No, they haven’t made a form of Viagra you apply directly to forehead. Some German scientists have made Arboform, a renewable plastic that can be cast by machines, but acts exactly like wood.

It uses an element of wood known as lignin, which is found in every board and plank around the world. It’s also a byproduct of the paper-making process, with 130 million pounds of it being burned each year instead of being put to use. Throw in some natural fibers, some flax, and some resin, and you’ve got a plastic that can be formed and cast, but it rots like wood and doesn’t require any trees to be cut down. This saves money in two respects: one, obviously, paying somebody to cut down wood is expensive, and two, it doesn’t need any of those increasingly scarce petroleum products from countries that pretty much want to kill everybody. So we can keep our plastics, save the Earth AND flip off Iran.

The only reason this stuff isn’t everywhere is the price and the fact that it can’t turn white or transparent. No, hippies, it is not because the timber and oil industry are trying to keep Arboform down. It’s not made of hemp. Shut up, smoke something, and listen to a band that sucks and tell yourself how awesome it is.

[ via SpaceMart ]