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We now have the clearest picture yet of what the inside of wood looks like on the nanoscale. This improved understanding could help with efforts to use wood as an alternative to steel and concrete in the construction of tall buildings, which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Paul Dupree at the University of Cambridge, UK and his colleagues used low temperature scanning electron microscopy – a high-resolution imaging tool that scans surfaces using a beam of electrons – to get a closer look at living wood’s internal structure. This had …