The Age of Wood

Published: Jan. 8, 2021, 8 p.m.

b'Wood and the Construction of Civilization
Guest:\\xa0Roland Ennos, Visiting Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Hull, and author of "The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization"
Timber harvest stoked revolutionary passion in the early colonies; cheap wood pulp enabled yellow journalism; replaced by iron and steel during the Industrial Age, wood is now\\xa0transforming modern construction capabilities. We could tell human history through our use of wood.\\xa0
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Making Windows Out of Wood
Guest: C\\xe9line Montanari, Materials Science Engineer at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology
A group of Swedish researchers has discovered a way to make wood transparent. More durable, renewable, safer, and better at insulation, transparent wood could one day replace glass as the go-to material for windows. But that\\u2019s not all: now new wood material can absorb heat when it\\u2019s too hot and release it when it\\u2019s cold.'