Jackets Grown From Bacteria And 10 More Feats Of Bio-Engineering

William Myers' Bio Design explores the intersection of design and biology.
For Life Support, designer Revital Cohen proposes using retired racing greyhounds as respiratory assistants. The dog's breathing would pump air into its owners lungs. (Another one of the project's designs proposed using a transgenic lamb as a living dialysis machine.) The real question: Would that dog chase a bunny on a stick? Courtesy Revital Cohen

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We can already store Shakespeare’s sonnets in DNA. What if we could use trees as city lights, or turn pigeon poop into natural street cleaner?

William Myers’ new book, Bio Design: Nature + Science + Creativity, imagines a world where grass is grown into benches, bacteria is wearable clothing and animals can help their owners breathe. Highlighting collaboration between designers and biologists, it’s a collection of the most innovative ideas biodesign — design that incorporates living materials — has to offer.

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Fusing natural organisms with human innovation, these designs — some of them far-fetched concepts, some prototypes and some completed projects — re-imagine our relationship with the natural world.