11 mo. ago • 86%

Transparent Wood Could Soon Find Uses In Smartphone Screens, Insulated Windows

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23 comments

If a headline is phrased as a question, i.e. "Will X takeover the world this month?", then the answer is always no, because if the answer was yes they would have written "X will takeover the world by the end of the month" which is a much more declarative and attention grabbing headline.

Similarly, if a headline says something "could do X" that means it won't because if it was going to the reporter would have written that it "will do X".

46
- Described well. Link to the relevant wikipedia article:
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
  
  16
- Headline: Studies show French toast may cause cancer.
  
  Then again, it may not.
  
  4
  
  Why are you picking on the French? If I had my guess, I would assume Texas toast would be worse in that regard. Lol
  
  8
  
  Since it contains burnt byproducts, it probably does. Like 0.001% more chance of cancer per toast per hour or something.
  
  2
- Permanently Deleted
  
  1
It won't ever be your cell phone screen. Optically, it's less clear than what we have, and while the wood/epoxy is "tough", wood is not "hard". It will scratch easily.

17
It’s an interesting line of research, but unless they can completely remove all visual traces of grain, etc, so that it’s very clear, it’s not going to be a replacement for glass in either screens or windows. And I’m skeptical that’s possible.

12
- I've got a couple frosted windows that I'd love to be as insulating as wood, I can see it maybe being used for that.
  
  14
  
  It would also be useful for blinds. My doggie is a bit of a little jerk and wrecked mine trying to look outside while they were closed. Wood blinds would likely be a lot more resilient
  
  3
- Honestly, I'd take a woody window to replace the clear glass overlooking the scenic parking lot outside literally any of the apartments I've ever lived in.
  
  10
  
  If it's anything like NileRed's "transparent wood" it won't work for shit as a window, except as like a privacy window that just lets light through.
  
  4
"Could".

9
- Could. Should. Wood.
  
  23
An iPhone user will still break it.

3
Wood is wood and wood breaks.

Not bad.

1
- "And with the resin added, transparent wood outperforms plastic and glass: In tests measuring how easily materials fracture or break under pressure, transparent wood came out around three times stronger than transparent plastics like Plexiglass and about 10 times tougher than glass."
  
  16
  
  and what about vs gorilla glass or sapphire? Y'know, like the kinds of glass already used on smart phones?
  
  Soda glass, you could just about step on, on a flat surface with no defects, and break it if there's even mild deviation. Being stronger than glass is a VERY low or high bar depending on the glass.
  
  5
  
  Glass can be toughened up a bit by tempering, at a cost. It can be toughened up a lot by other methods up to being made bulletproof at costs both financial and in terms of compromises to clarity and adding a lot of thickness.
  
  The question is whether 'transparent wood' can compete with glass in performance and cost.
  
  4

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