Now those woke scientists are making transgender wood /s
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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I don’t think were replacing plastic anytime soon but using materials smarter is always nice.
But we should, because plastic is made of oil. And that oil goes CO², be it because it's burned or because it rots away in nature.
Environmental stability is very important but we should master how we use materials, not discount their usefulness entirely, as that is more empowering to our species.
Like sure we can make oil cars outdated and that may be a good thing, but we’d still use it in grease.
There are many cases where a chemical had to be entirely replaced with a more targeted or less damaging variant because of environmental considerations. Most prominent being CTFE, because it affected the ozone layer.
I think grease is the better example. Interesting. Is it actually feasible to phase out crude oil?
Yeah, bad example, i rewrote my answer.
And yeah, i think so. Problem currently is, that alternatives are more expensive. That could be solved with oil production and export being appropriately taxed to the damages it causes.
How much transparent plastic do you have as a building material in your house? Because we already have a non-plastic alternative - it’s called glass. And that’s what ALL the clear surfaces are in my house envelope.
I think that may be a statistically generated image. And/or someone was really lazy in thinking up what the post image should be.
Because the actual product picture is quite underwhelming. Scroll down the article for a look.
I dont think transpaency is the attribute we need for most plastics. Thats glass.
I am curious at how many of these pointless reports are going to be made. I have seen countless reports like this and at the end of the day we are drowning in plastic.
Every year there is a new article about a scientist finding a new bacteria, funghi worm or other kind of species that can digest plastic. However they work only in perfect lab condition and on smaller scale. Sadly there is no real world usage yet.
You’re not wrong, but that’s what science and research ARE. If you want engineering and commercialization, go subscribe to those communities, not “science.”
I think the grand irony about this thing is that if there really was a bacteria that could eat away it plastic there would be a mass panic -- "new dangerous bacteria found eating away at plastic containers, all packaging rotting on store shelves!"
Bacteria can eat wood and paper. That doesn't mean they disintegrate on the shelf. Environmental conditions would still have to be right for that to happen.
I worry about it eating the plastic in our body. Unintended consequences
If it just eats plastic and nothing else. This is actually a good thing. Eat all the microplastics you can little bacteria
If the waste product is deadly in small amounts then it's still a disaster.
Yep. Ain't the bacteria that gets you, it's their shit. Same reason you can sterilize rotten food and still get sick.
Meal worms do indeed eat stryofoam, but not sure they would do it in the wild given other food sources.
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Don't talk to me until it's transparent aluminum
breathing in
Aluminium
Both are technically and historically accurate. I also prefer aluminium, however, due to the consistency with other element naming.
I prefer to achieve consistency the other way. Radum is a dangerous element for example
American researchers
Now, all we need is a bird of prey and two humpback whales.
Saphire.
Are they transporting humpback whales to the future?
Looking forward to having that in my balls as well as microplastics
damn imagine how cool it'll be if your balls become transparent
No, no. Just the scrotum. I want to see the balls.
Cool? I don't know man, would someone lick them if they saw what's under the hood? Would you?
Transparent means that you can't see them
True, I guess my thought was more skin transparency.
I'm skeptical of this for two reasons.
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The thing that makes plastic as a building material so useful is that it takes forever to degrade. Biodegradable building materials seems like it would be counterproductive and make the problem worse, not better.
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So far, every time some new variety of biodegradable plastic comes along, it turns out to be a big fat lie.
Biodegradable just means you protect it just like we protect current biodegradable materials. But your #2 stands, the research is great but until I see it in production or on a shelf for sale, it's just research.
You realize we still use wood for most housing frames, right? Wood is biodegradable.
The framing gets sealed and protected from moisture. It is not exposed to the outside. Exterior exposed wood is either pressure treated to resist rot, is a species that is naturally rot resistant, or it is painted.
Remember, the article is talking about altering wood to be both transparent and biodegradable. That sounds like a window to me. That is a role that is currently filled with either glass or plastic. You would not choose a biodegradable material for exterior use and most windows are used on the outside of a structure.
Exactly. Even pressure-treated wood gets pockmarked relatively quickly with nicks and scratches. It’s not visible on wood since it’s already so textured, but a transparent surface would be rendered opaque.
That aside, the whole article reads like AI slop. This paragraph is particularly obvious:
Instead of refilling the pores with epoxy, the team soaked the cellulose layer in a mixture of egg whites and rice extract. A curing agent called diethylenetriamine was also added to keep the atrial see-through. Importantly, the team says that the amounts of the various chemicals and reagents used in the process were small enough to present a danger to the environment. According to the team’s statement, they were “left with semi-transparent slices of wood that were durable and flexible.”
It’s just a collection of four sentences without any real unifying idea. And the latter two sentences are complete nonsense if you really read them.
Wood is biodegradable. But biodegradable doesn’t mean “constantly degrading.” Wood is good for centuries as long as it is kept dry. A great deal of building technique is about ensuring that, so you can use this light, strong material that literally grows on trees.
Vacuum chamber transparent wood filled with resin. Ok yeah sure that'll "replace plastics"
If you'd like a real demo of what this article is talking about check out this NileRed video
I also assumed that was the process here, but from the article this does seem to be something slightly different. Overall process seems to be roughly the same, but they're using biodegradable materials instead of resin, apparently a mix of egg white and "rice extract"
Now I'm personally skeptical about how long-lasting something made from egg and rice can be, although I guess there are still tempera paintings (tempera paint is made from egg yolks) around from the Renaissance, so what the hell do I know?
And the chemicals used to strip the lignin from the wood aren't exactly the most environmentally friendly, but I guess arguably they're better than some of the ones used in plastic production.
Never heard about again.
I’m gonna build a clear house like that to retire in just to make sure nobody buys any lots within viewing distance of my saggy old man balls.
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