Material made from fungi reacts to its surroundings

June 4, 2025  |  Out There

Researchers at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) have created a living biodegradable material made from fungi that can allow trash bags to decompose organic waste. It is one of the many potential applications of the studied fungi.
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Puffer jacket doubles as monitoring sleepwear

April 24, 2025  |  Out There

The ZZZN Sleep Apparel System is a voluminous puffer jacket that doubles as a cozy sleep sack, so users can doze off anywhere and anytime in comfort. But beyond its apparent comfortability, it also offers biometric data monitoring and headphones that play music with frequency bands to help people f…
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Gaia Communication System feels the health of nature

February 24, 2025  |  Out There

Pavels Hedström has introduced the Gaia Communication System, a wearable vest and a pair of gloves with sensors so that users feel the health of plants, insects, soil and air. Unveiled under his design practice Inxects, the Swedish architect has installed multiple haptic sensors around the vest and…
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Rewoven silk cocoon waste used as a leather alternative 

December 9, 2024  |  Out There

Japanese designer Hiroto Ikebe recently showcased a leather alternative he developed using rewoven silk cocoon waste. His exhibition COCOON ANATOMY, shown during DESIGNART Tokyo 2024, displayed clothing that was designed to demonstrate that silk materials typically discarded or not used for mas…
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Project explores human-bacterial interaction in textile design

September 18, 2024  |  Out There

Carolina De Lara’s project, Bacterial Brickbats, explores the interaction between bacterial cellulose and knit textiles to challenge traditional, human-centered design in fashion and textiles. The project negotiates human/non-human liaisons by proposing a study where sharing agency between designe…
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Solid-knitting machine builds reconfigurable objects

August 12, 2024  |  Out There

A new materials technique has blended the usefulness of knitting needles and yarn with cutting-edge technology to create the equipment and process to make a solid-knit object of almost any kind. Yuichi Hirose first dreamed up this technique when he was a student at Keio University in Tokyo. There, w…
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FLOAT designed for moving on the Moon

June 24, 2024  |  Out There

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) 2024 Phase II awardee Ethan Schaler has proposed the first lunar railway system to provide reliable, autonomous and efficient payload transport on the Moon. The Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT) system is a durable, long-life robotic transport system—a…
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Color-changing resin material is heat-activated

April 22, 2024  |  Out There

Artist and designer Kim Mesches has unveiled his “Collection 5,” featuring garments made of a color-changing resin with a technology activated by heat. The material is a mix of thermochromic dyes, pigments and other ingredients, which are then mixed with hardened resin to create the garments.
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U.K. firm launches second-generation invisibility shields 

April 8, 2024  |  Out There

Following the successful development of functional invisibility shields in 2022, U.K.-based Invisibility Shield Co. has launched its second-generation invisibility shields on Kickstarter. Among the products is the “Megashield,” which the company claims is the largest shield ever created.
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E-skin can produce tactile feedback

March 25, 2024  |  Out There

In recent years, materials scientists and engineers have introduced increasingly sophisticated materials for robotic and prosthetic applications, including a range of electronic skins, or e-skins, designed to sense the surrounding environment and artificially reproduce the sense of touch.
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