FUTURE MARKET
The robots and microscopic machines of nanotechnology will not only change medicine, engineering or informatics. You will be able to feel them in everyday life, even when you go shopping. At least, that’s what the designer claims. Koert Van Mensvoort, creator of Nano Supermarket. This itinerant project has already toured Europe, presenting more than 100 working prototypes of products that we will be able to find in the coming decades. Check out some very interesting ones.
NanoSuperMarket
REFRI DO BEM
drank the coating glue? Then you can eat as much as you like. In addition to having no calories, the drink still leaves a molecular coating in your intestine, preventing it from absorbing excess fat for the next 24 hours.
condom
NO SURPRISES
Impregnated with artificial nanoantigens, the condom Conception Control allows only one type of sperm to pass through it: with X chromosome, for those who want to generate a girl, or Y, for a boy
NanoSupermarket
CAN OVEN
Wanted to bake a cake, but are you the type to use the oven to store junk? Just splash a little Bake’n Spray and its nanoparticles will cause an exothermic reaction that will roast the food
CatadOr2_web
BEFORE HIM THAN ME
When touching a food that causes certain types of allergies, the cutlery Catad’Or become red and blistered – with a real allergic person. Nanoparticles detect proteins that cause this reaction
Healing-Game_iPad-dutch_web
EXTERMINATE!
After taking the pill Healing Game, you can control it yourself via a smartphone app. Then just use it to detonate the causes of certain diseases, which gain a shine generated by nanoparticles
Fludoc_web
BACTERIA X VIRUS
Collect a sample of your saliva with the swab FluDoc. If the green light comes on, the product’s genetically modified bacteria have detected flu viruses in your body. Off to the pharmacy!
Interview with project creator Koert Van Mensvoort:
How did the NANO Supermarket project start?
I started the project because I wanted to start a debate about the impact of nanotechnology on people’s everyday lives. As a supermarket is a place where new technologies are introduced, I decided to make a display disguised as a market.
What is the criteria used to select the prototypes? Scientific viability? Availability in a few years? Innovation?
There are many criteria: technological feasibility, originality, design, but also the potential to spark debate. Deliberately, 50% of the prototypes are what people would immediately buy and 50% that they would never think to find in a market. Some products are powerful debate catalysts.
How many items are there in NANO Supermarket?
We’ve developed 100 products so far, 20 of which are on display on our bus or at trade shows around the world.
What are your favorites?
The “Sniffer”, also known as Google Nose. It basically increases your ability to smell. It lets you smell something as well as a police dog and find out what it smells like, right away. While we typically believe that technology extends our senses and brings us new experiences, our noses are completely overlooked. I personally would like to have an interface dedicated to smells, because smell is a powerful and intimate sense that hardly works in our digital lives.
Some of them are already reality. Among the others to come, which do you think is the most imminent?
The “Energy Belt”, which allows you to charge your cell phone with the energy accumulated in your abdominal fat. Although there are some technological hurdles, I believe that at some point, it will be obvious to connect all these devices that we carry every day with our own metabolism.
What kind of interactions with these products are available on the NANO Supermarket bus and exhibition fairs?
A visit to the market is quite varied. There are physical models of the products, such as medicinal bonbons, speculative games and there is also a leaflet with the entire catalog that the visitor can take home.
Do you have plans to build a NANO Supermarket designed for Brazil (in addition to producing the “What Design Can Do” event; For the regular public on the streets, just like you do in Europe)?
I would love to build a NANO Supermarket in Brazil and invite the public on the streets to discuss the products. On a previous visit to Brazil, I learned that things are changing fast here.
What is the main obstacle to nanotechnology becoming ubiquitous?
Nanotechnology is already applied in sunscreens and deodorants, but also in medicine and computer processors. My main concern is to develop nanotechnology in a social context.
What do you think will be the most important change in our lives once nanotechnology becomes an effective part of our lives?
From time to time we invent new technologies that give us new powers, but also new risks and responsibilities. We’ve basically been playing with fire, over and over, since we became human. Nanotechnology, like biotechnology, is the latest effort in this direction, but the principle is not new. I hope we can use these technologies to create a better life for humanity and the planet as a whole.
Read too:
– What is nanotechnology?
– How does cryogenics work?
– What will sex be like in the future?