Removing oil spills from water is a difficult business, with various approaches having met with mixed results. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Forestry believe they may be onto something, however, in the form of a reusable "wooden" sponge that absorbs oil while leaving water behind.
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Back in 2014, we heard how scientists from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research had developed a wood-based foam that could be used as eco-friendly insulation. Now, they've combined it with metal to create a composite that has a much wider range of potential applications.
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Retractable sunshades have long been used to adjust the amount of sunlight an area gets during the day, but these are usually driven by motors. Taking inspiration from the humble pine cone, engineers have now developed a shading system that can open and close automatically – no electricity required.
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Konstantin Mazin runs MazinCraft, a Vancouver-based company specializing in high-end custom timber interiors and home theaters. He recently launched a line of mid-20th century-style TV consoles under the MeiliAudio name, which should be great if they sound half as good as they look.
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Spider silk has long held the title of strongest natural biomaterial. Now, researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new biomaterial out of wood nanofibers that steals the strength record.
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A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a novel new method to recycle wood waste by incorporating it into cement and mortar mixtures, making the resulting materials both stronger and more watertight.
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We've seen more than a few handy wood burner camping stoves over the years. There's nothing overly fancy the Kombuis, but with a thoughtfully designed chute for its biofuel, it might just take the least amount of effort to keep burning.
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University of Maryland engineers have created a new insulating material capable of blocking at least 10 degrees more heat than styrofoam or silica aerogel. It’s also 30 times stronger than styrofoam, and appears to be much more environmentally friendly.
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For many people, power saws are scary things, bringing forth mental images of horrible hand injuries. Such saws are an integral part of creating custom wooden furniture, however. Now, scientists at MIT have developed an experimental system called AutoSaw, that uses robots to handle the sawing.
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Sweden's Love Hultén is probably best known for his wonderfully retro gaming creations, but for his one-off PET De Lux project, the designer and craftsman has paid tribute to a grand-daddy of home computing, the Commodore PET 2001 all-in-one personal computer released in 1977.
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