I think trees are the most beautiful objects in the world. Each one a unique, living thing with its own story to tell. Its roots, branches, limbs, and leaves providing food, shade, and shelter for animals, insects, fungi, and humans alike. If it was up to me we would never cut down a single one. Never harm a single twig. Just let them be, peacefully swaying in the wind, racking up rings like Tom Brady.
But if it was up to me we’d also all be homeless and freezing to death. So, I get it. I understand the need for trees to be culled for lumber. For houses to be built. Paper to be made. Fires to be started. But thankfully we may have a way to create a new material that would make for an even better building material that ordinary wood. A reusable healed version 5x stronger and more resilient than natural wood and capable of being made from any timer by-product, including shavings and sawdust. Giving us the chance to finally build a truly circular economy.
New Scientist explains:
“Orlando Rojas at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and his colleagues have invented a process that dissolves lignin, a glue-like component inside plant cell walls, and exposes cellulose nanofibrils, which are tiny fibers also found in the plant cell wall. The method involves a solvent called dimethylacetamide, used in the presence of lithium chloride.
When two pieces of wood treated in this way are brought together, the nanofibrils bind to create what the researchers call a ‘healed’ piece of wood. Although this no longer looks like natural wood, it has better mechanical properties. Tests show it is more resistant to breaking than stainless steel or titanium alloys.
‘We get a mechanical strength that supersedes the strength of the original material,’ says Rojas. ‘It works because we use the inherent properties of cellulose, which is a material that binds together very strongly by something called hydrogen bonding.’
Not only can wood treated this way be re-used to create new objects, but the treatment process can be performed repeatedly on the same pieces of wood to extend their working lifetimes.
‘This is a really elegant way to heal wood, using a common cellulose solvent, recovering and enhancing the mechanical properties of nature’s wonder material,’ says Steve Eichhorn at the University of Bristol, UK. ‘The approach is evidently scalable and therein lies the challenge to take this technology to the next level.’”
This really is an ingenious approach and the textbook example of what technology should be all about. Taking a naturally occurring multi-purpose building block and enhancing it. Turning it into something even better than nature intended. Helping us to achieve our goals in a sustainable way without having to destroy the Earth in the process. It just doesn’t get much better than that.
Greatest. Idea. Ever. 
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