Framework

Slime mould memory: what salt reveals about exposure legacy

Why a living material's history belongs in its specification.

What citric acid reveals about bacterial cellulose

Role overshadowing: when the job we assign an ingredient is correct, and its correctness is what stops us looking any further.

What gypsum reveals about mycelium research

Why inherited explanations become more consequential when living materials meet machines, automation and AI.

The Biodesign Academy library membership is open

A new weekly Reading, private podcast, growing archive, practical tools and a members-only community channel for designing and teaching with living materials.

A first look inside the Biodesign Academy Library

A place to read one living matter at a time, all the way down to what carries the property, with every source open for you to check. It opens in a week, and I'd rather show you now than wait. The first Reading is yours today.

Locating the carrier: what a living material asks of you

A framework for designing with living and biological materials. Name the property you care about, find what actually carries it, and you'll know what the material asks of you: to keep it, preserve it, or tend it.

Brightest Colour in Nature Has No Pigment

The marble berry is the most intensely coloured living thing we know of, and there is no blue pigment anywhere in it. And that changes how you would design with it.

Stronger Than Steel is the Wrong Thing to Know

The number might be true. It's also not the property you need. How to turn a gut doubt about a strength promise into something you can write into a design brief.

Where Biological Promises Become Physical

Before you build on a material's promise, find what actually does the work.

What is Molecular Design Literacy?

Self-Healing Is Not One Promise

"Self-healing mycelium" is several promises wearing one word. How to tell them apart before you build.

From Working to Holding in AI Biodesign

Why experimental validation doesn’t guarantee structural reliability in protein design

Fabrication Works. Trust Breaks.

Why AI-driven biodesign requires trust beyond material evidence

Bit-Perfect, Materially Broken: Trustworthy Biodesign Challenges in DNA Data Storage

Bridging the gap between digital recovery and molecular integrity.

We Just Broke Biodesign Education Forever

(And Here's The AI That Did It)

Newsletter #30: Games, Gaps, and Agents

What's been brewing this week?

What Is Biodesign?

Fold, Forge, Future

What's been brewing this week?

Designing with Shape‐Shifting (Fold‐Switching) Proteins

The Butterfly Effect of Biodesign

What's been brewing this week?

Paths Through the Living Field

What's been brewing this week?

Paths Through the Living Field

What's been brewing this week?

Biodesign vs. Regenerative Design

A Strategic Guide for Students and Early-Career Professionals

Should We Compute or Cultivate?

AI, Biodesign, and the Real Environmental Trade-Offs

Biodesigners' Guide to Reading Biotech Papers

How to separate design-relevant insights from technical noise