MIT Media Lab's BioLogic material opens and closes in response to humidity
Teams from MIT Media Lab and the Royal College of Art have used bacteria to design a "bio-skin" fabric that peels back in reaction to sweat and humidity (+ slideshow). More
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Julie Legault's Amino bio-engineering kit creates a bacterial Tamagotchi
Canadian designer Julie Legault has developed a desktop biolab to make synthetic biology more accessible, allowing users to hack DNA at home and monitor the progress of their creations (+ movie). More
Robot demonstrates pioneering technology by building structure from rocks and string
Chicago Architectural Biennial 2015: a team of designers from Swiss and American universities have created a towering architectural structure made from nothing but gravel and thread – which was built by a robotic arm (+ slideshow). More
Memorials by Beomki Lee would pay tribute to victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami
Graduate shows 2015: MIT graduate Beomki Lee has developed a proposal to commemorate the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Japan, with a series of spaces themed around air, earth, and water (+ slideshow). More
Neri Oxman 3D prints "photosynthetic wearable" to host living organisms
Designer and researcher Neri Oxman has successfully 3D-printed one of her "wearable skins" and filled its hollow tubes with a bacterial luminescent liquid to represent how it could host photosynthetic organisms (+ slideshow). More
MIT named world's top university for architecture
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the world's best university for architecture, according to new global rankings. More
Carlo Ratti creates a digital supermarket at the Milan Expo 2015
Milan Expo 2015: huge mechanical arms are spray painting colourful data across the walls of this pavilion and supermarket that Italian architect Carlo Ratti has created at the Milan Expo 2015, which opens today (+ slideshow). More
Neri Oxman creates wearable 3D-printed structures for interplanetary voyages
Neri Oxman's team at MIT Media Lab has created four 3D-printed "wearable skins" designed to facilitate synthetic biological processes that might one day allow humans to survive on other planets. More
Pentagram rebrands MIT Media Lab with grid-generated glyphs
Design agency Pentagram has used a simple grid of squares to create a new visual identity for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s research centre (+ movie). More
Personalised "bubbles of heat" could replace inefficient central heating
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: architect Carlo Ratti claims the heating system he developed with MIT, which uses motion sensors to focus beams of infrared radiation on people as they move through a building, can be "one order of magnitude more efficient" than traditional methods. More
Land Rover developing sight-activated controls for future vehicles
News: British car brand Jaguar Land Rover is working with researchers at MIT to develop technology for its vehicles, including controls operated by tracking where the driver is looking (+ slideshow). More
MIT Media Lab's shape-shifting table top is "equivalent to the invention of painting"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: computer scientist Hiroshi Ishii claims MIT Media Lab's Transform project consisting of thousands of physical, motorised "pixels" should be considered a completely new creative medium. More
Table top by MIT designers ripples when people are nearby
Milan 2014: designers from MIT Media Lab's Tangible Media Group have created a shape-shifting table that reacts to human presence with a series of 1,000 tiny motors built into the frame (+ movie). More
Chaise longue by Neri Oxman uses 3D printing to create a multi-coloured cocoon
This chaise longue by architect, designer and MIT professor Neri Oxman features 44 different composite materials 3D-printed inside a wooden enclosure, creating a multi-coloured recliner. More
SkyCall quadcopter by MIT Senseable City Lab
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built a flying robot that can guide people around complex urban environments or aid search-and-rescue missions, in an attempt to show that drones can perform useful tasks as well as sinister ones (+ movie). More
Silkworms and robot work together to weave Silk Pavilion
News: researchers at MIT Media Lab's Mediated Matter group have created a dome from silk fibres woven by a robotic arm, which was then finished by live silkworms (+ movie). Update: this interview is featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews, which is on sale now for £12. More
Makr Shakr by Carlo Ratti and MIT Senseable City Lab
Milan 2013: Italian architect Carlo Ratti and his team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology installed three robotic bartenders in Milan last week (+ movie). More
Paper Chandeliers by Cristina Parreño Architecture and MIT
An undulating canopy of cardboard tubes by American studio Cristina Parreño Architecture and students from MIT hovered over visitors at the ARCOMadrid art fair in Spain last month (+ slideshow). More
MIT researchers to 3D print a pavilion by imitating silkworms
Researchers at MIT plan to 3D print a pavilion by imitating the way a silkworm builds its cocoon. More
American dream "breaking down" as young reject home ownership
News: flexible high-tech rental apartments with moving "robo-walls" should replace speculative developments as young people increasingly view homes as services rather than possessions, according to Kent Larson, director of the Changing Places Group at MIT Media Lab (+ movie). More