future-tense
By Melissa Sterry | Exploring the now, near and far future.
Sustainable coffee cup is made from coffee husk
Add / Remove An Australian start-up has come up with a clever way to re-use coffee husk, which hundreds of tonnes are wasted by coffee producers …
InC02, An Artistic Medium for the Anthropocene: On the Aesthetics of Futility
<b>Introduction</b><p>In short, InC02 is a medium that has been designed to sense and respond to the presence of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in the …
ChemistryFinnish University creates artificial iris
Add / Remove The Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in Finland has developed an artificial iris that can react to incoming light in exactly the …
Circuito.io Makes It Easy To Build Your Own Electronic Circuits
Roboplan created the desktop application Circuito.io for beginners to have a step-by-step guide to building their own electronics projects<p>Not …
Powering 3D printed micromotors with E. coli bacteria
Researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome have created 3D printed micromotors that can be powered by E.coli bacteria.<p>The group created …
Supramolecular materials with a time switch
Nature works according to another principle: Living biological materials, like skin and bone, but also cells, are not in equilibrium with their …
Un.Box Studio converts neglected stone building into progressive Austin hostel
American firm Un.Box Studio has transformed historic structures in Austin into a high-design hostel that is meant to serve as an alternative to …
ArchitectureStanford scientists unveil ultra-thin electronics that can dissolve into the body
A group of scientists from California have developed a series of organic electronic components that will harmlessly dissolve into their environment …
EngineeringFirst “Virtual” Unrolling of Ancient Scroll Buried by Vesuvius Reveals Early Text - MIT Technology Review
In A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted violently, spewing pyroclastic flows across the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The eruption has become …
ArchaeologyRestaurants Are Returning Their Empty Oyster Shells To The Ocean To Rebuild Decimated Reefs
A partnership between a nonprofit and a waste-management company in Mobile, Alabama has already diverted 2.8 million oyster shells from landfill.<p>Producing up to 500 million pounds of oysters each year, the Gulf Coast region of the United States is a shellfish haven: The area accounts for 67% of the …
OceansPetit Pli clothing expands to fit children as they grow
This kids' clothing line designed by Royal College of Art graduate Ryan Mario Yasin has a pleat system that lets garments stretch to fit even after …
ClothingRain collects and circulates around Jólan van der Wiel's Tropic City bench
Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel has created a water-filled seat made of dozens of pipes that store and circulate raindrops.<p>The piece is part of his …
FurnitureEight recycled design projects driven by Beirut's trash crisis
After a crisis that saw rubbish pile up in the streets of Beirut, local designers were inspired to use the waste around them as a resource. Here are …
RecyclingJenny Sabin stretches robotically woven canopy across MoMA PS1 courtyard
New York-based Jenny Sabin Studio has made a canopy of robotically knitted textile at MoMA PS1 in Queens that sprays mist in the day and glows at …
ArtETH Zurich unveils plans for robot-built house in Dübendorf
Researchers from Switzerland's ETH Zurich university will use robots and 3D printers to design and build a pioneering three-storey house at a local …
RoboticsCOSMO
An assemblage of ecosystems, based on advanced environmental design, engineered to filter and purify 3,000 gallons of water, eliminating suspended …
Sustainable DesignFuture forensics: Harnessing the spirit of Sherlock Holmes
<i>The topics in this series were developed by</i> <i></i><b>New Scientist</b> <i></i><i>in association with the</i> <i></i><b>Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences</b> <i></i><i>in Sydney. This article was paid</i> …
This App Will Help Restaurants Donate The Insane Amount Of Food They Usually Waste
With the help of a new mobile platform, MealConnect, that streamlines donations from stores and restaurants has facilitated 737,000 pickups and moved over 333 million pounds of food–enough for 278 million meals.<p>Americans toss out, on average, 72 billion pounds of safe, edible food each year. Around …
ETH Zurich students create robot-built pavilion with a skin of wooden shingles
This shingled timber pavilion was created by masters students on ETH Zurich's Digital Fabrication course, after developing robotic fabrication …
RoboticsMaking prosthetic limbs feel more natural
A new surgical technique devised by MIT researchers could allow prosthetic limbs to feel much more like natural limbs. Through coordination of the …
Removable walls offer endless configurations for community space by Aki Hamada
This community space in Kanagawa, Japan, has removable exterior walls and reconfigurable interior partitions, meaning it can easily be adapted to …
Anti-energy drink Slow comes enclosed in meditative hourglass packaging
Polish studio Opus B has created a conceptual drink packaging designed to give consumers a chance to slow down.<p>The anti-energy drink comes in two …
MIT researchers create flat-pack food that takes shape in water
Researchers at MIT's Tangible Media Group have brought the ethos of flat-packing to food, creating pasta shapes that go from two-dimensional to …
Waste-free living: from gadgets that list themselves on eBay to lidless bottles
Our throwaway habits are wreaking havoc on the planet. Here are six ideas from designers working to reduce waste in our everyday lives<p>Modern life is wasteful. From the plastic packaging that fills our kitchens – and ends up in our oceans – to the 40m tons of e-waste we generate per year, our …
RecyclingLaunching our new open source digital storytelling tool
This presents us with an important opportunity to reach and engage communities with our investigations that we’ve never had before, helping to …
A Teen Created the World's Lightest Satellite & NASA Is Going to Launch It
Tiny Space Cube<p>Not very many people can claim that they’ve sent something they made into space. One of those who will soon be sending his own …
Exploring a Huge, Glowing, Immersive Warehouse Experience at Frieze Week
The alternative art fair SPRING/BREAK descends upon Brooklyn.<p>Expanding outside of their normal Armory Week programming (which was fantastic in its own right), SPRING/BREAK created BKLYN IMMERSIVE, an entirely new iteration of its art show spectacular, for this year's New York Freeze Week. As the …
Ring of FireRobotic Construction Platform Creates Large Buildings on Demand
Construction seems like an industry that, were I still living in Silicon Valley, I would be tempted to call “ripe for disruption.” Researchers at the …
RoboticsOutside the box
We usually think of cardboard as cheap and disposable. But, as Josh Sims explains, designers are reconsidering its potential<p><b>Maarten Heijltjes, a</b> …