Geneticist George Church is developing a dating app based on genetics, which he says could wipe out inherited disease. Would you try it?
Meet The Search Engine Tackling Climate Change
Find out how a Berlin-based search engine uses profits from advertising revenue to plant trees all over the world.
Calculating Carbon Emissions is Key to Improving Health
In medicine, diagnostic tools are essential, arguably as important as advancements in treatments. Take the thermometer. In the early 1700s, physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit discovered that adding a bulb of mercury to a narrow glass tube created a more precise and efficient measure of temperature, forever changing the course of medicine. While the mercury thermometer was hardly the first means to document temperature shifts—Galileo created a device to do this in the late 1500s—its minimalist design and precise readings made for a widely accessible innovation. When it comes to the human body, an infection or abnormality only can be cured, or treated, when its presence is known, which means advancements in diagnostic devices are constantly in demand. The same goes for our planet, and instruments that help measure, maintain, and restore its balance are as vital as ever.
A new app, called Bounce, aims to help artists collaborate, even if you don't have a record deal yet.
It's a bird, it's a plane... no it's a Volocopter
A three-minute flight of an air taxi in Singapore signals the world is starting to get serious about flying cars. This is the first time the German Volocopter took to the urban skies to test its wings for more commercial flights.
A new Biotechnology Solution Could be the end of Plastic
A unique combination of spider silk and wood fiber discovered by researchers at Aalto University and VTT could hold the solution to the age-old material engineering challenge of achieving strength and extensibility at the same time.
In the quest to create a sustainable alternative to the disposable paper cups used by most coffee shops, award-winning architect, Safia Qureshi, launched a new business called CupClub. CupClub creates plastic cups that can be used 132 times before being recycled. The business establishes designated cup drop-off points (often at coffee shops) throughout London, where tossed cups are then collected and expertly cleaned for reuse.
Biophilic Design Benefits Students, Even in Schools with Tight Budgets
Long before the term ‘biophilia’ entered the scientific lexicon in the 1970s, it served as an innate design practice. In Hellenistic Greek and Roman architecture, open-air courtyards functioned as the center of the home, providing a calming respite with fresh air, natural light, and views of nature. Though few homes today are built around secluded outdoor oases, biophilic elements enable designers to create similarly stimulating and restorative spaces in built environments, ultimately improving the health and wellness of those within them.
Augmented Audio Experiences are the Future of Headphones
Airpods may be the hottest headphones around now, but in the future, Frog Design believes isolating individual audio experiences will fall by the wayside. Instead, consumers will want headphones that support augmented audio experiences without disrupting their real-world communications.
Would you purchase textiles dyed with food waste or clothes that sprout plants? Fashion designers introduced three innovative eco collections that incorporate these elements at the inaugural TILL: bioFASHIONtech Summit in Stamford, Connecticut. The Summit brings together biotechnology, soil science, community building, and fashion.
Scientists Turn to Soap and Detergent in Quest for Battery Alternatives
As the demand for energy storage grows, given our increasing reliance on technology, scientists say inexpensive products, like soap and detergent, have properties that could help create alternatives to lithium-ion batteries.
Facebook Wants to Read your Mind
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.
The new design will be fully recyclable, reusable, or compostable, as compared to the current tube that is not accepted by most recycling facilities.
Meet the Water Bottle That Cleans Itself
Step aside, plastic bottles. With its bacteria-killing technology, LARQ is paving the way for the next generation of bottled water. The self-cleaning water bottle combines clean design with peace of mind.
Tezuka Architects Designs Super-Cute, Bubbly Nursery School
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.
