The Next Nature gift guide 2019
Next Nature DevWhether you're in need of a holiday gift for your techie spouse or tech-adverse grandpa, the truth is, your loved ones deserve better than a generic gift card. Now we understand …
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Next Nature Gift Guide 2022
Kelly van GemertThe most wonderful time of the year can turn stressful quite easily when you run out of exciting gift-ideas. Don't worry, we got you covered.
Next Nature Gift Guide 2018
The season of giving has come and to make sure you can find the perfect gift for your loved ones we have brought together a collection of Next Nature inspired goodies. Whether you …
The Next Nature gift guide 2021
Next Nature DevAs winter arrives, so does the season of giving. Good gift giving is an art and can be quite the endeavor at times. But don’t worry, Next Nature is here to help! We present to you …
Next Nature Gift Guide 2017
NextNature.netThe gift giving season is once again upon us and to help out those who are struggling to find that perfect gift for that special someone we have brought together a collection of Next Nature inspired gifts.
Douglas Coupland: A radical pessimist's guide to the next 10 years
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkDouglas Coupland is a writer and artist based in Vancouver. For the canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, he wrote The ‘radical pessimist's guide to the next 10 years’ a dystopian …
The Next Nature Guide to Games in 2017
Jack CaulfieldIn the next nature, many people spend as much time in the digital world of gaming as they do in the real world. We have covered video games before, but this year we thought it …
Robot Guide Dog
Stefan Fincken#! Possibly the answer for blind people with cynophobia, the fear of dogs. This robot guide dog is stil a bit slow compared to the old nature version, but as technology advances …
The Angry Bird Spotters Guide
Koert van MensvoortWhy are these birds so angry? Probably because they don't appear in the scientific literature.
Animal Guided Mediation
Elle Zhan WeiAnimal Meditation uses meditation guiding sounds to to enable user to feel as if he is an animal.
The beginner's guide to biohacking
Peter JoostenWhat is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term 'biohacking'? Perhaps you are now thinking of a bunch of kids sitting in their kitchen with a DNA kit, (wannabe) …
The Next Nature guide to Transmediale 2019
Ruben BaartBerlin is kicking off its cultural season with the not-to-miss 23th installment of Transmediale . This year the digital art/culture festival focuses on how feelings are made into …
Experience biodesign at DDW19
Ruben BaartBio 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 …
A guide to parenting with AI Barbie
Siri BeerendsThe rise of artificial intelligence has brought us more advanced toys. If AI Barbie and her talking robotic friends are going to raise our kids, what would their parenting style …
Your Next Nature guide to Dutch Design Week 2018
Meike SchipperOver time, our bodies, our food and our environment have become more and more subject to design. As designers, we hold the responsibility and have the unique chance to envision …
Your Next Nature guide to Unseen 2018: When Records Melt
Meike SchipperImages largely shape our experience of reality. Just consider how imagery of nature continues to rise in popularity: only a society no longer grounded in their natural landscape …
The GOGBOT Conference 2019 is your guide to biotech futures
Ruben BaartLook around you and try to find the most natural thing in the room you are in now. It is you. But for how long? Welcome to the wonderful world of bio design ; a world full of …
A countryside dweller's guide to the future
Ruben BaartThe current lockdown in much of Europe has city-dwellers flocking to the countryside to wait out the outbreak sweeping the continent. Seeking relief from coronavirus, urbanites …
Design on the Border of Technology and Biology Demands Us to 'Mother' Nature
Koert van MensvoortDesigner and architect Neri Oxman explores how digital fabrication technologies can interact with the biological world. Watch the TED talk.
Sand Engine Reinforces Dutch Coastline
Koert van MensvoortNow here is an hands-on example of ‘guided growth‘ as a way to steer complex systems.
Bugs that Turn Whole Plants into Sugar
Koert van MensvoortRemember the bacteria that eat waste and shit petrol ? How about some microbes that eat plant waste and turn it in to sugar? Now you might say you have no need for sugar as you …
Earrings for Spontaneous Seeding
Arnoud van den HeuvelSeed bombs away, because these earrings may awake the Guerilla Gardener in you... You never know when an opportunity for planting might present itself. Be prepared with these tiny …
Using Nanoscale Wood Pulp to Replace Metal and Plastics
Allison GuyNanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) sounds almost too good to be true. The same microscopic particles that help trees to stand up straight are also lightweight, non-toxic, stronger …
"Algae Opera" Nourishes Algae with a Singer's Breath
Silvia CelibertiAre you blessed with a Maria Callas kind of voice? If, like us, you don't go beyond croaking the occasional " I want to break free" in the shower, watch out. If the artists of …
Mushrooms to Grow Surfboards, Shoes, and Even Your House
Allison GuyMushrooms are set to replace petroleum-based packaging... and a lot of other things too.
Sitting on Tofu
Alessia AndreottiItalian Designer discovers new material. A ideal throne for a vegan king.
Fish Fins vs Bones
Lotte BiesheuvelZebrafish can regrow fins. Is there a possibility we can regrow bones in the near future?
Robot Swarm that can form any Shape
Koert van MensvoortMaybe 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.
New 3D Printer Can Save Hours of Time
Yunus Emre DuyarA team of researchers recently developed a new method for 3D printing that can reduce the printing process down to minutes.
Designer Creates Water Bottles from Algae
Daniel FragaIcelandic Product Design student Ari Jónsson has used red algae powder and water to create a biodegradable water bottle.
Grow Your Own Bio Bot
Julie ReindlResearches at the University of Illinois released a step by step guide to build 3D printed bio robots with living muscles.
How Amazon trees write their own autobiographies
Chris HuntTropical forests are one of the world’s largest carbon stores and they help regulate the global climate. But they’re being erased at a terrifying rate. Deforestation claimed an …
Exploring assisted evolution with Prof. Dr. John van der Oost
Marit BeerseAssisted evolution raises complex questions. The practice involves human intervention to increase the rate of natural evolutionary processes. A technique that inevitably …
How technology will help us adapt to climate change
Ruben BaartClimate change will transform how we live, but these tech and policy experts see reason for optimism
Next Generation: Sensing the critical zone with Menno Brouwer
Kelly van GemertThis 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 GeneSprout Initiative: cultivating new plant breeding techniques
Ruben BaartSome 10,000 years ago humans began to domesticate plants and animals. The birth of agriculture, one of the earliest technologies available.
Growth is not the problem, but the solution
Ruben BaartIf we want to bring down global CO2 emissions to zero, we will need technological innovation and massive infrastructure projects.
Mapping the world's DNA
Marit BeerseThe Earth BioGenome Project is aiming to create a database of genomes of all organic life on earth within 10 years.
Meet a group of young plant scientists who share their belief in the potential of CRISPR
Marit BeerseIn the summer of 2018, the European Court of Justice (that’s Europe’s highest court) reviewed a case and concluded that gene-edited crops should be subject to the same regulations …
We’re all radioactive – life isn't possible without it
Marit BeerseMost radiation is natural and life on Earth wouldn’t be possible without it.
How to Grow a Beer Bottle
Koert van MensvoortA so-called "natural" beer is marketed by portraying an utterly technological process.
In Conversation with Marleen Hartjes: Introducing a digital door to the museum
Kelly van GemertDon’t be surprised when you catch a human face on a screen strolling through the Van Abbe museum for contemporary art in Eindhoven, as these are Europe’s very first robotic …
Tree Temple
Koert van MensvoortSo 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 …
Nanotech Diatoms
Allison GuyNo, 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 …
Next Nature and the Curse of Oil
Tere VadénThe next step is to embrace and celebrate how cultural artifacts are escaping control, becoming autonomous, and forming the “next nature”.
Biotypography
Rolf CoppensIsraelian typographer Oded Ezer looks at the world from his point of view, through letters and numbers. So why not turn the world into typography. A short interview taken from …
Funky Forest
Arnoud van den HeuvelI am a tree and I need water! Dance with me! Guide the river! Together with designer Emily Gobeille , Theodore Watson created the Funky Forest , an interactive ecosystem where …
Hurricane Control Causes a Storm of Lawsuits
Koert van MensvoortControlling hurricanes could save lots of lives and dollars. According to a study published in by climate physicist Daniel Rosenfeld , adding dust to Hurricane Katrina's base …
Self–Repairing Architecture
Rachel ArmstrongAll buildings today have something in common: They are made using Victorian technologies. This involves blueprints, industrial manufacturing and construction using teams of …
Growing a Crystal Chair
Allison GuyJapanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka does not sculpt his work, but grows it. His Venus chair was created by immersing a plastic mesh substrate into a tank filled with a chemical …
Dan Barber on the Ultimate Fish Farm
Koert van MensvoortChef Dan Barber discusses a dilemma facing many chefs today: how to keep fish on the menu? With impeccable research and deadpan humor, he chronicles the discovery of a unique …
Bacterioptica
Marco van BeersLiving 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 …
Interview: Arne Hendriks, Researcher and "Father" of The Incredible Shrinking Man
Alessia AndreottiHendriks’s activity explores the positive transformative power of creative impulses and the importance of fundamental free scientific research.
Visualize the Hidden World of Digital Networks
Nadine RoestenburgHave you ever wondered what the infosphere looks like? Dutch designer Richard Vijgen’s app Architecture of Radio is a field guide to the hidden world of digital networks.
Playing Pong with lab-grown brains
Kelly van GemertBiotechnology startup Cortical Labs successfully guided human brain cells in a petri dish through a simulated game of Pong.
Anthropomorphobia
Koert van MensvoortAre 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: …
Monsanto's Technorhetoric Kills Corn
Allison GuyMega-agro-biotech corporation Monsanto recently denied that insects have developed resistance to their patented Bt corn . Injected with a bacterial gene toxic to corn rootworms, …
Next Nature lecture: Gardening Complexity
Koert van MensvoortNo, the peculiar image above was not created by an in vitro fertilized child from the combined DNA of Escher, Mondrian and Pollock, but rather by 21th century designer Remco van …
I Want Wings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicholas CarrRead Nicholas Carr's essay on the transhumanist dream of having wings.
Virtual Bedtime Stories
Ruben BaartSamsung just revealed the prototype version of Bedtime VR Stories, a technology that connects parents to their children in virtual reality, right before bedtime.
This bin transforms household waste into chicken food
Selin KirImagine a trash can that matches the size of your ordinary bin, yet it scoffs at weeks' worth of discarded food before even considering fullness. You're off the hook, as there's …
Brain Scan Replaces Job Interview in 5 Years?
Dr NaturalForget 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 …
Next Nature Movie #7 – Grizzly Man
Koert van MensvoortThe sad story of Timothy Treadwell is the ultimate example of the drama a naive notion of nature can bring about. Grizzly Man (2005) opens with the facts surrounding Timothy …
Sin free for just €1.59
Marco van BeersFor just £1.19 ($1.99, €1,59) you can download an app for your iPhone which offers tips and guidelines with the sacrament, "the perfect aid for every penitent" as the description …
End of Life Care Machine
Marco van BeersDesigner, 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 "Silk Pavilion" Combines Digital and Biological Architecture
Alessia AndreottiThe worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the warms build pavilions made of polygonal silk panels.
Drone Crash
Lotte BiesheuvelDuring a triathlon ace a drone operated by a local photographer hit one of the athletes.
Drone Diver's License? Get it Online!
Alessia AndreottiThe online course to get your drone driver’s license for civil use.
The Secret Service is Preparing for Drones
Yunus Emre DuyarThe U.S. Secret Service is conducting test drone flights over Washington, D.C.
Solutions to Virtual Reality's Big Problem
Erik van der VeenIf you experience virtual reality sickness, here some solutions for you.
Disney Lights Up the Sky with 300 Drones
Mathilde NakkenDisney’s latest attraction? 300 drones flying in formation.
Harvesting Water from Thin Air
Margherita OlivoScientists in Harvard University have designed a new material inspired by organisms, such as cacti, that can effectively harvest water from thin air.
Cyborg Dragonfly for Special Service
Ruben BaartA Biomedical solutions company is developing a system for insects to wear, allowing engineers to steer it remotely.
The Solution to Nuisance Birds? The Robird
Jack CaulfieldBirds 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 …
Your Virtual Midwife Is Here
Charlotte KuijpersAn external device that helps you conceive, carry and raise a child. Too scary? Or extremely useful? It's up to you to decide, your virtual midwife is here!
AI creates images of food that doesn’t exist (yet)
Tristan GreeneA team of researchers from Tel-Aviv University developed a neural network capable of reading a recipe and generating an image of what the finished, cooked product would look like. …
5 things to do at DDW19
Freya HutchingsLining up plans for Dutch Design Week ? Once more, 2600 designers gather in over 120 locations during 450 events. So whether you're a local, new in town, or just passing through, …
A vegan meat revolution is coming to global fast food chains
Malte RodlA few years ago, convincing meat-free “meat” was nothing more than a distant dream for most consumers. Meat substitutes in supermarkets lacked variety and quality. Plant-based …
Why superhuman technologies will affect us all
Ruben BaartWhen you look through a super-telescope, you can still see the planet Earth. Once called the blue planet, she now looks red and parched. We had no choice but to abandon her… On a …
Evolving In Vitro with Yuval Yancovitch
Kelly van GemertWith 7.9 billion people and counting, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations predicts that by 2050, food supply needs to grow by 70% in order to accommodate …
Next Generation: Shaping intimacy through objects with Pleun van Dijk
Ruben BaartPleun van Dijk is a speculative artist/designer who investigates the intimate relationship between human and technology.
The sense of privacy
Marit BeerseHumans’ natural sense of privacy helps them regulate the boundaries of public and private, but fail when trying to identify privacy risks in the online world.
What's solar geoeneering and why is it controversial?
James W. HurrellA report from 2021 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine tackles a controversial question : Is solar geoengineering – an approach designed to cool the …
Biojewellery
Koert van MensvoortDesigning Rings with Bioengineered Bone Tissue. Married couples used to wear a ring as a symbol of their affective relationship. But with these bioengineered rings made out of …
Biopresence - Human DNA Trees
Koert van MensvoortImagine 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 …
Designing for Next Nature (workshop report)
Koert van MensvoortThe extent to which new technologies are intervening with everyday life can hardly be underestimated. Virtual realities, nano- and biotechnology are increasingly providing new …
How To Grow A Chair: An Interview with Richard Reames
Rolf CoppensUsing ancient grafting techniques and a few basic tools, Richard Reames shapes living trees into furniture and sculpture near his home in Oregon for clients worldwide. He is the …
How to grow an Orangina bottle.
Koert van MensvoortConsider an Orangina bottle: shaped like an orange it is designed to look like one. But it does so in a very primitive way. Imagine the product is the packaging. Wouldn't it be …
Morphotheque
Koert van MensvoortNature becomes Culture becomes Nature. The Morphotheque series from Erwin Driessens & Maria Verstappen is already a few years old. Still good.
Plant Sensors
Koert van MensvoortOne 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 …
Sketch furniture
Rolf CoppensIs it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space? This is a question that Front Design have just asked in their project Sketch Furniture. "The …
World Mapper
Koert van MensvoortThe toy export map of the world. The toy import map of the world. The way we map things can make a world of difference. Worldmapper's maps transform traditional cartographic …
Would You Like a Bouquet of Nanoflowers?
Koert van MensvoortThese 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 …
Attack of the Metal Eating Plants
Koert van MensvoortGenetically 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 …
Bioprinting in Hawai
Koert van MensvoortThis Fall, the 1st world Bioprinting Congress is organized in Honolulu, Hawai. Four whole days of biopatterning, bioassembly and biofabrication! The ironic choice of location …
Bone Chair
Koert van MensvoortJoris 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 …
Bonsai tree table
Koert van MensvoortSomehow next nature seems to reveal itself through furniture. Earlier we've featured the treetrunk bench , the bone chair , the folding chair , sketch furniture and how to grow a …
Botanicalls: The Plants have your Number
Koert van MensvoortBotanicalls 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 …
CrackBerry addicts are suing their Employers
Dr NaturalNo self-respecting manager would be without a BlackBerry. But now these handheld gadgets, which provide workaholics with constant email updates, are being blamed for chronic …
Crop Circles
Arnoud van den HeuvelIn 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 …
Dutch Nature
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkA few days ago, I went for a day trip walk to the Dutch "Great Outdoors". It didn't take long before we got confronted with a typical dutch stance on natural experience: a guy …
Dutch Tomatoes: Everlasting
Koert van MensvoortSee also: How to grow a Heinz Bottle , Ferrari Tomato
Paradise by the Laptop Light
Paradise by the Laptop Light is a visual power event with short films, speedlectures, special guests and one laptop. It will be held on 23 November 2007 16:30, as part of STRP Art …
Future Beauty: Hyperbreasts?
Koert van MensvoortLet'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 …
Grass Wheel
Koert van MensvoortIf you've gotta run the wheel, you might as well do it in bare feet. Many of us are so busy being good little hamsters that we never have face time with green space. A group of …
Hug T-Shirt
Rolf CoppensIf you're longing for the touch of a loved one who is a few thousand miles away, what better way than to pick up the Hug Shirt for the both of you? This shirt is capable of …
Information Decoration: Our Environment as an Information Carrier
Koert van MensvoortPicture this: it's 40,000 years ago, and you are an early Homo sapiens. You are standing on the savanna. Look around you. What do you see? No billboards, no traffic signs, no …
Kite ship
Rolf CoppensThe world's first commercial merchant ship using a high-tech kite system will sail across oceans - and help fight climate change. "MV Beluga Skysails" cargo ship has been fitted …
NAT Designing Nature - Exhibition & Debate
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 …
Next Friday: Paradise by the Laptop Light
Paradise by the Laptop Light is a visual power event with short films, speedlectures, special guests and one laptop. It will be held on Friday 23 November 2007 16:30 - 18:00, as …
Out of Control
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, …
Sleeping beauty
Rolf CoppensWhere there is light, there is life. When you switch on the lamp, it provides you with light. You provide it with the generating power it needs togrow. Similar to living …
Spiders on Drugs
Dr NaturalIn the 1960s, Dr. Peter Witt gave drugs to spiders and observed their effects on web building. Meet the cocaine, LSD, and the crack spider. Corny Alert!
Modernistic Watermelon
Koert van MensvoortPeculiar object of the week is this square watermelon, found in Japan. Very practical and cost efficient when you want to pile them in boxes and ship them. Artist Piet Mondrian …
The Desktop Factory - Do It Yourself
Dr NaturalNowadays, most people can't make anything at home because it's too expensive. Roboticist Hod Lipson wants you to stop shopping and use his portable 3-D printer to make your own …
A Garden Raised by Television
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis installation is called Feed and raises ferns that can survive under conditions of extreme lighting. The television screens provide light to the plants, which grow …
Feelings Translated to Plants
Koert van MensvoortAmbient Biomedia is an investigative project about using living beings, in particular plants, to display human lifestyle problems information. The working principle of our systems …
Apples and Oranges
oustamanSeen in an article of Smashing Magazine . See also: Better than the real thing .
I'm feeling lucky
Dr NaturalA 21-leaf clover discovered on June 3 by Iwate prefecture farmer Shigeo Obara has shattered the Guinness world record for most leaves on a clover stem ( Trifolium repens L. ). The …
Better than the real thing
Koert van MensvoortTake a bite from this pear and I'll spare you all the default connotations with the apple of eden. Source photo by Pablo Montanez . See also Modernistic Watermelon , Ferrari …
Call for Proposals: Designing for Next Nature
Nowadays, children know more corporate logo's and brands than bird or tree species. The average Western person has more worries about the instability of financial markets and …
DNA Synthesizer
Arnoud van den HeuvelPlaying God? – "We are not playing..." After having seen this TED talk by Craig Venter , I came across a cynical yet clarifying comic (etcgroup.org) on his plans to build a new …
Driving on Algue
Koert van MensvoortGreen 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. …
Fake for Real: Ceci n'est pas une Montagne
Koert van MensvoortAsk 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 …
Fake for Real: Man in the Mirror
Koert van MensvoortSome days when we look in the mirror we like what we see, some days less so. Would it not be great to be able to tweak the image a bit? After all, it is our main manifestation to …
Greenvertising
Koert van MensvoortBrain Kane proposes to fund the re-foresting of clearcut areas, with Greenvertising. See also: Branded butterfly wing , Plantvertising , Information Decoration , Dataplant , …
Growing Rooms, Buildings & Cities
Koert van MensvoortWith their project 'Rules of Six' architects Aranda & Lasch envision an unpredictable, self-generating landscape of interlocking hexagons that could represent rooms, buildings …
Hortus Conclusus
Arnoud van den HeuvelThis weeks peculiar image is a work by Zeger Reyers. In 2001 he vaccinated some everyday objects - found in the basement of Rotterdam Art Centre Witte de With - with oyster …
Human body farm
ElinWhy not use the human body to grow products for the medical industry? The designer Michael Burton envisions Future Farm where the body is used as a farm to cultivate clinical and …
Italians Do It Better
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkTERRACINA, Italy: Before Michele Assunto hauls in his fishing net from the banks of a reed-lined canal here, he uses a pole to push the garbage out of the way. "They really need …
Kokon Chair
Koert van MensvoortOur peculiar object of the week is the 'Kokon Chair' created by Dutch designer Jurgen Bey , who wrapped existing chairs with tight, elastic synthetic fiber resulting in a highly …
Modernistic Chair
Koert van MensvoortIn 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 …
Modernistic Tree
Koert van MensvoortMondrian 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 …
Nobuo Takahashi's Exploding City (video)
Koert van MensvoortIn 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world's population will be living in towns and cities . By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, with …
Observing Next Nature
Koert van MensvoortYou can watch it grow in front of your eyes. Via Core.form-ula .
Paradise by the Laptop Light
Paradise by the Laptop Light is a next nature event with short films, speedlectures, special guests and one laptop. It will be held on 12 September 2008 16:30-17:30, as the …
RepRap - a self-reproducing machine
GuustThe RepRap is a selfreproducing 3D printer. The 3D printer 'prints' his own components by melting tiny plastic particles together. Imagine what would happen if this 3D printer …
Self control freak organizes his garden
Koert van MensvoortOur friend the Self Control Freak is organizing his garden. Hover over the image above to help him get his wilderness under control.
Simulated Diamonds
Koert van MensvoortThat 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 …
The First Pregnant Man
Koert van MensvoortAt 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 …
Zombie Spam – botnet resurrects from death
Koert van MensvoortComputerworld reports a big spam-spewing botnet, that was shut down a few weeks ago, has been resurrected and is again under the control of criminals. The "Srizbi" botnet returned …
A Future Love Story
By MARCEL VAN DER DRIFT. Ten years from now, a cell phone gently sinks to the bottom of the river. It's one of the latest models. The clever design, trendy colours and nifty …
A hermit crab in a glass house
Koert van MensvoortNever 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 …
Advanced Seed Bombs
Arnoud van den HeuvelDesigner Jin-wook Hwang from South Korea came up with the idea of replanting and reforesting arid areas using seed bombs . When airdropped, the bombs disassemble themselves, …
Architecture that repairs itself
Koert van MensvoortVenice, 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 …
Computational Wood
Koert van MensvoortDr. Herb Smokler teaches us how to husband and harvest Computational Wood. Omitting he jerky production value of the video, one has to appreciate the inventive idea of treating …
Controlling the Uncontrollable
Arnoud van den HeuvelIt is a home to crawlers, virusses, search engines, gamers, spammers, chatters, twitters, bloggers, worms and spiders. If calling it alive goes too far, it's still safe to say …
Craig Venter – Catalyst of evolution
Koert van MensvoortIf 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 …
Crash course on synthetic genomics
Koert van MensvoortNext 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 …
Designing Bugs That Eat Plastic
Koert van MensvoortIt is a well known secret that plastic hardly breaks down and almost all of the plastic ever made still floats around somewhere . With the great pacific garbage patch now twice …
Field of Waves
Koert van MensvoortParks are not nature. Parks are culture: man-made simulations of nature, carefully constructed to provide walkers, runners and mountain bikers with a recreational, yet confined – …
Food Design in the 21th Century
Koert van MensvoortOld 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 …
Four environmental 'heresies'
Koert van MensvoortTED talk by Steward Brand – the man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and '70s – has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic …
Fresh from the Pharm
Gordon TiemstraWill 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 …
Green Glowing Monkeys
Arnoud van den HeuvelJapanese researchers of the Central Institute for Experimental Animals , took a green fluorescent protein gene of a jellyfish, wove it into the DNA of a few marmosets embryos, …
Growth Assembly
Arnoud van den HeuvelThough 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 …
How biotech will drive our evolution
Koert van MensvoortAre 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 …
How to print a building
Koert van MensvoortIn the nineties laser printers revolutionized graphic design. Currently 3d desktop printers are revolutionizing industrial design. Next we will be printing buildings and …
How will Michael Jackson appear in heaven?
Koert van MensvoortOur beloved King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who died tragically at the age of fifty after suffering cardiac arrest, was one of the most widely beloved entertainers and influential …
Human Landscape
Koert van MensvoortOur 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 …
Hyper Fruit
Koert van MensvoortImaginary advertizement for genetically engineered hybrid hyperfruits featuring an 'limwi', 'kiwange' and a 'strawblackberry'. Imagine a taste of things to come. Makes you want to …
Living Doll
Arnoud van den HeuvelCrying, talking, sleeping, walking... not really, but this is what Cliff Richard's concept could look like when laboratorised. "To demonstrate a new method for fabricating …
Living Root Bridges
Koert van MensvoortIn the depths of northeastern India, one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built – they're grown. What could 21th century architects learn from these dynamic …
Lucky Fruits
Tijn KooijmansA Chinese farmer, Gao Xianzhang, has invented baby-shaped buddha pears and he is planning to export his idea. The produce became a success in his local province since people seem …
Orthorexia Nervosa: the "healthy" eating disorder
Koert van MensvoortFollowing anorexia nervosa (under eating) and bulimia nervosa (overeating and compensating), orthorexia nervosa (obsessively healthy eating) is the latest eating disorder in the …
Pimp My Planet
Koert van Mensvoort"We live in a time where everything or everyone can be upgraded or ‘pimped'. After the worldwide acceptance of plastic surgery, it was time to subject our worldly possessions …
Plant Plays First-Person Shooter
Koert van MensvoortAfter the plant that glows when thirsty , the plant that calls when thirsty , the dataplant , plantvertizing , the emphatic plant and the blogging houseplant , there is now a …
Repairing the Scars of War
Arnoud van den HeuvelLenka Clayton : A series of five digitally repaired images taken in Lebanon of buildings damaged by the 2006 conflict with Israel. The images were taken specifically for this …
Reprogramming Skin Cells into Stem Cells
Arnoud van den HeuvelA major breakthrough in the world of genetics: Researchers have successfully reprogrammed skin cells into stem cells. Using a technique called iPS cell reprogramming (developed in …
Stockholm Underground
Koert van MensvoortSubway 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 …
Sunlight-shaped Furniture
Arnoud van den HeuvelAustrian 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 …
Synthetic biology demystified
Koert van Mensvoort://nextnature.net The expanding research culture of synthetic biology demystified in this TV item on the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition . Via Posthuman …
The Hermaphrodite Effect
Florian Conradi and Michelle ChristensenAccording to research carried out by scientists from the Columbia Environmental Research Centre , sewage water containing hormones and pesticides caused by human consumption is …
The Modernist agenda uncovered
Koert van MensvoortPeculiar image of the week. Created by Merijn Bolink .
The Next Hacking Frontier: Your Brain
Dr NaturalWiredScience writes: Hackers who commandeer your computer are bad enough. Now scientists worry that someday, they’ll try to take over your brain. In the past year, researchers …
Who designed the banana?
Koert van MensvoortLooking at a banana from a design perspective, one immediately notices the fruit is highly ergonomic and sophisticated: Bananas fit perfectly in the human hand, they come with a …
Why are carrots orange? It is political
Koert van MensvoortNo, the image above does not some show some collection of freshly genetically designed hypercarrots in various colors of the rainbow. This is the spectrum of colors carrots used to have.
Wrapping Greenland
kbohreThe Discovery series 'Ways to save the planet' the episode 'Wrapping Greenland ' shows how Dr. Jason Box uses reflective blankets to cover glaciers in Greenland. Due to global …
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Koert van MensvoortThis translation of the essay ' Real Nature is not Green ' is a special treat from and for our fellow Next Nature explorers in China. We thank the people of the Microwave …
3D Bioprinter promises tissue on demand
Koert van MensvoortBehold "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 …
Acoustic Botany
Michael KluverWith his speculative ‘acoustic garden’ David Benqué tries to explore our cultural and aesthetic relationship to nature. He states that the current debate around Genetic …
Allergy-Free New York
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkWe 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 …
As smart as mice.
JurrianWhen you think of solving mazes, you think of mice. Mice have been use to do science for ages. In turns out that mice are not the only beings that can solve a maze. In fact you …
Botnet Storm
Koert van MensvoortNo, this is not some solar system far, far away. Closer than you think, this is is a visualization of a botnet storm . For all you know this malicious virus, or one of its …
Craig Venter unveils 'Synthetic Life'
Luuk SchipperheynCraig 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 …
Digital Gastronomy
Koert van MensvoortThe food printer seems to be one of those lustrous concepts that continues to pop-up in the fantasy of techno-connoisseurs. Some years ago James King already proposed a printed …
ECO Currency – A Proposal to Balance Economical and Environmental Value
Koert van MensvoortImagine we would have an alternative monetary currency for environmental value. Would the rain forest still be destroyed if there existed an ECO–currency to express its value and …
Engineering Mosquitoes into Flying Vaccinators
Koert van MensvoortScientists have developed a mosquito that spreads vaccine instead of disease. The researchers, led by molecular geneticist Shigeto Yoshida of Jichi Medical University in Tochigi …
Goodbye, Nature vs Nurture
Talking about nature and nurture as separate, clear-cut forces is far adrift from the complexities of developmental science, says Evelyn Fox Keller in NewScientist . ONE of the …
How does your Graph feel today?
Orestis TsinalisWith all the new health management gadgets available becoming more and more widespread and cheap (even in the form of free iPhone apps), your brain, your stomach, your heart, …
How to Grow an Organ
Koert van MensvoortBuckle 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 …
Hydrogel Heals Injured Brain & Bone-Tissue
Nicolas NelsonA new nano-particle-infused hydrogel, developed by scientists from Clemson University, should be able to heal scrambled brains and broken bones. The gel creates new blood vessels …
iApple
Koert van MensvoortAlthough most biomimicmarketing strategies are oxymoronic , it is nice to see some people take them full cycle. This Japanese Apple fan found a way to naturally grow and harvest …
Inkjet Bio-Printing the Skin
Niko VegtIn the series of bio-printer stories this inkjet-like bio-printer seems to be the most convincing product to hit the market soon. It sprays skin cells directly onto burn victims, …
Join the Synthetic Aesthetics project
Koert van MensvoortSo, you are aware 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 eager to …
Learning to Build Superman's House
Koert van MensvoortSuperman already knew it: Steered growth is the future of architecture. The lower picture was taken at the Industrias Peñoles nano-chrystal architecture lab in Chihuahuan, Mexico …
Medicinal All-Salt
Michael KluverDo you suffer from small health inconveniences and do you like to put salt on your morning egg? Why not combine the two? Medicinal All-Salt provides a low-dosage solution for …
Newspaper Wood
Arnoud van den HeuvelHow 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 …
Nine Strategies of Geo-engineering
Koert van MensvoortRecently some scientists in Britain have recommend planetary ' geoengineering ' to avoid climate change. And as politicians are listening , it is time to explore the options. New …
Skin Paper
Koert van MensvoortSkinpaper is a speculative work by Tommaso Lanza and Vanessa Harden that explores the cross section between a living specimen and paper. "Skin paper is made of breathable …
Social Networking with Plants
Ties van de WerffUsing energy is not a social activity. Every electrical device we use has its own carbon “foorpint” which, in excess, can harm other living beings. How and to what extent you’ve …
Nano Product: Spider Silk Condoms
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkAre 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. …
Transnatural Expo + Symposium
Koert van MensvoortIf you happen to be in the neighborhood you might want to attend the Next Nature lecture I will be throwing at the Transnatural symposium this Saturday 13-03-2010 at the Trouw …
Whether or not we should engineer the Weather
Minke Kampman"Owning the Weather" is a documentary about geo-engineering by Robert Greene. It's about whether or not we should engineer the weather and the different impacts that this has. …
A bacteria of a different color
Allison GuyIn 2009, undergraduates at the University of Cambridge worked with scientists and artists to engineer E. coli into E. chromi , a new type of bacteria that secretes a range of …
A New Take on the Tree
IzzyWoodsMany people will have heard of the infamous swastika made up of larches that revealed itself every autumn in a forest outside Berlin . The trees, which turned yellow at the end …
Animal-Free Meat Could Put a Hold on Global Warming
Koert van MensvoortGrowing meat in the lab, rather than slaughtering animals, could become a viable alternative for people who want to cut the environmental impact of their food consumption, but …
Animals Made from Other Animals
Allison GuyThat'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 …
Birdfeeders spit Blackcaps in two species
Koert van MensvoortUntil now, most people have likely regarded bird-feeders as merely a pleasant addition to their gardens. But scientists have now discovered that bird-feeders in the UK are …
City Planning with Bright Bacteria
Allison GuyRenegade architect and futurist Rachel Armstrong has proposed that our cities, currently constructed of dead trees, baked mud, and refined ore, need to be coated in a layer of …
Earth 2.0 with Rachel Armstrong
Koert van MensvoortWhat are the differences between Earth 1.0 and Earth 2.0 technologies? Rachel Armstrong explains.
First Lab-Grown Organ Transplanted
Koert van MensvoortAnother 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 …
Growing Cement like Coral
Allison GuyCorals 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 …
Humane Technology #1: Feels Natural
Allison GuyAll too often, technology frustrates us. It forces our behavior into constrained pathways. Even more insidious, technology can knock us out of alignment with our values, goals or …
Live a happy life!
Marco van BeersRemember the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where Jim Carrey removes his memories of a relationship with Kate Winslet? According to researchers at the University of …
Next Landscapes
Natalie DixonQuoted in a recent interview about his work, Landscapes without Memory , artist Joan Fontcuberta asked, “Could a natural nature exist? The answer is no, or at least, not anymore: …
Playing with Microbes – Biotic Games
Koert van MensvoortStanford researchers are developing 'biotic games' involving paramecia and other living organisms. So far, they have created three games that mimic classic video games. The …
Social Microbial life
Marco van BeersMyMicrobes , interestingly dubbed "Fecesbook" by ABC News , is the new social network for your gastrointestinal bacteria. For only $2,100 and a bit of poo you can become a member …
The Search for the "Real" Thanksgiving
Allison GuyThanksgiving is fake-for-real. While it's true that there was a minor harvest feast in 1621, held by English immigrants and Wampanoag Indians, the event was never celebrated …
The Sound of the Blue Canary
Berry EggenBlue is a beautiful color, but its sound is simply irresistible. It is the song of the unhappy and the depressed. It is a sound that touches people. It was also the sound of a …
Typing Out Evolution
Allison GuyFrom the exhibit "What Machines Dream Of" in Berlin comes Life Writer , a work by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. As the participant types, letters are projected on a …
3D Printing a New Face
Koert van MensvoortEarlier this year, Belgian surgeons successfully performed the country's first full-face transplant using 3D printing. The operation was conducted by a medical team of Ghent …
Amsterdam's Canals by Bacterial Light
Allison GuyItalian architect Carlo Morsiani would like to take Amsterdam's canals from dark, dank and filled with old bikes, to brilliant, blue, and presumably still filled with old bikes. …
Bacteria "R" Us
Rachel ArmstrongThere is a domain of creatures that diffusively encircles an entire planet. There are so many of them that they occupy every conceivable ecological niche. Yet, despite their …
Bio-engineered Football
Marco van BeersWith the knowledge that footballs were once made of pig's bladder and that in 2006 the first artificial bladder was transplanted into a patient, artist John O’Shea designed the …
Can Life Be a Technology?
Rachel ArmstrongIn 2009 the Initiative for Science, Society and Policy coined the phrase ‘living technology’ [1] to draw attention to a group of emerging technologies that are useful because they …
Close Personal Friend
Koert van MensvoortYou may want to spend 24-minutes on this Close Personal Friend. Made in 1996, this film anticipates contemporary phenomena like social media and self-branding.
Complexity and Evolving Synthetic Soil
Rachel ArmstrongTwenty-first century society draws from a world that is less determined by objects and increasingly shaped by connectivity. The clear either/or distinctions that formerly informed …
Donor Organ Shortage? Let's Print Them
Koert van MensvoortAnother step in the fusion of the made & the born: What if we could simply print new organs for use in clinical trials?
Fake Leaf is Twice as Efficient as the Real Thing
Allison GuyImproving on photosynthesis has long been a dream for scientists. The so-called artificial leaf – which wouldn't necessarily look like one – would run on only solar energy and …
First "Farm"aceuticals Grown in Carrots
Allison GuyThe United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved Elelyso, the first drug to be grown in genetically modified plant cells. Produced in carrot cells, this drug helps …
Gangnam Autonomy
Arnoud van den Heuvel"A robot is a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man. Its components are usually electro-mechanical and are guided by a computer program or electronic circuitry. By …
GM Bacteria Turn Carbon Dioxide into Biofuel
Allison GuyIn a twist on the classic " microbes that turn shit into petrol ", researchers at MIT have developed a bacterium that turns carbon dioxide into a direct substitute for gasoline. …
House of Cow Blood
Dennis JacobsUsing animal blood for building your own house sounds like something from a horror film, but architect Jack Monro has created a set of experimental bricks that take bovine blood …
IKEA Lamp Catches Elephantiasis Virus
Hendrik-Jan GrievinkHave you heard of Elephantiasis? It is a disease caused by microscopic parasitic worms that cause a thickening of the skin and underlying tissues. The disease typically occurs in …
Mice Reporting For Duty
Jeroen PillaerdsResearchers 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
Nature is Dead, Long live Nature
Koert van MensvoortLike we did to old nature before, we must now cultivate our technological environment.
Post Natural Organisms of the EU
Koert van MensvoortIf you happen to be in the neighborhood you might want to drop by at the exhibition Post Natural Organisms of the European Union in Amsterdam. The small but delicate expo, curated …
Rachel Armstrong - Living Architecture
Koert van MensvoortVenice, Italy is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we must develop living technology.
Regrowing Bones with Silk
Allison GuyTime to add another superpower to insect silk, which already includes bulletproof skin and implantable microelectronics . Recent research indicates that silk may be an ideal …
The Ecological Human
Rachel ArmstrongThe 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, …
The "Plantascraper" Sprouts in Sweden
Allison GuyWe're used to seeing proposals for high-tech vertical farms that never seem to translate to real life, but the city of Linköping in Sweden has finally taken these buildings out of …
To Generate Electricity, Just Tap on this Virus
Allison GuyIs your friend impatiently tapping on her phone, or is she just charging the battery? Researchers at the Berkeley Lab have produced the first virus-powered generator that runs off …
Artifice Earth: Adam Rutherford on the Promises of Synthetic Biology
NextNature.netAn interview about the history and promises of synthetic biology, and the problem with the word "nature".
Microchips Learn to Repair Themselves
Daniel BlokbergenTaking a cue from the human brain, a new microchip can rewire itself after damage.
Bright Streetlights Make Us No Safer, and Why That's Good News
Allison GuyArtificial lighting at night makes us fat, depressed and sick. What are the alternatives?
Care for a Meat Flower Amuse?
Koert van MensvoortVegetarian food products typically mimic existing meat products. The meat flower reverses this principle.
Electricity Travels Through Spider Web
Alessia AndreottiIn 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 …
Engineering Beneficial Parasites
Lloyd AlbertsBreeding parasites to improve immune function, skin tone and even resistance to poison.
GM Mosquitoes: No Olfaction, No Sting
Alessia AndreottiEngineering mosquitoes to ignore the scent of human flesh.
Grow Your Clothing with Microorganisms
Jeroen PaijmansWine and bacteria combine to make seamless clothing.
Interview: Rachel Armstrong, Innovative Scientist Who Wants to Grow Architecture
Alessia AndreottiRachel Armstrong discusses living buildings, Venice's foundations, millennial nature and how to improve our future.
Living Among Pests – Designing the Biosynthetic City
Joyce HwangJoyce Hwang discusses the challenges for designers, and gains for citizens, of living in a truly biosynthetic city.
Why Meat Grown in Labs is the Next Logical Step for Food Production
Avy RoyLab grown meat is part of the trajectory that agricultural technology is already following.
Moments in Meat History Part IV- Substitutes
Jonathon MarkowskiThe story goes that in the 7th Century, Buddhist monks in China stumbled upon the product now known as "wheat gluten" while cooking. Noting that it looked, felt and tasted …
Moss Table Powers Its Own Lamp
Allison GuyWhen 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 …
Mutation Furniture: Your Living Room Comes Alive
Silvia CelibertiBeautiful Mutation series from Belgian designer Maarten De Ceulaer show how herpes would dramatically enhance the look of your Yves Klein blue sofa. Indeed the velvety series …
Nature through the Windshield
Brendan CormierVolume magazine interviews Next Nature founder Koert van Mensvoort.
New York Preps for Climate Change by Building New Wetlands
Allison GuyNew York City plans to combat hurricanes with "soft edges" composed of marshes and beaches.
Next Nature TEDx Talk in Budapest
NextNature.netIndulge in the Next Nature stump speech at TEDx from Dr. Van Mensvoort
Protocell Shoe Mends Itself
Rachel ArmstrongThe self-repairing sole is a dynamic solution to an everyday problem.
Surviving the Anthropocene in China
Allison GuyHow people adapt to toxic food, air and water in Beijing.
New Technologies to Make Us Sleep Less, and Better
Daniel BlokbergenHaving 50% more “conscious lifetime” might sound like an appealing proposition to anyone with a hectic schedule. This could be achieved not necessarily by living longer, but by …
The World Responds to Bitcoin
Rick Dutour GeerlingFrom small stores to the US government, what the world thinks of bitcoin.
Using Bacteria as a Future 3D-Printer
Marcus DithmerWhat if 3D objects could not only be printed by normal techniques, but naturally grown, using photo sensitive bacteria?
'Victimless Shelter' Grown from Pig Cells
Allison GuyWhile 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.
3D printing Tumors to Cure Cancer
Koert van Mensvoort3D printing cancer could be the future of treating cancer.
Biofabricate – NN Lecture in New York
NextNature.net4th of December Dr Van Mensvoort lectures in New York at the BIOFABRICA summit. Other speakers include Paola Antonelli and Andras Forgac.
Bugs Developed Immunity to GMO Corn
Alessia AndreottiThe Western Corn Rootworm has evolved to eat genetically engineered corn, designed to kill it.
First Completely Artificial Heart Transplant
Alessia AndreottiWorld's first self-regulating artificial heart transplanted in France.
GMO Trees to Simplify Paper Production
Alessia AndreottiResearchers engineered poplar trees for an easier production of paper and biofuels.
Interview: Chloé Rutzerveld, Designer Who Wants to Grow Healthy 3D Printed Food
Alessia AndreottiFood and Concept designer, Chloé Rutzerveld, explains her 3D food printing project Edible Growth.
Pyramid of Technology: How technology becomes nature in seven steps
Koert van MensvoortHow technology becomes nature in seven steps
Retro-Futuristic Drones
Alessia AndreottiIn 1925 futurists envisioned a sort of aerial civilization in the sky of New York City.
Self-Assembling Fungus Tower
Alessia AndreottiHy-Fi, a structure built from a combination of corn husks and fungus.
Spider Silk will be Commercialized in 2015
Julia WeberCompany AMSilk will commercialize spider silk in 2015.
Zero-Waste Grocery Store
Julia WeberThe first Zero-Waste Grocery Store "Original Unverpackt" will open this summer in Germany.
Updated Next Nature Spotter
Koert van MensvoortJoin us in spotting Next Nature phenomena around the World. Download the free Next Nature Spotter app.
Vertical Farms Growing In Giant Trees
Francesca BarchiesiUrban Skyfarm is a giant tree-shaped farm system for environmental improvement in food production and distribution.
What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun?
David GraeberSince Darwin we tend to look at the biological world exclusively in economical terms. The idea that monkey's, frogs, or even ants do more than simply propagate, doesn't find much acceptance among scientists. And yet, even crayfishes at times seem to displace objects just for fun.
Analogue vs Digital: 3D Printing
NextNature.netIn both vases pictured, you can put your flowers in water. The manufacturing process is the analogue/digital difference.
Analogue vs Digital: Never Lost with GPS
NextNature.netBefore global positioning systems, we all used maps. And they could be very annoying.
Changing your Mood on Demand with Brain-Altering Wearable Technology
Alessia AndreottiThync, is a new brain-altering wearable technology that promises to “shift your state of mind and conquer life” by allowing its users to change their mood whenever they need it.
Cities Evolve in Similar Ways as Galaxies
Koert van MensvoortScientists think the laws governing the structure of galaxies in outer space are the same laws underlying the growth of cities.
Using Drones to Fight Deforestation
Margherita OlivoBritish company BioCarbon Engineering developed a new ingenious way to exploit drones: reforestation.
Exploring Detroit’s Next Nature
NextNature.netFrom August 1 till 16 2015, Next Nature Network’s art director Hendrik-Jan Grievink will be co-tutor of the GDA Summer Sessions.
A Wooden Floor that Follows the Curves of the Tree it's Made of
Koert van MensvoortA wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.
Gene-Edited Micropigs Will Be Soon Sold As Pets
Wei Lun WangEarlier this year, a group of Chinese scientists published a paper about the modification of the genome of human embryos with the cutting-edge powerful technique called CRISPRs. …
Genetic Modification Could Prevent TB
Yunus Emre DuyarIt was announced this week that genetic modification allowed scientists to produce cattle resistant to tuberculosis.
Heart Tissue Grown with Spider Silk
Yunus Emre DuyarIt might be possible to grow a new heart in labs using spider silk.
Hyperform: the Future of 3D Printing
Louise Huyghebaert"However, while 3D printers are becoming increasingly accessible and capable of rivalling the quality of professional equipment, they are still inherently limited by a small print …
Intimate Technology: the Battle for Our Body and Behaviour
Rinie van EstTechnology is nestling itself within us and between us, has knowledge about us and can act just like us.
Next Nature Talk at Nature 3.x Symposium
NextNature.netKoert van Mensvoort will take part in the Nature 3.x: Where is Nature Now? symposium at the University of Minnesota.
Robot’s Best Friend
Alessia AndreottiFrom chef, to nurse, and also lover. Get ready, a new generation of robots is going to invade our lives!
Teasing the Internet of Things
Yunus Emre DuyarWhen there is such abundance of areas where IoT could be applied, several ridiculous, unnecessary products are inevitable.
The Designer who Grows Furniture
Hessel HoogerhuisGavin Munro is creating a farm where planted trees can be grown around braces and harvested as fully formed chairs, sculptures, lamps, and tables.
The Future of Artificial Reproduction
Yunus Emre DuyarAccording to researchers we could go a step further and use stem cells derived from your skin cells.
Turning Cockroaches into Rescue Robots
Yunus Emre DuyarCyborg cockroaches might be used for search-and-rescue operations in the future.
No-Waste Architecture From Seawater
Margherita OlivoThe Salt Project created an additional ecosystem to revive desertified lands.
C-Sections Caused an Evolutionary Change
Mathilde NakkenC-sections have an unexpected side effect on human evolution. Newborn heads are getting bigger, while the mothers birth cannals are becoming smaller.
Drone Contest Winner: VR Drone for Elderly
NextNature.netThe lucky winner of our What’s Flying There? contest is Jiska, Dutch 10-year-old who imagined a virtual reality drone for the elderly and won an actual drone for herself.
The Enlightenment Is Dead, Long Live the Entanglement
Danny HillisWe 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.
When FB Replaced Editors with Algorithm
Ruben BaartFacebook had just fired their curatorial team for the ‘Trending’ news section over an algorithm, resulting in false stories attacking a news anchor, a writer, and Mac Donald’s.
Fake Glaciers for Real Needs
Alejandro AlvarezEngineer Sonam Wangchuk created fake glaciers that are already improving the life of people in Ladakh, Himalayas.
Lost in the Forest? The Drones Will Find You
Daniel FragaResearchers are teaching drones to recognize and follow forest trails.
Future Architecture: Digesting Walls
Mathilde NakkenThe University of West England is developing living bricks, turning your walls into a digesting organism.
Geography Class via Smartphone
Ruben BaartA new Google Maps app is designed to get kids exploring the Himalayas without having to actually go outside.
In Defense of the Eggplant
Ruben BaartThe eggplant emoji became a political weapon and gain cult status being the forbidden fruit of the web.
Interview: Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret, Designers Exploring Alternative Ways of Thinking & Doing
Ingmar NieuweboerInterview with Mike Thompson and Susana Cámara Leret.
A Mosquito Factory to Defeat Zika Virus
Margherita OlivoThere's a factory in China that produces mosquitos and their plan is to defeat the Zika virus.
Your Next Sneakers Are Made of Algae
Monika KozubAn ecofriendly alternative to plastic lies on the surface of waste streams.
Disney Causes Tourism Overload in Norway
Ruben BaartDisney's Frozen is causing tourism overload in Norway, and it's not sure if that is a good thing.
Photoshop Hacks Become In Real Life Art
Nadine RoestenburgUV Production House reflects on popular online platforms for maker culture.
A Robot to Help The Refugee Crisis
Margherita OlivoIn 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 …
This Robotic Stingray is Alive
Ruben BaartBy way of reverse engineering and taking heart cells from a rat, researchers at Harvard University have designed a miniature robotic stingray that is alive.
Robots Taking Government Jobs
Ruben BaartMeet Amelia, the first robot to work along with human coworkers in a council job.
Old Cellphones to Fight Deforestation
Margherita OlivoA Californian engineer is using old cellphones and solar panels to save the rainforest ecosystem against deforestation.
Welcome to the City Made of Bone
Monika KozubOur cities are made out of steel and concrete. What if we replace them with wood and bone?
Ecosexuality: Make the Biosphere Your Lover
Ruben BaartEcosexuality reconceptualizes our perspective on the biosphere by having consensual experiences with it.
Farming in Silico
Jack CaulfieldFarming is more than manual labor. The hard part is knowing how to get the best yield. Thankfully, there’s an app for that: growing crops in silico.
Fungal Futures: the Mushrooms Utopia
Federico AndreottiExhibition Fungal Futures: design with mushrooms.
GM Ants Show How Insect Societies Work
Julie ReindlScientists gene modify ants in order to find out more about their social behavior.
Growing Mushrooms on Grass
Alec SchellinxThe Juncao Technology Project makes it possible to grow edible and medicinal fungi on chopped grass or herbal plants.
Heart Repair with Spinach Leaves
Julie ReindlScientists developed a procedure to repair your heart with a spinach leaf.
Making Tomatoes Tasty Again
Alejandro AlvarezScientists have found a way to bring back the lost flavor of tomatoes.
Personhood Status for Robots
Julie ReindlAn "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.
Print Your House in a Day!
Julie ReindlA Russian construction firm prints houses in 24 hours on site with their mobile 3D printer.
Rent a Rain Room
Elle Zhan WeiRent a rain room with simulated rain with a motion sensor to go through the rain without getting wet.
Rights for Robots: EU Calls for Regulation
Jack CaulfieldA new report recommends that we decide the legal status of robots sooner rather than later. It even suggests that they could be given personhood and rights.
Scientists Create Ghost Heart
Julie ReindlThe Texas Heart Institute researches in the field of organ transplantation. With the “ghost heart” — an heart organ scrubbed clean of all its former cells, the researches are on the verge of creating a sustainable and effective way of transplanting organs.
Drones Are Coloring Your Summer
NextNature.netLooking for a summer book? Wherever your vacation takes you, our drones coloring book What’s Flying There? should be on your holiday packing list!
A Truly Exotic Fruit: the Space Mango
Julie ReindlScientists sent mango embryos to space lab in order to let them develop new genetic traits.
How to Train Your Robot
Alejandro AlvarezHumans and robots can work together to maximize the potential of both and boost productivity to new levels.
Here’s how the Dutch are embracing blockchain in the polder
Coen van de VenSmiling broadly and rattling with enthusiasm, the 33-year-old Rylana Doesburg shows off a QR-code on her phone: an angular pattern of black and white squares. “Thanks to this …
Counteracting Climate Change with Geoengineering
Jack CaulfieldA respected astrobiologist argues that a radical new process called geoengineering might be the only way to save us from climate change.
This controversial new test could be used to screen embryos for intelligence
bryan clarkA new test promises to fan the flames of ethical debate surrounding designer babies. For the first time, couples undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) could soon be able to …
Getting rid of that bit of unspoiled green
Sanne vander BeekThere it is. A hefty hen, with its head up high and its beak out. And a gigantic VR headset over its beady little eyes. What does this battery hen see? ‘An experience of a free …
Next hospitals: How virtual reality is shaping the future of medicine
Jack CaulfieldAnd it’s already showing incredible results. VR transports us to faraway worlds without even asking us to leave our chairs. Yet we usually hear about it in the context of video …
Next Nature Academy presents: A workshop-in-a-box for your team
NextNature.netAre you working on projects where technology and human interaction are involved, and are you looking for a new approach? As of today, we offer a brand new workshop concept for you …
If you could have another sense, which sense would you choose?
Meike SchipperColor-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 …
Reimagining popular apps with the Pyramid of Technology
Alejandro AlvarezToday, there's an app for everything. They help us satisfy our cravings, allow us to communicate at all times and make it easier to share special moments. But the dark, cold …
The New Technology in Agriculture: Trees
Jack CaulfieldNew technologies are changing the landscape, but the latest trend reshaping rural environments and agriculture is agroforestry: the art of planting trees.
Researchers are using VR to help teachers understand autism
Rachel KaserResearchers are using VR as an empathy tool to help neurotypical teachers understand their students with autism. There have already been attempts to use VR to help autistic …
Welcome to the CRISPR baby world—here’s what you should know
Vanessa Bates RamirezLast week, the gene editing world was hit by news the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. In a video on YouTube , Dr. Jiankui He at Southern University of Science and Technology in …
Why human enhancement requires technological citizenship
Ira van Keulen and Rinie van EstNew technologies – from artificial intelligence to synthetic biology – are set to alter the world, the human condition, and our very being in ways that are hard to imagine. The …
Beyond biomimicry: a new urgency
William MyersDesigners face an unprecedented urgency to alter their methods and reprioritize their goals to address the accelerating degradation of the environment. This new …
How Pokémon are affected by climate change
Ruben BaartYou know climate change is real when dead coral Pokémon start to wash up on (virtual) beaches. Behold, Cursola, world’s first dead coral Pokémon. On the origins of Cursola While …
Why digital detoxes are a solution looking for a problem
David EllisWith New Year’s resolutions in full swing, many people may have chosen to cut down on their tech use – or even give it up altogether. The growing popularity of such “digital …
4 visions about the future of public transportation
Marcus EnochThe way people get around is starting to change, and as a professor of transport strategy I do rather wonder if the modes of transport we use today will still be around by the …
Towards collective standpoints on the future of babymaking
Freya HutchingsFor the closing event of Reprodutopia , a true meeting of minds took place as we discussed the social implications surrounding the future of reproductive technologies. Multiple …
Next Nature Night: Future food is on the menu
Next Nature DevAlways thinking about food? What about food that doesn’t exist yet? On the 18th of September at De Studio, Next Nature Network will host a night of talks on the future of food and …
The first human CRISPR trial in the US aims to cure inherited blindness
Vanessa Bates RamirezGene editing is advancing at a faster pace than most of us can keep up with. One significant recent announcement was gene editing tool CRISPR’s application to non-genetic diseases …
In conversation with Jalila Essaïdi
Freya HutchingsWhat 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 …
Exploring body architecture with Lucy McRae
Meike SchipperAs evolution goes on, the human body is evolving too. What does it mean to be human in times of advanced biotechnology and genetic engineering? Are our bodies ready for our …
Next Generation: Visualising the diversity of microbial species with Valerie Daude
Ruben BaartThis 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 …
Next Generation: Thinking about the future of food with Annie Larkins
Freya HutchingsThis 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 …
Why there is a new urgency for speculative design
Freya HutchingsPink chickens, synthesized tiger penises and salads grown from bodily fluids - how could they shape our future? In a Next Nature collaboration with the Gogbot Festival, the …
Work with us!
Next Nature DevWe are a network of makers, thinkers, educators and supporters. With members in 44 countries, we are the international network for anyone interested in the debate on our future – …
How a 6.000-year-old fruit fly gave us cheese
John MorrisseyHistorians often trace the dawn of human civilisation back 10,000 years, when Neolithic tribes first settled and began farming in the Fertile Crescent, which stretches through …
How fungi can help create a green construction industry
Ian FletcherThe world of fungi has attracted a lot of interest and seems to be becoming very fashionable of late. A new exhibition at Somerset House in London, for example, is dedicated to …
Suzanne Lee wants to live in a world that uses only sustainable materials
Ruben BaartBiotechnology 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 …
Living robots made from frog stem cells may revolutionize medicine
Freya HutchingsAt just a millimeter wide, Xenobots are “neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal", they are "a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism”, says …
Next Nature announces their 2021-2024 plans
Next Nature DevWith great pleasure we announce our plans for 2021-2024: ‘Hello, Superorganism’ . Our human presence has a huge impact on the planet; plastic in the oceans, climate change, mass …
Design your Self!
Next Nature DevWho are you, who do you want to be, and what do you need to do to get there? We are constantly pushed to lead the perfect life. The media present us with a picture of an existence …
The Coronation
Charles EisensteinFor years, normality has been stretched nearly to its breaking point, a rope pulled tighter and tighter, waiting for a nip of the black swan’s beak to snap it in two. Now that the …
Towards a global society as a superorganism
Ruben BaartToday we hold the ability to gather a lot of knowledge, thanks to science. We are able to watch, analyze, manipulate and change matter to the nano-level. This makes it tempting to …
COVID-19 is a virus, corona is a meme
Ruben BaartAs the viral pandemic continues to spread, so too does the world’s collective uncertainty. As a result, people are turning to media for some levity. And can you blame them. …
14 Golden Rules of working with a robot
Next Nature DevThe 14 Golden Rules of HUBOT are rules of conduct which must be followed and which everyone needs to hold each other to account. Themes like respect, teamwork, creativity, and …
How bacteria can recover precious metals from EV batteries
Sebastien FarnaudThere are more than 1.4 billion cars in the world today, and that number could double by 2036 . If all those cars burn petrol or diesel, the climate consequences will be dire. …
Can AI become addicted?
Thomas MoynihanIn 1953, a Harvard psychologist thought he discovered pleasure – accidentally – within the cranium of a rat. With an electrode inserted into a specific area of its brain, the rat …
Metaverse: 5 things you need to know
Steve BenfordWhat is the metaverse and to what extent should we believe that the vision being presented to us is really going to be central to our daily lives?
Can microbes communicate with alien species?
Ruben BaartAre we alone in the universe? The famous Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) programme has been trying to answer this question since 1959. American astronomer Carl …
Roman Krznaric contemplates on becoming a good ancestor
Ruben BaartRoman Krznaric's ultimate guide to radically change our perception of time and become good grand-grandparents
Tiny houses: why more people are living in miniature
Alice Elizabeth WilsonTiny houses have been heralded as a radical and creative way to address a lack of affordable housing, as well as reducing living costs and shrinking our carbon footprint. My PhD …
The Moon Gallery: the first museum in space
Ruben BaartThe Moon Gallery aims to set up the first permanent museum on the Moon. Soon launching to the International Space Station, full of ideas worth sending to the Moon. The gallery is …
Next Generation: Designing ecological webs with Miriam Lellek
Ruben BaartThis 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 …
Reconnecting with wildlife through biodiverse meditations
Ruben BaartSleep and dream like a koala, relax under biodiversity and feel the meditative effect of artificial wildlife.
Next Generation: Designing a living menstrual cup with Lucrezia Alessandroni
Kelly van GemertWhat if living objects could re-connect humans with their menstrual cycle and change the way we perceive it?
Next Generation: Designing chairs with mealworms and Will Eliot
Kelly van GemertWilliam Eliot designs chairs while collaborating with mealworms.
With this sound recognition technology scientists can eavesdrop on nature
Lucas ZarzosoWhat if humans would be able to listen to what nature has to say? Conservationists are trying to grasp non-human sounds , which might help us to better understand environmental …
Next Gen: Watching our collective heartbeats with Nino Basilashvili
Kelly van GemertHeartsync is an interactive art installation crafted by artist Nino Basilashvili that syncs up your heartbeat with others.
We now have satellite traffic jams in space
Kelly van GemertIt seems that traffic jams aren't just a problem confined to Earth's highways and byways. How did this happen? And should we be concerned?
How to design your future family
Ruben BaartImagine a place called Reprodutopia. How would such a place look like?
Next Senses
Ruben BaartNext Senses explores the unchartered territory of how we could experience the world with technology
Enter the symbiocene
Glenn AlbrechtWhat if we would use the idea of symbiosis as the basis for the next period of Earth’s history?
Meet the BAD Awards winners of 2023
Kelly van GemertThe annual Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award encourages new artists and designers to explore the world of bio art and design. Let's have a look at the three winning projects of this year.