeply covered with fur that you wish they were real? Good …
Tyre manufacturing company has come to the rescue of Fuji the dolphin who was stricken by a mysterious life threatening illness and lost her fin. She caught a disease that begun …
"A clean river is a fun river." Peculiar ad by stirmarketing.com Related: Playing with Dry Water | Datafountain | A Future Love Story
On elevated unused traintracks the city of New York created a park. Nice work, makes me think of the unnatural nature of parks I visit sometimes. Typically, the park is designed …
For those who feel like the world is heading for economical malaise and financial disaster: cheer up! there's always a worse scenario. End sequence of our 2008 show in LA, by Luke …
No silly. Of course sneakers can't be grown from transforming Koi Karpers. This is merely an fictional piece by Yoske Nishiumi. But then again, do you have any idea where your …
Anthropomorphobic object of the week. Created by Sarah Hatch .
By highlighting the geometric and mechanical structure of flowers, computer graphics illustrator Macoto Murayama produced these beautiful renderings. These flowers must not be …
There is something about the work of Josh Keyes. He might be the Bob Ross of our generation. He has site.
Give in to your god-complex by sitting on this Mountain Sofa by Gaetano Pesce .
Robots are penetrating our homes... disguised as cats? On July 30, Sega Toys releases an el-cheapo simulation cat toy for robot cat lovers with allergies or pet-unfriendly …
In this simple but effective guerilla poster action by Moiré , stacks and pillars were disguised as sycamore trees to give the streets of Tokyo that ever so natural look. …
All right I am the first to admit this thunderstorm imitation by the a Capella choir Perpetuum Jazzile isn't exactly what we had in mind when we started our discussion on 'the …
This gigantic rubber duck was created by artist Florentijn Hofman and is currently traveling around the world. Unsure how the over-sized bird is related to our explorations in …
This remarkable proposal for a steam powered street locomotive was invented by Mathewson in 1876. According to the inventor the goal was to make a machine resembling a horse in …
Subway stations are usually designed in a clean and modernistic style in order to make people forget they are traveling deep underground. How different in the Stockholm subway, in …
Anthropomorphobia is the fear of acknowledging qualities we wish to consider only human in non-human things. Sufferers from the condition used to have trouble mostly at fairs or …
A retail lot in Austin, Texas recently sprouted a field of solar photovoltaic sunflowers that soak up the sun’s rays to provide shade while generating a steady stream of …
The general assumption about sports, is that it's healthy to exercise for a fit and nicely-shaped -- perhaps muscular body. Such a body could be a sign of good health and is being …
GPS is not the most easiest product to advertise. Jeep uses biomimicmarketing to bring the message across. In this advertising campaign an iconic arrow is comprised by images of …
Culture fakes nature? An ultralight plane piloted by an Operation Migration team member is guiding whooping cranes from Wisconsin to their winter nesting grounds in Florida. For …
“Museum staff preparing Olympic Forest Scene exhibit”. Photo by Lee Boltin. American Museum of Natural History Library . Peculiar image of the week. See also: A day in the Dutch …
Minsh is an underwater 3D navigable world where each fish represents a Twitter user. The concept behind this world is that the social behaviour of fish will represent what people …
Found sportswear a d, will be reality some day... (with magical goggles of some sort) Related: Recreation in NextNature | Big Ass Search Engine | If Giraffes lived in the US | …
This interactive installation came out of the Postgraduate Certificate Course in Advanced Architectural Research of the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. Graduate Justin …
We recreate the landscape according to our image of nature and to match our needs and expectations. This also applies for the urban landscape. In the NY Times of last week, Thomas …
Blob architecture 1.400 AD in the emperor's garden in the Forbidden City, Beijing. Peculiar image, from China with love.
Created for the niche target group of nostalgic button freaks, by Aram Bartholl .
That Next Nature is nothing new can be proven in a walk around Castle Duivenvoorde. The castle dates back from the 11th century, while the gardens date from 1631. In a time where …
Let's slightly move back to the NextNature theme with an amusing video by Cyriak . And if that doesn't convince you of cows being the superior species... this video most certainly …
The Netherlands is known for its outright flat landscape – its even part of the name. How come the Dutch Womans Youth Rafting Team just won the World Cup in the category …
In Holland people go crazy for soccer, especially now that the national team has reached the World Cup final. We gather everything that's orange – our shirt color – as the …
As the world is preparing to show off at the World Expo in Shanghai, their pavilions are nearing their final stage. To me, it feels like a lot of them are making references to …
* warning: high doses of irony detected in this article * Method #01: Canning Promotional gift 'Nature in a can' complete with soil and bean plant seeds (from DKNY , 2010). Method …
How to upcycle old newspapers? Mieke Meijer (a.o.) from Vij5 took a jar of glue and started imitating tree rings. "The product surprisingly mimics the quality of real wood" she …
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 …
In our ‘ under the beach lies the pavement ’ series. Already in 1973, Steven M. Johnson drew cartoons of oil drilling platforms disguised to look like palm trees, in an attempt by …
Really? I never knew. Biomimicmarketing strategies are getting crazier by the day.
This umbilical cord-inspired charger cable by interactive media artist Mio I-zawa comes to life when connected to an iPhone. Don't watch the video if you are anthropomorphobic . …
Artist José E. Rivera takes pleasure in the sculpting of animals from electronic infrastructure. Same artist who created the evolving mouse . We are unsure what to conclude from …
In millions of offices and homes around the world, people are hard at work planting crops, feeding cattle and tilling their land. Welcome to Farmville , the digital rural world …
During the riots of 1968 , as students in Paris ripped up paving stones and threw them at the police, one of the rallying cries was “sous le pave: la plage” (under the pavement: …
Remember the beginning of 2010, when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been canceled across Europe due to …
That's no reindeer, and it's certainly no moose. It's an Irish Elk, Megaloceros giganteous , a deer that happens to be neither an elk, nor really all that Irish. What it does …
Parks becomes fairground attractions? Maybe they have been all the time. This intriguing park design by architecture-firm-beyond-praise Diller Scofidio + Renfro seems (who we all …
The Coca-Cola introduces the PlantBottle . Partially made of plants, this bottle is 100% recyclable. Next step will be a natural bottle fully growing on a plant. In the meanwhile, …
Artist Andrew Chase creates kinetic sculptures of animals. He has studied these animals intensively. After his analysis he created copies of these animals in metal with mechanics …
Has this tree gone Pac-Man on the power lines? In truth, the slice through the side of the tree is the work of 'utility pruning.' Topiary was once determined on entirely aesthetic …
Artist Dolf Veenvliet ( Macouno ) is creating future fossil trilobites that have yet to exist. Using generative computer models, his Entoforms are not the result of millions of …
Along with the Heck cattle and Scottish Highlanders , another reconstructed species roams the Dutch dunes . The sturdy Konik horse , also known as the Polish primitive, is the …
In the film Mastering Bambi, artists Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukacs have stripped the landscape of its cuddly, anthropomorphic characters. Over the course of the film, the …
Beautiful Google Maps shots of housing projects in southwest Florida. Probably designed to look and feel more natural than your average straight street neighborhood, they remind …
Unsatisfied with the variety of vegetables in your local Supermarket? Why not try the Art Gallery? Morphotheque #15 (2011) is a form collection that consists of 27 elements, 1:1 …
While hiking in Trinidad, artist Nina Katchadourian was struck by the similarity of bird calls to car alarms. One inspires us to poetry, the other makes us groan and pull the …
Recent flooding along the Mississippi River has broken records first set 70 years ago. As always, it's hard to attribute local weather to global patterns, but the heavier rainfall …
Sexuality and sensuality are phenomena which have been a nature for us as long as we humans exist. Not only humans experience these phenomena; also animals experience sexuality …
Japanese researchers are currently working on cloning a mammoth, and plan to produce a fluffy new prehistoric calf within four or five years . The bucardo, an extinct subspecies …
There’s nothing quite like peeling a piece of fruit, but if you end up with a bottle of Vodka after peeling, you know you have been caught in a biomimicmarketing fantasy. I guess …
The private atmosphere of a Dutch living room is interrupted by the disturbing presence of a large oak tree that slowly enters the room. Made by roderickhietbrink.nl
Sometimes new technology has to bio-mimic old nature to be accepted. In the late 1960s and early 70s, Uniroyal Engineered Products invented the 'nauga' a beast that gives its name …
Food technology in the overdrive: Pork molded in the shape of a piglet.
Kellogg, the proud copyright holders of Toucan Sam, recently asked a the Mayan Archeology Initiative to reconsider their logo . Despite the fact that the two birds have entirely …
Over six years ago we blogged our first cellphone antenna tree, and boy have they been propagating! Nowadays you'll find them in all kinds of species, cactus included.
There is a new version of the well-known cellphone masts disguised as trees. Instead of adding fake nature to these masts, ChamTech Operations wants to put a layer of invisible …
Wild salmon gets its robust pink color from a diet rich in red-hued krill. Farmed salmon are fed on fish meal, chicken byproducts, soybeans, wheat and a long list of other …
...thus it walks into a lot of dead alleys. Peculiar image of the week.
Designer Hideyuki Kumagai must have been inspired by the seasonal colors of nature when he designed this thermometer. Stick the leaves to your window, or make a bush at your …
“God created the world, except for the Netherlands. That the Dutch created themselves” , Voltaire remarked in the eighteenth century already to describe the overly cultivated …
The uncanny valley, a phrase coined by Japanese robotic researcher Masahiro Mori nearly three decades ago, describes the uncanny feeling that occurs when people look at …
In this essay, anti-civilization, anarchist philosopher John Zerzan critiques the concept of 'next nature.' He argues that rather than freeing us, our self-domestication through …
What most gourmands would define as "real" and "natural" vanilla flavoring is simple: Vanilla beans steeped in alcohol. But vanillin, the chemical responsible for vanilla's taste …
Always good to see a swimming pool exactly where you need it. At San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chili they know how to cater people that love nature – except for the rocks, bites …
In 1994 researchers at Ohio State University created two artificial wetlands* in riverine basins in order to investigate their possible benefits, and whether they could replace …
Nissan’s Engineers Are Creepily Trying To Replicate Human Skin
What do blueberries have in common with sugar, corn cereal, modified food starch, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, artificial flavor, cellulose gum, salt and and Blue …
This last Monday rang in the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Not restricted just to the benevolent, snake-like creature of Chinese mythology, or to the greedy, princess-stealing …
A new study from the marine conservation group Oceana reveals that a full one-third of seafood across the US is mislabeled. Not surprisingly, the most expensive fish is also the …
3D printer company MakerBot recently launched a contest inviting designers to create the birdhouse of the future. The winner is The American Craftsman Bungalow by Brent J. …
WWF teams up with designers to produce fur from imaginary animals
A cheeky experiment to reduce CO2 results in a highly mobile garden.
Not real, but a far more creative way to deal with unsightly public works than tree-shaped antennas . Via Gizmodo .
Roses are red, violets are blue. Nanoscale flowers are what some scientists grew.
Cockroaches will inherit the world after humans are gone? Maybe not. Seeing plastic as the new moss, or algae, photographer Jeanny Kaethoven makes this beautiful pictures of …
Body builders rejoice: scientists have synthesized the world's first artificial proteins.
Why native Hawaiian people are killing off native Hawaiian monk seals.
Blade Runner becomes reality in China. Just try not to breathe.
Tuscany is known for its natural beauty. But only a few know that this wonderful landscape is actually a really good design work.
Chemistry teacher, James Kennedy, shows us that Mother Nature's products are far sneakier and complex than the lab's.
CGI video of animals doing crazy stunts makes us realize how peculiarly creative humans really are.
These unbelievably rich and dazzling graphics were made to avoid enemy attack.
An unsuccessful piece of video gaming history became an archeological record.
An eco-sculpture that looks like a tree. Its foliage is made of solar panels able to produce energy.
A new artificial mineral made of technological artifacts, such as computers, tools and machinery.
1.5 million balloons were released in once to create a spectacular show becoming uncontrollable and dangerous.
Nike sneakers with lunar surface pattern, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
Last friday, these curious next natural transportations happened around our office in Amsterdam. All within the timeframe of a few hours. The surrealists where right. Have a nice …
This 3D Grass Printer can print a garden in any shape you can imagine
Studio Roosegaarde created a giant rainbow of light for the Amsterdam Central Station east side.
Next Nature Rainbow painted by F-22 Raptor Jet.
Our peculiar image of the week makes us shivers with Anthropomorphobia.
Sexy girls and organ meat was never a good combination to me, but the people from Black Milk Clothing that created this swimsuit seem to think it makes a pretty nice product. Am …
To attract a female, male bower birds build structures and adorn these with colorful plastic decoration.
A new Kickstarter project aims to bring the forest into Times Square.
The wind turbines of the future will look like post-modern tree sculptures.
Digital cameras have made us think less about taking a snapshot. Why should you think twice?
Want to grow some vegetables but don’t want to get your hands dirty? There is an app for that!
Cars - autonomous, self driving, uncontrollable - are bound to become the animals of the future.
Eyes of the Animal is an interactive project that invites the public to an uncommon virtual reality setting conceived especially for experiences in actual forests, giving the opportunity to see the world as an insect would.
The exterior of the this hotel room is constructed with branches, sticks and twigs intertwined to create the look and feel of a real bird nest.
Coelux skylight recreates natural sunlight using Nano Technology.
The National University of Singapore released a group of robot swans in the Pandan Reservoir to swim around and keep an eye on water quality.
A tree, made with 3D printed leaves that contain solar cells.
The Weather Machine: an installation that explores rain, clouds and sun heat to recreate the weather occurring outside.
Swiss artist Dan Acher created a replica of the Northern Lights by way of high-powered lasers.
The first self-sufficient luminous bike lane opened last week in Poland.
Artist Alex Aebi' s collection of insects made of recycled plastic pods show us an alternative way in which this waste can inhabit our natural world.
The concept of using our rooftops to produce green, renewable energy for our houses is already very common if we look at solar panels. Now an international team of scientists is …
Bionic leaf fertilizes crops to make them weigh 150 percent more
Breakroom is a VR app that lets you fill your daily working tasks in a simulated nature surrounding, enhancing productivity and mental balance.
China is famous for its Panda bear reserves and breeding centers, so riding one the work just seems the most natural thing to do.
POP is an all-in-one solar energy system that hold visible benefits for humans.
After mounting criticism from environmentalists, a firefly-themed park in China announced that the glowing bugs will be replaced by lasers.
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 …
Meet the incredible new species "Petramosaurus Cavator" and discover its impact on our planet.
A cellphone antenna tree with an empty billboard and a tiny label that reads: Media 24/7.
A machine lets drinkers instantly turn their empty beer bottles into sand.
The local fishermen looked on skeptically. From the deck of a small motorboat, scuba divers grabbed odd chunks of ceramic – which could be described as rocky brains stuck on …
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 …
I know, this is a nice piece of fantasy rather than Next Natureâ„¢, but still, you gotta love it. Directed by Jan Urbanowski and Jethro Haynes, animation by www.wer3d.com. Check …
Nowadays, young children are so used to the omnipresence of disposable toys. When their parents buy them a living pet animal they are unable to take care of it. Hamster tend to …
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 …
Take back the field. This past weekend, the OSU Linux Users Group descended on a field in Oregon to create a 45,000+ square foot crop circle of Firefox.
"The baby dragon, in a sealed jar, was discovered with a metal tin containing paperwork in old-fashioned German of the 1890s. (...) Some scientists believe that dragons, though …
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 …
Libyan deserts are one of the hottest places on earth. That's why they are making a river to them. The project known as Great Man-Made River is "an enormous, long-term undertaking …
More than 70% of San Francisco's downtown outdoor space is dedicated to the private vehicle, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to the public realm. Park(ing) …
Leonard Knight started this massive desert art project in 1985, Niland, California. For nearly 20 years he created the landscape with every shade and type of paint ... and just a …
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, …
Ok, so it is a bit corny. But since there is an amazing hypernatural supermouse starring in this video (quicktime) , we had to post it. Created by Nieto Luis. Thanks Jan.
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 …
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 …
These crystalline 'nanoflowers' were developed by Cambridge University PhD student Ghim Wei Ho. The nanostructures of silicon carbide are grown from droplets of gallium on a …
In "A Hunt for High Tech", Bart Hess seeks to harness both nature and technology and create armoured skin and fur for a new human archetype incorporating animalistic and …
Chinese artist Xu Zhen created the monumental untitled sculpture depicted above (sorry I am such a bad photographer) for "NONO", a show without explanations or preconceptions, I …
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 …
Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing states that it has absolutely nothing to do with Disney. The park's operators have insisted that the Minnie-character on the right is not a …
The EnergyTree is a device dedicated to monitoring your household energy use. It monitors you energy output from sockets and any device that is using electricity. It also monitors …
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 …
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, …
This French Aids campaign is a wonderful example of biomimicmarketing (using images of old nature for propaganda or marketing purposes). They may be disturbing but the message …
Let's talk about hyperbreasts. Have you ever wondered why men like women with large breasts? Historically large breasts are presumably sexually attractive for men because they …
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. …
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level. In May 2005, artist Xu Zhen led an ascent on Everest, and succeeded in …
It is true, they are rare, but they do exist: girls with tiny waists and large breasts. Occasionally, women are simply born like this. The only problem they have - in a world …
Artist Nicola Costantino creates objects that comment on the meat and leather industries. In the surrealist tratdition, these handbags and shoes are imprinted with tiny images of …
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 …
Myoung Ho Lee, a young artist from South Korea, has produced an elaborate series of photographs that pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment …
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 …
... gathered into spheres and compared to the Earth. The water sphere (blue) in this computer visualization measures 1390 kilometres across and has a volume of 1.4 billion cubic …
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 …
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 …
To increase decrease CO2 a lot of plans are made to cover city buildings with roof gardens. One problem however is that those gardens tend to be quite heavy. Especially when you …
Peculiar image of the week by Anne de Vries .
Tired of looking out on a grey wall and in dire need of a green touch? Then Föhn le fenêtre has got just what you need. The concept is simple enough: artist Karel Verhoeven offers …
Peculiar image of the week. Source: Worth 1000 , via Trendbeheer . See also: Mona Lisa goes LA , The Photoshop Beauties .
This peculiar, half-human creature could be your cousin. No really; it is a sculpture by Patricia Piccinini entitled The Young Family , which, in turn, is part of a larger …
Recently, I had some free time to return to my old passion of landscape painting. But somehow things seemed to have changed in the wilderness.
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 …
PETA –People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals– has posed a challenge to the world's scientific community: The first person to come up with a method to produce commercially …
A lot of dead books were used to make this piece of tree trunk. By Jacqueline Rush Lee | Related: Modernistic Tree | Modernistic Chair
Mondrian would have appreciated square trees. Furthermore, they would enable wood industry to lose less material, to cut easier with machines and to store more efficiently. Hence …
Very nice bench, designed to use plants as a building material. Buy them here
For three months this summer, artist Olafur Eliasson will put four giant waterfalls in New York as part of a public arts project. Including one that will fall from the Brooklyn …
PacMan's skeleton is our peculiar object of the week. It was created by Le Gentil Garcon , in collaboration with Fransois Escuilia, palaeontologist, from the comparative …
China's high-speed train from Qinghai to Xizang worried environmentalists well before its launch in July 2006. Concerns increased after a photograph of Tibetan wildlife near a …
Did you know there are more plastic flamingos in the USA than real ones? Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch – the American's …
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 , …
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 …
Our friend the Self Control Freak is organizing his garden. Hover over the image above to help him get his wilderness under control.
That shiny sparkling stone you got from your lover... is that a diamond? Lab manufactured diamonds are getting exceedingly good . They have the same color, clarity, cut and carat …
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 …
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 .
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 …
Since it is Sunday, let's have a genetically photoshopped egg with a handy integrated eggholder. Not sure if these should be mass produced (if possible): Too painful for the …
Our peculiar image of the week was created by artist Levi van Veluw , who reinvents the classical fine art of landscape painting, by moving from the traditional 'oil on canvas' to …
Imaginary advertizement for genetically engineered hybrid hyperfruits featuring an 'limwi', 'kiwange' and a 'strawblackberry'. Imagine a taste of things to come. Makes you want to …
DNA evidence has been the most bulletproof evidence for forensic sciences in recent years. Not anymore. A laboratory at Nucleix, a life-sciences company, has demonstrated it is …
Unsure how this melting polar bear ice sculpture created by artist Mark Coreth fits in Next Nature mythology. The art piece was presented last week in Copenhagen and is sponsored …
Remember the Gameboy Bricks by Gijs Gieskes? The same vibe must have been picked up by Christopher Locke (Chicago, US) as he opened his Modern Fossils Shop with many more peculiar …
This slightly uncanny piece of modernistic meat is actually not made from meat, but from wax, oil, paint polystyrene, stage blood & latex, by artist John Isaacs , who titled …
The image above shows the chair design from the Nature v2.01 project by draw me a sheep . As we struggle to find a new relation with nature, the difference between nature and …
These grass squares are designed to give a natural touch to the office or home by placing them freely or according to feng-shui. Inspired by Frank loyed Wright’s Fallingwater and …
We already know that guys love dolls ... Now learn why some mothers can never stop playing with dolls and that cuteness is defined in the mind's eye. Image credit: Kentish Babies …
The Triceracopter is half Triceratops, half helicopter. If dinosaurs and technology evolved at the same time, this is what the helicopter might have look like? Built as a …
://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 …
Silver, gold or platinum creditcards? Expensive metals in credit card design used to have a certain luster in the past, yet today we are all (painfully) aware the mimicked …
Justin Shull investigates the born and the made by mixing them up in mobile installations like the "Terrestrial Shrub Rover" and the "Porta Hedge" . His designs consist of several …
A shot of a male body after a sex change by dutch artist and photographer Martin C. de Waal . De Waal tries to make people rethink their opinions by pushing the boundaries of …
So you’ve seen the peak of the Mount Everest on tour ? Descended the bobsled ride of the Matterhorn in a Disneyland ? Think you’ve seen it all? Now come and see The Berg in …
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 …
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 this Petcha Kutcha presentation, Mike Dickison comes to a very funny conclusion: Although Big Bird might superficially resemble other ratites like the ostrich or emu, he is …
Are you familiar with the affliction? Anthropomorphobia is the fear of recognizing human characteristics in non-human objects. The term is a hybrid of two Greek-derived words: …
As the name suggests, Birthmarks Tattoos , are fake - but permanent - birthmarks that you can add to your body. Aside from its decorative potential, Birthmarks Tattoo makes it …
When the Dutch built the Netherlands , they forgot to add any mountains. The highest point in Holland is a measly 323 meters, compared to 2,962 meters for the highest mountain in …
A new Dutch landscape with windmills up to 120 meters. Designed by NL Architects .
Congrats to Sean Serafini, the winner of our April Next Nature Spotter contest. While we received many images of fake nature , Sean's entry delves deeper into more diverse next …
Polish artist Dominik Lejman has created this nine minute video manual
Imaginary infomercial on the hypernatural udder cows, optimized for milk production
The pursuit of the cute: Pokemon Hypernature . Please don't try this at home with your own kittens, dear intelligent readers. Luckily our peculiar image of the week is digitally …
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 …
Assuming that true wildlife hàs gone extinct... Who needs the real thing when you can have a Next Safari ? Let's go and hunt for the plastic birds on the beach or watch genuine …
Photographer Kim Preston transforms everyday household plastic objects into sea creatures.
The next step is to embrace and celebrate how cultural artifacts are escaping control, becoming autonomous, and forming the “next nature”.
A cannon that sucks salmon up and “shoots” them out in a different body of water.
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 …
Fake photography, or fauxtography, has been around since the invention of cameras and nature is one of the most popular subjects of dishonest photographers.
Engineer Sonam Wangchuk created fake glaciers that are already improving the life of people in Ladakh, Himalayas.
The biggest artificial sun was set up in Germany to find out how carbon neutral fuel can be produced.
Rent a rain room with simulated rain with a motion sensor to go through the rain without getting wet.
We sat down with Shahar Livne, an Israeli-born designer who graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven to talk about her vision on the future of plastics.
Arches National Park, located in Utah, is home to some of America's most beautiful rock formations. The most famous of them, Delicate Arch, has always been, well, pretty delicate. So much so that back in the 1940s, park rangers hatched a plan to preserve the natural monument - by coating it in plastic.
Sleep and dream like a koala, relax under biodiversity and feel the meditative effect of artificial wildlife.