Would you enjoy doing laundry more if your washing machine played music? Some companies are hoping the answer yes, as they strive to create user experiences that strengthen brand loyalty.

Although it may seem like it, Facebook can’t yet read your thoughts, but the company’s Research Lab is making progress into getting inside your brain using infrared. In collaboration with the University of California in San Francisco, Facebook has run recent experiments analyzing brain activity in real-time.

Since apparently there are not enough people we can interact with in the world, we are now able to communicate with plants. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has specific researchers for “cyborg botany”, has developed technology that allows plants to act as sensors and displays. 

In an innovative bid to remove all plastic from their packaging, Corona parent company Group Modelo is working on an open-source, stackable solution to bringing your own beer. 

The new design will be fully recyclable, reusable, or compostable, as compared to the current tube that is not accepted by most recycling facilities. 

CRISPR may only be six years old but it's already made some impressive, and infamous, waves in the scientific community. Currently scientists around the world are using the gene-editing technology in several clinical trials and research efforts to correct some of humanity's most debilitating genetic ailments. Some of these conditions included Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, inherited childhood blindness (specifically Leber’s congenital amaurosis type 10), and sickle cell disease. 

It looks like Nestlé and Unilever have swallowed the climate change Kool-Aid. On top of their commitment to develop reusable packing with TerraCycle, they are now a part of the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance. Through this Alliance they are pressuring the U.S. government to double down on Paris Climate Accord-like plans such as a carbon tax and clean energy development. Jokes on them, though—this administration doesn't believe in climate change! They do, however, believe in acquiescing to Big Business so there could be hope! 

In Fuji City, Japan, Tezuka Architects have built what is quite possibly one of the cutest and most wholesome nursery schools, ever. The Muku Nursery is comprised of a series of round timber structures that when viewed from above look like bubbles or parasols. Inside, the rooms are open and are drenched in natural light from the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap around the structures. 

Can design help solve the global water crisis? If so, how? That was the prompt given to designers by A/D/O by Mini and Jane Wither Studio for the Water Futures Design Challenge. Over 2,000 designs from over 30 countries were submitted, and on April 4th the winning projects were debuted. Read on to learn more about the winners and cast a vote for your favorite project. 

Despite all the pro-coal bluster from the Trump administration, solar has been steadily gaining popularity in rural areas across the U.S. This push for sustainable energy is driven primarily by local energy co-ops that can take advantage of the reduced price of solar power, as well as marketing and campaigning by the National Rural Electricity Cooperative Association. Today, the NRECA has reduced its reliance on coal to just 40% in 2017, down from 54% in 2014. 

It may sound fantastical, even Wonka-esque, but future urban citizens will navigate their cities not by foot, but by a multi-directional elevator system called MULTI. First proposed in 2014, MULTI could use magnetic levitation technology to move multiple cabins of people up, down, and sideways in "hanging cities" of the future. These hanging cities, says squareone's Design Director Kostas Poulopoulos, will create "a three-dimensional mega-grid that combines towers and multi-story horizontal sectors into a 24-hour urban hub for live, work, and play."

Norway already has the world beat when it comes to electric car ownership, but the Scandinavian country aims to go one step further by equipping the streets of Oslo with wireless electric charging infrastructure for taxis. The taxis will be charged through induction technology integrated into the street. This will help the city meet its zero-emission taxis by 2023 goal. 

SETI is gearing up to release a brand-new mixtape out into the cosmos, following their deployment of the Golden Record 40 years ago. This mixtape, called EARTHLING, will feature crowdsourced human voices, contributions from professional and amateur musicians, and an app that will allow anyone with a smartphone to capture sounds and mix them into a musical contribution. EARTHLING was revealed at this year's SXSW and is helmed by Felipe Perez Santiago, a composer and SETI's artist-in-residence.

It may be taboo to discuss death, but the fact of the matter is that we modern day humans continue to mess up the planet long after we've stopped driving our cars or picking up our trash. Coffin production wastes natural timber resources, embalming leaches toxic chemicals into our water, and cremation emits chemicals into the air. That's why New York-based designer Shaina Garfield invented Leaves, a sustainable coffin that decomposes the body naturally with the aid of a fungi-laced rope and a pine wood surface.

There's no question that reforestation is a critical component to combating climate change, but the manual labor and cost are frequently-cited deterrents to getting it done. Two Brazilian brothers may have found a solution to the problem. Their biodegradable planter protects seeds and saplings from ants and helps keep them adequately watered, enabling the baby plants to grow into the giants that people think of when they hear "rainforest".

The lobster has played many roles in society over the years: prisoners' food, millionaires' food, and now, the latest and greatest single-plastic alternative material. It seems that a polymer found in their exoskeletons, chitin, can be used to great biodegradable and recyeable bioplastics. A team of designers at the Royal College of Art discovered this and developed several machines that can render seafood waste into a usable single-use item. They have named their project Shellworks.

According to Circular Ocean, some 705,000 tons of fishing gear are lost or discarded in the ocean every year. That's a lot of virgin nylon, a strong and durable material, floating uselessly in the ocean and even worse, strangling thousands of whales, sea lions, and other marine animals. Once the problem became apparent, a whole industry popped up around gathering these discarded fish nets and transforming them into viable new products. Internationally-renowned design firm Snøhetta joined the competition at the 2019 Stockholm Design Week with their S-1500 chair, which is made of recycled fishing gear and repurposed steel. Because it uses locally sourced recyclable materials, the S-1500 has one of the lowest carbon footprints on the market. 

The Lorax isn't the only one speaking for the trees. Dr. Thomas Crowther, an ecologist from ETH Zurich, also speaks for the trees—all three trillion of them. Using ground surveys, satellites, machine learning, and AI, Crowther and his team arrived at not only a larger number of trees than previously estimated, but also an ambitious assertion about their potential to mitigate climate change. If an additional 1.2 trillion trees are planted in non-urban and non-agricultural lands, it could effectively cancel out 10 years of anthropogenic carbon emissions, Crowther says.

It's a brave new world out there and that's thanks to the private sector, for the most part. Everything from retail to banking to pharmaceuticals to farming has been touched by the digital revolution and the companies that spearhead its forward progress. In 2019, Fast Company has identified a new crop of 50 startups and big corporations taking innovation to the next level. 

Almost no one can agree on what the perfect temperature is, and when you're in an office, it becomes very apparent. Good thing a team at the University of Maryland may have introduced the perfect solution. They developed a new fabric that both allows heat to leave the garment and locks it in, depending on the body's temperature. It could be the perfect solution for not only athletes and bickering coworkers, but also the elderly and babies who require constant comfort.

David Aguilar had an elegant solution to a rare genetic condition. The bioengineering student built his first mechanical arm out of Lego bricks at age 9, and since then has built three more. But he's not stopping there: he has more in the works for those in need.

Innovation. It's a huge word, laden with diverse meanings, hopes, fears, and confusion for people living in the 21st century. For designers and those involved in the design industry, the question of innovation penetrates both the way business is done and the future development of the built environment and products. At the inaugural Innovation Conference, held by Interior Design in partnership with Interface flooring, ten luminaries from a varied assortment of industries took the stage at NeueHouse to expound on what innovation looks like today. 

There's no doubt that online retail has changed the "how" of shopping, but this unbelievably expansive marketplace has opened up new possibilities for the "what" of shopping, as well. 2018 saw a proliferation of subscription services and new approaches to familiar markets. 2019 continues that trend, but with greater emphasis put on sustainable materials,  social inclusivity, and crowd-sourced design. 

We humans have come along way since the invention of the first telephone 170 years ago. We've got cell service and bluetooth, which allow us to receive audio signals from a distance and without a physical connection between the source and the receiver. Now, MIT scientists have obliterated the need for an intermediary like a smartphone or headphones all together with the invention of Whisper, a new kind of tech that delivers sound directly into the ear... with a laser. 

Neri Oxman is at the forefront science, design, and academic celebrity. A winner of the National Design Award and a pioneering force at MIT's Mediated Matter Lab, Oxman is known the world over for her unique creative vision on how the natural world and the built environments of the future will coalesce. Deep dive into her predictions for a new biophilic future in this 2018 interview with Oxman in Dwell magazine. 

Neoliberalism, the morally bankrupt economic ideology that pervades the majority of world governments and markets, would have you believe that by simply using LEDs, taking public transportation, or buying a Prius you can make a significant impact in the fight against climate change. This is, of course, ridiculous, argues Guardian columnist Martin Lukas, when faced with the fact that only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these emissions come from the petrochemical industry, which produces about 300 million metric tons of cheap virgin plastic every year. Emissions from petrochemical plants are expected to rise 20% by 2030, according to New York Times. That's why a recent announcement that brands such as PepsiCo, Unilever, and Nestlé will begin testing out reusable packaging in a pilot program with recycling company TerraCycle comes as big news. Not only does it offer a glimmer of hope for a reduction in plastic production, but it shows that world-wide demand for corporate climate accountability can be effective.

We've heard that cars are going to get smarter, greener, and may even have rubble-scaling legs in the coming decades, and now we can add "outfitted with lasers" to the growing list of futuristic changes coming for the automobile. Noble prize-winning scientist Shuji Nakamura proposes replacing today's LED headlights with lasers that could shine 10x more brightly. BMW is testing the concept up in a few European models, but U.S. regulations on laser are keeping this new technology from entering the market for now.  

Compared to the early days of psychoanalysis and psychiatry, we know a lot about treating mental health. But what we know still isn't enough. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 1 in 5 American adults—18.5% of the population—experiences mental illness in a given year, with about 1 in 25 experiencing one that significantly impacts their ability to function in society. For psychiatrists who attempt to treat the brain with medication, finding the right combination and strength of medicine can be a challenge. AI, data mining, and machine learning may make the job a whole lot easier in the near future.