When I went to get coffee in the kitchen at work, the home section of the times was sitting atop a table- probably because, just like me, every other scientist did a double take at the headline: ”The Beauty of Bacteria“
I didn’t really need convincing, but the image accompanying the article really piqued my interest. It probably will pique yours too, so here it is:
Household objects inspired by biology include Local River, a system by Mathieu Lehanneur for raising fish and plants at home. Source: NYTimes
Maybe my interest is easily piqued because I did a bioengineering post-doc and spent my days coaxing rat hepatocytes (liver cells) into metabolically active and structurally accurate organoids, but the idea of coaxing biology into a form and function that is useful for any purpose is intriguing.
Definitely click the links and read the article. There are tons of cool design concepts- here are some of my favorites:
‘Bone furniture‘ that uses principles of bone formation to design furniture.
Guilt-free and seamless leather grown from mouse cells to form a little coat. Why just eat shmeat, when you can wear it?!
A table lamp that is powered by bacteria and moss- biophotovoltaics. I would LOVE to have this. I’ve been really wanting a succulent garden for indoors, and this table, with it’s little pots of moss would be so cool. That said, I doubt it’s childproof.
To see the slide show accompanying the article, with lots of other cool ideas and images, click here.
OMG, I want that lamp! I have all kinds of sweet science nerd models, but I haven’t figured out how to incorporate them into my decor. Yet.