Mushrooms are fascinating organisms, they shape the world and offer lessons for how to live in it. Technically, mushrooms are neither plant nor animal but a third category: fungi. All mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mushrooms. For those fungi that produce them, the mushroom plays a similar role to a flower or a…
You begin your day with a breakfast of synthetic toast and lab-grown cheese, a diet optimized to your own genetic preferences. You put on your biosynthetic coat made from fibers that can self-repair. You drive to work in a car that uses biofuels produced by microbes engineered using synthetic biology. The headphones you are using at work…
Only 2 % of all world’s plastic is recycled for the same or similar products. That means that even the worldwide recycling quote of just 14 % reflects not the recycling amount that stays in the loop. The majority of this plastics is downgraded to less complex outdoor products like benches or decks. With other words,…
Find the perfect bioplastic gift for every holiday, budget, and person on your list. We have put together a roundup of some fantastic plastic ideas for the upcoming festival season or any other occasion. Make somebody happy with an ecological and healthy surprise while doing something good for our planet. . 1. Biodegradable cup made of…
Looking at the condition our world is in today and the massive challenges we are facing with global warming it becomes clear that we need a radical shift in our system. Despite the 2016 signed Paris agreement, our global carbon emissions are increasing constantly. The plastic production is expected to double within few years with only…
Due to the corona crisis, globalisation is coming under discussion. With the virus spreading around the world, global supply chains stopped, companies can’t get important parts and medical equipment is lacking everywhere. What does this mean for the future of production? Should we decrease the impact of globalisation and switch to a model with local production?…
As many of you liked the article on biological polymers that can lead to circular manufacturing models, I will dive deeper into this topic, explaining how a transition to biological polymers could be achieved. So far we have learned that the most abundant organic biopolymers like cellulose and chitin can be used to produce very strong…
Nature’s simple palette results in products far more advanced than those produced by human industrial science. Seashells that are twice as tough as science’s best ceramics. Spiders can spin silk that is stronger than steel yet light enough to float on the wind. Nature suggests that the potential for inventive uses of easily recycled materials is…
In an previous article we have seen that nature uses simple basic components but fits them so skillfully together, that quality materials result. Its above all design that makes intelligent materials out of basic ones. We have described how we can use 3d printing and generative design technology with simple materials to create similar complex structures…
In the first part of the Circular Economy model series it was explained how nature is using simple materials and puts them skillfully together, so that quality materials and objects result that are easy to recycle. Above all nature achieves this through design and its simple choice of materials. So far we humans were limited when…