Wood

By tinkering with fine details within wood, engineers in Sweden have come up with an interesting new way of harvesting electricity that leverages natural processes that already take place in drying wood.

Many readers may fondly recall building rubber-band-powered balsa wood model airplanes. While the things were kinda cool, they didn't fly for long, nor could they be remotely controlled. Such is not the case, however, with the new Tornado Updraft 12.

A lot of work goes into creating wooden objects like furniture, but some scientists are rethinking the process. They've created a wood-based ink that can be 3D printed into flat shapes, which then morph into more complex 3D forms as they dry out.

Processing wood from trees isn’t the most efficient way to make furniture or building materials. MIT scientists have made breakthroughs in a process that could one day let us 3D print and grow wood directly in the shape of furniture and other things.

A huge chunk of energy usage goes towards heating and cooling homes and buildings, so it’s important to find new ways to regulate temperature passively. A new wood-based foam could drastically cool buildings to a degree that can be easily tuned.

While we may think of wood as being earthy and natural, wooden materials such as plywood typically contain formaldehyde-based adhesives that give off toxic fumes. Such is not the case with a new adhesive, which is made from glucose and citric acid.

Even though our forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, new wooden structures are typically made of all-new wood. A special computer system could help change that, by facilitating the use of wood reclaimed from existing buildings.

While all non-recyclable plastics aren't very eco-friendly, expanded polystyrene foam is particularly problematic, as it's bulky and often used in disposable packaging. It could be replaced by a new biodegradable material, however, made from sawdust.

Wood is becoming an increasingly popular building material, but the timber is harvested mainly just from the long, straight trunks of trees. Aiming to reduce waste, an MIT team has developed a method of also using a tree's load-bearing junctions.

While there's nothing quite as cozy as a wood cabin, pulling one behind your car could be a bit … challenging. That's where the Glamper comes in, as it's a wood-cabin-style trailer that folds flat for transit, and goes up in about 10 minutes.

This intricate, lightweight "Greenaxe" electric guitar by Olaf Diegel shows off a new 3D printing technique that turns waste products like sawdust into high-strength, production-grade wood parts that cost virtually nothing in materials.

Not only are most thermoset resins made from non-renewable sources, but they're also hard to recycle. Scientists have set about addressing those problems, by developing a new lignin-based, thermoset-like material that can be reused several times.