Biomimicry in Action
Abby QinAn inspiring topic about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus gave a talk on how nature influenced our future.
An inspiring topic about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus gave a talk on how nature influenced our future.
A entomologist gives another explanation for that famous fruit fly with ant-patterned wings: it's not evolution, it's human error.
The first time I explained biomimicry to a stranger was not in a talk or a workshop but in a big-box bookstore just after Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature had come out. I …
Biomimicry is a documentary on the topic of how life and biology can be the mentors for our own innovation in the world.
Designers face an unprecedented urgency to alter their methods and reprioritize their goals to address the accelerating degradation of the environment. This new …
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 …
From nutrients within an organism, to organisms within collectives, to populations within a territory and so on - nature offers models on how to deal with highly complex systems.
In a feat of biomimicry that seamlessly marries biology with physics, tests carried out at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering made fascinating …
Don’t get fooled by the colourful, unsuspecting demeanour and size of the mantis shrimp. Known as “death incarnate” to its prey on the seafloor, the crustacean hides two …
Matilde Boelhouwer is a designer whose work speculates between art, design, science, biology and food. Matilde shapes this obligation into a studio which mainly focuses on the …
What if design began to put everything but the human first? The needs of the human not paramount to the design process, but instead the other entities that we cohabit planet earth …
The deepest regions of the oceans still remain one of the least explored areas on Earth, despite their considerable scientific interest and the richness of lifeforms inhabiting …
Art not for people, but for insects. That is the goal of the Pollinator Pathway project by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. With her concept she wants to change the way we perceive our …
What do in-vitro human skin, spider silk and cow manure have in common? They are all unlikely materials that can cloth, protect and inspire humans, as realized by award-winning …
Using biology as a model for innovation and progress, Alyssa Stark embodies the essence of Biomimicry.
What do a kingfisher, cocklebur pods and a Namibian beetle have in common? Besides being living organisms, they have all served as inspiration for creative human technologies to …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …
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 …
We live in a world of fast or disposable fashion. This industry is increasingly impacting the environment due to the use of toxic chemicals, water and energy consumption, heavy …
The world of design is in need of new materials that align with the urgency for sustainability. Issues such as climate change, plastic waste and harmful materials require us to …
Meet Pirjo Kääriäinen, professor of design driven fibre innovation at Aalto University, Finland. Kääriäinen founded CHEMARTS —a collaborative program at the university that brings …
For the past 25 years, I’ve studied everything from baboon cooperation in Ethiopia and orca whale innovation in the Bering Sea, to the Argentine ant invasion in my kitchen, and my …
Scientists in Harvard University have designed a new material inspired by organisms, such as cacti, that can effectively harvest water from thin air.
What if we would use the idea of symbiosis as the basis for the next period of Earth’s history?
Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
The Wood-Boring Wasp inspired scientists to create a new robotic needle which will be used in brain surgery.
A start-up company build a wind turbine inspired by the hummingbird.
Humans have been manipulating living things for thousands of years. Examples of early biotechnologies include domesticating plants and animals and then selectively breeding them …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …
The Salt Project created an additional ecosystem to revive desertified lands.
Bio design crosses the border between the ‘made’ and the ‘born’. Enabling living organisms as essential design elements, it brings us products that adapt, grow, sense and repair …
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.
The sciences of biomimicry studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs to solve human problems: Culture imitates nature. The Black&Decker …
At the turn of the millennium, miniaturized canines acquired the cherished status of living, designer handbag ornaments. These teeny tiny photogenic doggies, which had been …
After the successful introduction of the NANO Supermarket in 2010 it became even more clear that the contest and the presented results produced discussions and many challenges to …
What if 3D objects could not only be printed by normal techniques, but naturally grown, using photo sensitive bacteria?
Biotechnology is nearly as old as humanity itself. The food you eat and the pets you love? You can thank our ancestors for kickstarting the agricultural revolution, using …
If we could extend our senses in order to perceive the planet in a deeper way, would our understanding and our behavior towards it be different? We caught up with cyborg …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your …
Imagine helping nature restore itself simply by going for a run. In a fusion of fashion and conservation, London-based designer Kiki Grammatopoulos has introduced her concept …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 , …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
Every fashionable self-conscious modern bird needs one of these futuristic dwellings, no? Designed by Kevin Sethapun.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
For over 40 years Australian artist Stelios Arcadious Stelarc has made art with medical instruments, prosthetics, robots, virtual reality systems and biotechnology to investigate …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 .
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Corals are the master builders of the animal kingdom. Powered on plankton and their symbiotic algae, hard corals extract the carbon dissolved in seawater and turn it into their …
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 …
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: …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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, …
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 …
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 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 …
Alveoli in human lungs serve as the inspiration for designing better, stronger ways of storing compressed natural gas.
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 new implant lets blind people see letters, crosswalks and people.
A Chinese inventor created a $24,500 robot from junkyard scraps.
Invisible ear implants for listening to music, getting directions, and recording conversation.
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 …
Unlock our devices with our fingerprint, this technology for security represents a change in our digital life.
Body builders rejoice: scientists have synthesized the world's first artificial proteins.
Should plants be genetically controlled to perform specific functions for us?
The Actroid robot holds clues for climbing out of the uncanny valley.
Researchers in Tokyo have developed an artificial womb (for goats).
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.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.
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.
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 …
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.
World's first self-regulating artificial heart transplanted in France.
Bio-hackers developed a protocol to augment human sight to see into the near infrared range.
Company AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
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.
Julian Melchiorri created a synthetic biological leaf that absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant.
What are the characteristics of the perfect leader? The answer could be found looking at nature.
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.
These robotic ants by Festo are learning to work together, like real ants do.
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.
Scientists think the laws governing the structure of galaxies in outer space are the same laws underlying the growth of cities.
The Green Brain Project aims to create drones that will think, act and sense like a bee.
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.
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.
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.
Cyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.
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.
Scientists were inspired by nature to developed a method to shape-shift 4D-printed structures that could one day help heal wounds and be used in robotic surgical tools.
Swiss artist Dan Acher created a replica of the Northern Lights by way of high-powered lasers.
A laboratory is developing a synthetic dog that will be used for surgery trials, saving many canine lives and changing the veterinary world.
Watch a fly land on the kitchen table, and the first thing it does is clean itself, very, very carefully. Although we can’t see it, the animal’s surface is covered with dust, …
The human ear is a miracle of mechanical evolution. It allows us to hear an astonishing range of sounds and to communicate and navigate in the world. It’s also easy to damage and …
Interview with Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret.
Researchers developed tiny, autonomous robots able to repair circuits.
In the port of Rotterdam you might be able to cross a floating Waste Shark: a robot able to collect up to 500 kilos of trash.
On June 17th a NNN Fellow Day was organized to explore the future project: Next Senses.
In the last months we've been witnessing a refugee crisis of huge proportions. More than a million people crossed the sea to flee violence in Africa and the Middle-East. Together …
Will a small step for Ramazzottius Varieornatus be a giant leap for mankind?
Where most researchers are focusing on keeping bees alive, researchers of Harvard are developing a bee replacement; the Robobee. The Robobee is only the size of half a paperclip, with ultra thin wings flapping 120 times per second. The main goal is to build a mechanic pollinator.
Bionic leaf fertilizes crops to make them weigh 150 percent more
We asked Ritsert Mans, our second ECO coin award nominee about his bike, the technology that fuels it and his hopes for the future.
Researches at the University of Illinois released a step by step guide to build 3D printed bio robots with living muscles.
We met Anouk Wipprecht and talked about smart fabrics and accessories that can listen to our body, therapeutic fashion and the future of dressmaking.
China recently built a panda shaped solar plant to get kids interested in green energy.
POP is an all-in-one solar energy system that hold visible benefits for humans.
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 …
A robot inspired by a sloth was developed in order to control crops growing in our fields.
Researchers at the University of Technology in Delft have created flat structures able to fold themselves into three-dimensional constructions.
The world’s first bio-brick grown from human urine has been unveiled by University of Cape Town (UCT) master’s student in civil engineering Suzanne Lambert, signalling an …
Rayfish Footwear was a fictional company that offered personalized sneakers crafted from genetically modified stingray leather. This online science fiction story allowed customers …
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 …
Would you like a dog snout, cat eyes or fluffy bunny ears? The choice is yours. Virtual selfie filters have become a widespread phenomenon on social media platforms such as …
Earth’s oceans have seen better days. They’re inundated with plastic waste, both whole single-use plastics and tons of plastic microparticles that find their way back into our …
Leather is one of the oldest and most versatile materials in the world. It’s a supple, tough, relatively strong and durable material and it’s relatively impermeable, yet …
As a young bio designer at the start of your career, you'll have to overtake all kinds of obstacles. From the collection of living materials to working in a laboratory and …
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 …
As modern humans, we are out of balance with our natural environment. With use of technology, we try to prolong our human lifespan and create materials that live longer than we …
A flock of drones that fly like birds, drifting blocks of concrete, a choreography of opening and closing flowers. The work of Studio Drift is challenging the distinction between …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your coordinates as we …
Go forward to nature at the La Fabrique du Vivant (the Factory of Life), the newly opened exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Exhibiting the recent works of fifty …
Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade and Cooper Hewitt in New York present the comprehensive exhibition NATURE - in which internationally renowned designers, artists and inventors …
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 …
From flocks of birds to fish schools in the sea, or towering termite mounds , many social groups in nature exist together to survive and thrive. This cooperative behaviour can be …
We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …
We live in a world in which we control the biology of a tomato at such precision, you could think of it as a product of technology, instead of a product of nature. Think about it, …
This story is part of Next Generation , a series in which we give young makers a platform to showcase their work. Your work here? Get in touch and plot your …
We met at the Floriade grounds in Almere with Xander de Bruine, program manager Floriade Expo 2022, with project manager Jennifer Palumbo. Along with head curator William Myers we …
Researchers hope that 3D-printed, biodegradable mussel reefs help the growth of mussel banks.
Wondering how next natural furniture may change your way of life? Will we feed our lamps? Grow chairs? Talk with our tables?