Bharat Baruah never expected his woodworking hobby to collide with his day job in the chemistry lab. But one question kept nagging him: What if the future of windows wasn’t glass—or plastic—but wood?

Stronger than plastic and tougher than glass, the resin-filled material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows and more. By Jude Coleman / Knowable Magazine Published Dec 14, ...

SAN DIEGO, March 26, 2025 — Can you imagine a smartphone with a wooden touchscreen? Or a house with wooden windows? Probably not — unless you’ve heard of transparent wood. Made by modifying wood’s ...

Thirty years ago, a botanist in Germany had a simple wish: to see the inner workings of woody plants without dissecting them. By bleaching away the pigments in plant cells, Siegfried Fink managed to ...

A see-through aerogel made from wood could replace air in double-glazed windows and make them as insulating as walls. Windows with air sandwiched in the gap between plates of glass can be made better ...

Wooden windows can imbue any home with a simple, timeless appeal, but that classic aesthetic comes at the price of a few practical issues. One of the biggest problems with wood windows is that they ...