See-Through Wood Is Stronger Than Plastic and Tougher Than Glass

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January 09, 2024

After decades of experimentation and trial by materials scientists, transparent wood will soon be a viable material for super-strong smartphone screens or light fixtures. In pressure tests, one variety of transparent wood registered three times stronger than transparent plastics like Plexiglass and about 10 times tougher than glass. Read more about this exciting technology in this week's top story. Enjoy!

Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor @AGawrylewski

Materials Science See-Through Wood Is Stronger Than Plastic and Tougher Than Glass Transparent wood material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows, and more By Jude Coleman,Knowable Magazine

Electronics Scientists Finally Invent Heat-Controlling Circuitry That Keeps Electronics Cool A new thermal transistor can control heat as precisely as an electrical transistor can control electricity By Rachel Nuwer

Fossil Fuels The U.S. Energy Transition Explained in 8 Numbers Solar and natural gas surged last year in the U.S., while wind stumbled By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Artificial Intelligence AI's Biggest Challenges Are Still Unsolved Three researchers weigh in on the issues that artificial intelligence will be facing in the new year By Anjana Susarla,Casey Fiesler,Kentaro Toyama,The Conversation US

Sociology How Networked Incitement Fueled the January 6 Capitol Insurrection Networked incitement, including cellphones and social media, powered the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol By Joan Donovan,The Conversation US

Artificial Intelligence AI Safety Research Only Enables the Dangers of Runaway Superintelligence AI will become inscrutable and uncontrollable. We need to stop AI development until we have a necessary safety conversation By Tamlyn Hunt

Neuroscience Advances in Mind-Decoding Technologies Raise Hopes (and Worries) Devices that connect brains to computers are increasingly sophisticated. Can the nascent neurorights movement keep pace? By Fletcher Reveley,Undark

Automobiles We Need Smarter Driverless Vehicle Regulations More Urgently than We Need Smarter AI Recent Tesla Autopilot and Cruise robo-taxi news has raised public concern. Strong federal and state safety regulations are needed to ensure the safety of driverless vehicles' AI-based software By Steven E. Shladover

Weather AI Weather Forecasting Can't Replace Humans--Yet GraphCast and other artificial intelligence-based forecasting tools offer a whole new way to predict the weather, but they have limits By Lauren Leffer

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The results are amazing, that a piece of wood can be as strong as glass." Qiliang Fu, a wood nanotechnologist at Nanjing Forestry University in China

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