Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: developing "living architecture" could help humanity survive, claims senior University of Greenwich lecturer Rachel Armstrong, who is investigating how we could grow a city in space. More
Spain and Switzerland-based studio Kawamura Ganjavian launched a Kickstarter campaign this week to fund a flexible glowing lamp (+ slideshow). More
Battery-farmed chickens could be tricked into thinking they are roaming free if dressed in virtual reality headsets designed as a tongue-in-cheek proposal by US company Second Livestock (+ interview). More
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: scanning people's brains to learn about their preferences "opens up new possibilities" for designers, according to Merel Bekking, who has designed a range of "perfect" products based on data from MRI scans.
News: data collected via Google Glass could soon be used to deliver advertising tailored to the wearer's taste, mood, and location, according to Tony Gaitatzis, a leading figure in the wearable technology sector. More
Wearable technology is no longer just for people, as San Francisco agency New Deal Design has designed an activity-tracking device for canine companions. More
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
News: a man has been arrested in Japan for possessing 3D-printed handguns, after five devices were found during a police raid on his house. More
3D-printing guru Janne Kyttanen has designed a kit of clothes and accessories that can be printed in one go from a single computer file, removing the need for travellers to pack a bag for their holiday (+ slideshow). More
The Canada-based creators of the Vanhawks Valour claim to have designed the "first smart, connected bicycle", which gives riders directions as well as alerts to prevent them cycling into dangerous situations. More
Joseph Grima and Tamar Shafrir of design research collaborative Space Caviar explain why they set up an algorithmic journalism machine to produce magazines on the fly at Palazzo Clerici in Milan (+ movie). More
Disney's research company is developing a method for printing electrostatic loudspeakers in any shape – with trials including a rubber duck and a spiral. More
News: a new generation of 3D printing pens will "improve the creativity of everybody" and "give the world a new way to communicate," according to the designer of the Lix pen, which launched on Kickstarter this week and has already raised over £400,000 (+ interview). More
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: the way we interact with technology "needs to be updated", according to Talia Radford of taliaYstudio, who shows us two of her studio's projects that enable people to take a photo by kissing rather than pressing a button. More
A keyboard by East London technology start-up ROLI, with soft keys that allow musicians to alter the pitch, volume and timbre of individual notes, has come out on top in the Designs of the Year 2014 product category (+ slideshow). More
A new camera from American company Lytro will allow users to take pictures and adjust the focus after the image has been taken using a technique called light field photography. More
The Portable Eye Examination Kit (Peek) aims to improve opthalmic health in low-income countries by adapting smartphones with clip-on hardware and an app, and is among this year's category winners for Designs of the Year 2014. More
An exhibition of videos and still images, by a London-based studio specialising in 3D scans, enhances and celebrates the mistakes and glitches made by digital equipment (+ movie). More
News: Chinese materials firm Yingchuang New Materials has reportedly produced 10 3D-printed buildings in 24 hours, using a custom-built machine that outputs layers of construction waste mixed with cement (+ slideshow). More
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: architects will soon be able to walk around inside 3D sketches of their projects and edit their designs as they go, according to the team behind the revolutionary Gravity Sketch 3D drawing pad. More