The surprise of flash hydrogen

Hydrogen is at our disposal, so it seems, in many colours: black, grey, green, blue, turquoise, purple, aquamarine, pink, red, blue, yellow, orange, white, … [1, 2, 7]. Some colours are relatively new, like pink or purple for hydrogen from … Read more

Probiotic building design

probiotisch

The 2021 Biennale in Venice introduced a new concept into architecture: the probiotic design. From the 19th century onwards, architects and housewives tried to keep the interior of our buildings as clean and non-biotic as possible. But recent discoveries have … Read more

Micro technology

micro technology

In nature, energy is free and always in ample supply. The sun delivers an energy flow to our planet of which we only use a few percent. Nature can perform all its wondrous works through micro technology, using just 1% … Read more

Against greenwashing

greenwashing

The booming demand for sustainable products is associated with increasing consumer consciousness of environmental problems. As a result, the biobased industry is thriving and companies are now opting for biomass-derived alternatives instead of their petrochemical counterpart to formulate products. Unfortunately, … Read more

There is no such thing as an individual

Modern biologists are waging a fierce debate on the meaning of the concept of the individual. Definitions of well-known phenomena like symbiosis and parasitism need to be rephrased. The debate goes beyond the world of plants and micro-organisms; the subject … Read more

Nature as a guiding principle

The Waltzing with Nature manifesto is a logical sequel to the recent books by the authors, Alle Bruggink and Diederik van der Hoeven. Particularly to their latest book Naturally! Of course. How nature keeps surprising us (in Dutch). A surprising … Read more

Do not avoid risks, but contain them

Brexit and The Wall not only generate news. These issues also provide for interesting comments that ultimately can apply to other, or much broader, areas like the bio-economy. Where continuous development is hampered by risk aversion, learning to identify and … Read more

Geopolitics of information, the next conflict zone

geopolitics of information

In four earlier articles we came to the conclusion that geopolitics of fossil, mineral and agricultural resources will become less important. But a new geopolitical dimension quickly rises to the forefront: geopolitics of information. Information becomes less reliable. People create … Read more

Food and water as geopolitical assets

Can food supply and access to clean water develop into geopolitical weapons, like fossil energy has been for many years? If so, we should see a structural imbalance between food and water on the one hand, and population on the … Read more