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 ...

Can you imagine having 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 natural structure, this ...

Many people like using a semi-transparent wood stain better than a solid one—even if it might not last as long—because it allows for more of the natural wood grain to come through. (Solid stain covers ...