wood

Okay, that's pretty awesome.Lab-Grown LumberDeforestation is a bigger problem than ever, with humans razing ten million hectares of forest each year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.To tackle the problem head-on, researchers at MIT have come up with a new way to grow "wood-like plant material" in a lab, according to a statement, potentially paving the way for an environmentally friendly new source for lumber that doesn't harm existing trees.Such lumber could be used to frame houses, make them more…

Chopping down trees and processing the wood isn’t the most efficient or environmentally friendly way to make furniture or building materials. Scientists at MIT have now made breakthroughs in a process that could one day let us 3D print and grow wood directly into the shape of furniture and other objects.Wood may be a renewable resource, but we’re using it up much faster than we’re replenishing it. Deforestation is having a drastic impact on wildlife and exacerbating the effects of climate change. Since our appetite for…

Many families of land animals live separated by hundreds of kilometers of wide and vast oceans. Explanations for how they got so far from each other are as varied as the animals themselves.  In recent times, many animals have hitched rides with humans traveling around the world, on our vehicles, food products, and on our bodies.Before this, as far back as hundreds of millions of years ago, the continents were connected, and animals could just walk across the land.But in-between then and now, there seems to have been a…

It's a sad fact that 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.Currently in development at the ETH Zurich research institute, the system is initially used to create an inventory of all the pieces of wood that the users were able to harvest from a building or other structure slated for demolition. That wood could also consist of…

Following in the creative footsteps of the Old Growth Strat, the Front Row Legend Esquire and the 80 Proof Blues Junior, Fender has now used wood reclaimed from a famed Toronto nightclub for a pair of limited edition guitars by Custom Shop Master Builder Ron Thorn.The original El Mocambo was opened on Spadina Avenue in Toronto in 1948 when it housed a dining hall on the main floor and a dance floor on the next floor up. The property changed hands a number of times before becoming a music venue in the early 70s. The…