Growduce "micro-factory" concept would allow users to grow their own products
A biologist and a designer are developing a bacteria and yeast "micro-factory" that could one day enable consumers to grow their own products at home (+ slideshow). More
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MHOX envisions a future of bioprinted and enhanced human eyes
Italian research studio MHOX has unveiled a concept to allow people to swap their eyes with digital-compatible versions. More
Kathryn Fleming proposes engineering animals to thwart extinction
Design Indaba 2015: designer Kathryn Fleming has presented prototypes for new organisms that could be created using synthetic biology, including a cat-dog hybrid with reflective fur and a tightrope-walking herbivore. More
Rotten food becomes palatable in human-hyena synthetic biology scenario
Royal College of Art student Paul Gong has imagined how synthetic biology could be used to modify the human body so it can consume and digest rotten food. More
Growing products from fungus could be the start of a "biotechnological revolution"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Amsterdam designer Maurizio Montalti explains how biological organisms such as fungi could be harnessed to create new sustainable materials in this movie filmed in Eindhoven. More
Teresa van Dongen's bioluminescent lamp is "a new way to create light"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Dutch designer Teresa van Dongen explains how she created a lamp powered by bioluminescent bacteria usually found on octopuses, in this movie filmed in Eindhoven. 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
Drone grown from fungus-like material melts if it crash lands
A team of researchers has completed a working prototype for a drone made from a fungal material that will biodegrade if it crashes outdoors. More
Bioluminescent lamp by Teresa van Dongen glows blue with octopus bacteria
Dutch designer Teresa van Dongen has filled a glass tube with octopus bacteria to create a zero-electricity lamp that glows blue when disturbed (+ movie). More
Car design and production could "start to show biological adaptation and mutation"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: in the next preview of our Dezeen and MINI Frontiers exhibition, we visit Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg at the RCA workshop where she's been making 112 miniature cars to create a "model ecosystem" of vehicles. More
Bees could 3D-print "concrete honey" to form architectural structures
Writer Geoff Manaugh and designer John Becker have imagined a scenario in which genetically modified bees could be trained to print detailed concrete structures rather than produce honey (+ interview). More
Johanna Schmeer imagines the future of food with Bioplastic Fantastic
This conceptual project by Royal College of Art graduate Johanna Schmeer builds on developments in nanotechnology to create synthetic foods for feeding the world's burgeoning population (+ movie). More
Tower of "grown" bio-bricks by The Living opens at MoMA PS1
News: New York studio The Living has completed this year's MoMA PS1 gallery pavilion – a cluster of circular towers built from bricks that have been grown from corn stalks and mushrooms (+ slideshow). More
Cars of the future could evolve and mutate "like biology"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg explains how cars made from biological materials could change and adapt to their environments, which she is investigating for our Dezeen and MINI Frontiers exhibition. More
Growing a "giant artificial reef" could stop Venice sinking
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: in the second part of our interview with Rachel Armstrong, the senior University of Greenwich lecturer explains how a synthetic "limestone-like" support structure could be grown underneath Venice to prevent the city's foundations being eroded. More
Competition: five Synthetic Aesthetics books to be won
Competition: Dezeen has teamed up with publishers MIT Press to offer readers the chance to win one of five copies of a new book about developments in synthetic biology, by researchers including Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. More
Glowing trees could be used "instead of street lighting" says Daan Roosegaarde
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde is exploring ways of using bio-luminescent bacteria found in jellyfish and mushrooms to create glow-in-the-dark trees that could replace street lights. More
"We need to think of our bodies as works in progress"
News: don't let fear mongers prevent the development of technologies that make the human body perform better and last longer, says a leading bio-ethicist. More
3D-printed mushroom roots "could be used to build houses"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: designer Eric Klarenbeek, who displayed a chair made out of 3D-printed fungus at Dutch Design Week in October, says the technique could be used to create larger, more complex structures. More
Synthetic materials can "behave like living cells"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: scientists are combining non-living chemicals to create materials with the properties of living organisms, says the creator of a self-repairing shoe made from protocells. More