Current in Design

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14-year-old develops new bar of soap to treat melanoma

14-year-old develops new bar of soap to treat melanoma

Heman Bekele may have found a strikingly simple answer to skin cancer treatment: a bar of soap.  Despite extortionate amounts of fundraising and tireless research, a cancer cure still often feels like a pipedream. But as far as cancer research goes, it's long been suspected that the answer to one of humanity’s biggest killers could lie anywhere, or be discovered by anyone. This week, a 14-year-old from Virginia is the latest...

By Brighton, UK
How structures made from oyster shells can help prevent coastal erosion

How structures made from oyster shells can help prevent coastal erosion

Reef Design Lab based in Melbourne uses locally sourced oyster shells mixed with concrete to build structures that reduce coastal erosion and support marine wildlife. Along the shore of Port Phillip Bay in Australia, large dome-shaped modules sit submerged just below the water’s surface. Though they resemble large sand dollars at first, these structures have been man-made by the Reef Design Lab in Melbourne. They were constructed using a blend...

By London, UK
The ‘Future Library’ is humanity’s sustainable literary time capsule

The ‘Future Library’ is humanity’s sustainable literary time capsule

In 2014, a project was set underway to plant one thousand tree saplings in Norway. Their destiny? To be turned into books a century from now, as part of the Future Library project. When you imagine what the world will look like one hundred years from now, you probably don’t think about which books humans will be reading. Perhaps after reading this, you will. Deep in Norway’s Nordmarka forest sits...

By London, UK
The benefits and challenges of pedestrianizing Central London

The benefits and challenges of pedestrianizing Central London

Around the world, people are expressing the desire to live in a ‘walkable city’. Let’s look at some of the challenges of pedestrianizing inner-city streets, with London as an example, as well as some of the challenges to doing so. Whether or not a city is walkable greatly impacts the quality of life of those who live there. While many cities in the US are lagging behind on this feature,...

By London, UK