Biologically-Inspired Design For A Better World

Poster, Hydrodynamics, L’Atome au Service de la Paix (Atoms for Peace), 1955; Designed by Erik Nitsche (Swiss, 1908–1998) for General Dynamics Corporation (Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.); Offset lithograph on paper mounted on canvas; Gift of Arthur Cohen and Daryl Otte in memory of Bill Moggridge, 2013-42-9.

Save Our Earth, 2009; Designed by Joanna Aizenberg (Russian, b. 1960) and Wim Noorduin (Dutch, b. 1980); Synthetic cilia demonstrating the principle of self-assembly around a spherical nanosphere and illustrated through scanning electron micrograph with false color; Each synthetic cilium is approximately the size of a naturally occurring cilium (200 nanometers in diameter); Courtesy of Aizenberg Lab and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

On view from July 12 through March 8, 2020, in the Nancy and Edwin Marks Gallery, “Wyss Institute Selects” draws and focuses on the concept of Biofuturism.

Wyss Institute will be the first scientific institution to guest curate a ‘Selects’ exhibition at Cooper Hewitt. Now in its 18th installment, the exhibition series invites designers, artists, architects and public figures to examine and interpret the museum’s collection. Among many highlights of the exhibition,on view will be the Robobee, designed by the Wyss Institute, which is the world’s first insect-scale flying robot, created to mimic the interactions of bees in response to the alarming collapse of bee colonies.Save the date to see bioinspired technologies and commercial products that will bring about positive impact worldwide.