You can mend a broken heart this Valentine’s Day now that researchers invented a new hydrogel that can be used to heal damaged heart tissue and improve cancer treatments. University of Waterloo chemical engineering researcher Dr. Elisabeth Prince teamed up with researchers from the University of Toronto and Duke University to design the synthetic material made using cellulose nanocrystals, which are derived from wood pulp. The material is engineered to replicate the fibrous nanostructures and properties of human tissues, thereby recreating its unique biomechanical properties. …Prince’s research is unique as most gels currently used in tissue engineering or 3D cell culture don’t possess this nanofibrous architecture. Prince’s group uses nanoparticles and polymers as building blocks for materials and develops chemistry for nanostructures that accurately mimic human tissues.
WEYBRIDGE, UK — Mondi, a global producer of sustainable packaging and paper, has completed the acquisition of Hinton Pulp mill in Alberta, Canada, from /cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/LT6JA55KIRNAZDGAHCHN6II4FM.jpg)
NEW YORK — Mercer International reported that Operating EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $21.1 million compared to $96.1 million in the same quarter of 2022 and $37.5 million in the third quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, net loss was $87.2 million which included a non-cash impairment of $33.7 million, compared to net income of $20.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and net loss of $26.0 million in the third quarter of 2023. …Mr. Juan Carlos Bueno, the Chief Executive Officer, stated: “In the fourth quarter, we saw improved pulp pricing for both NBSK and NBHK across all our markets as customers restocked inventories. We currently believe this pricing momentum will continue into 2024 with modest price increases expected in the first quarter. We continued to be negatively impacted by the overall weakness in the lumber market.
European paper and board production is said to have declined in 2023, with a preliminary statistics report from Cepi attributing the development to energy costs remaining high, a poor economic environment, and destocking. Consumption is said to have fallen by 15.3% as mid-term global economic trends lowered demand for paper and board and increased destocking. Production was also said to have contracted for the second year in a row and decreased by 12.8%. …However, in the context of globalized low demand, both imports and exports are said to have diminished equally. Pulp and paper trade balance is also said to remain ‘by far positive’ in Europe and is named as one of the EU’s top manufacturing sectors in this area. Still, with consumption decreasing by 12.2%, packaging and paper board production has continued to fall.
IDAHO – Faced with a formidably steep site, Skylab turned to prefab mass timber and on-site light-frame construction for the Humbird Hotel in Northern Idaho. The result is a meticulously designed 31-room, three-story boutique mountain resort that refines the alpine vacation experience by paying attention to details—big and small. This hybrid timber solution was not only well-suited to the project’s challenging locale, but reflects the area’s heritage, once the site of a working forest and sawmill. Beyond showmanship, the project’s generous use of wood serves triple-duty—as a light-weight, prefabricated, flexible building system well-suited for the hard-to-reach site; as a natural renewable material with biophilic, sustainable benefits; and as a warm, welcoming material historic to the region. Learn more about how wood made this project a reality in our new project profile. 
Researchers discovered a novel method for converting waste heat into power using sustainable Irish wood products. According to the University of Limerick experts, this is a sustainable strategy that reduces expenses and environmental impact. The study shows the effective generation of electricity utilizing “low-grade heat recovered from lignin-derived membranes.” …Low-grade heat is defined as thermal energy generated at temperatures below 200 degrees Celsius. …“Despite its potential, utilizing low-grade thermal energy in energy harvesting applications has been challenging due to the lack of cost-effective technologies,” added Maurice Collins, professor of materials science at UL’s School of Engineering. …Lignin is a commonly neglected residue of wood in paper and pulp manufacture. The researchers found that these membranes may transform waste heat into electricity by harnessing the movement of charged atoms (ions) within the material. …This is said to be the first lignin-based membrane for ionic thermoelectric energy harvesting.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a relatively recently developed construction material that is growing in popularity in some sections of the construction industry. …This variation of one of the oldest building materials in the world – timber – has its origins in the work of German engineer Julius Natterer in the 1970s. …CLT possesses some noteworthy benefits for architects and project managers. Firstly, its aesthetic qualities make it an exceptionally beautiful building material. Secondly, if constructed properly, it has excellent strength and dimensional stability. Another benefit of CLT is that it is much lighter than other structural materials, such as steel and concrete. Whilst not as fireproof as concrete, CLT does have some fireproofing capabilities. During a fire, the outer layer chars, protecting the internal layers for a period of time.
The February newsletter is out, here are some of the headlines:
The diversity of life has plummeted over the past 30 years in more than a dozen tropical forest reserves in Mexico, a new study shows. Even these highly protected areas are seeing the array of plant and animal life follow a now global trend in which a few groups thrive and proliferate in human-altered landscapes where most groups decline. …The 14 studied reserves, which are part of a biodiversity hotspot that spans across Mesoamerica, have each been designated under a UNESCO program aimed at establishing a scientific basis for improving human livelihoods and safeguarding ecosystems. In and around many of the protected areas, the authors found that new roads continued to go up and trees came down between 1990 and 2020 as people cleared forest for timber or cattle grazing. The abundance of long-lived, shade-tolerant tree species declined on average across all reserves by more than 25%.
One of New Zealand’s largest forestry companies has had its certification suspended over slash damage in and around Tolaga Bay. The company, Ernslaw, is owned by a Malaysian forestry giant. The certification was from the Forest Stewardship Council, an international body that sets forestry standards. Damage to the area from the slash is from 2018, however, locals still remained concerned. Tolaga Bay farmer Mike Parker said there’s “thousands” of areas which have had slash damage. …Chair of the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use Hekia Parata said it was an environmental disaster unfolding in plain sight. Not only has Ernslaw lost its certification from the Forest Stewardship Council but an audit was being conducted into many forests around the country. Ernslaw said it was appealing the suspension.
The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature 
FORESTRY Australia has 
Bob Brown Foundation is celebrating the release of an Instagram post by Leonardo DiCaprio calling for swift parrot protection and an end to native forest logging in Tasmania and Australia. Reaching 62 million around the globe, this is global coverage for the critically endangered swift parrot that is on the path to extinction due to logging. “Leonardo DiCaprio has put Tasmania on the map big time, and the plight of the swift parrot is now well and truly global. We are delighted to see Leonardo’s full endorsement of our campaign to end native forest logging and save the critically endangered swift Parrots. We are inviting Leonardo to Tasmania to see this beautiful island, its forests and wildlife for himself,” Bob Brown said. …DiCaprio Instagram post states: Australian Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in Tasmania nesting sites of the Critically Endangered swift parrot. 
Germany wants to curb the use of unsustainable crops for biomass and force producers to better utilize animal dung and organic waste, a move which has prompted warnings from the industry. While only about a third of animal manure is currently utilized for biogas production, the government wants two thirds to be used by 2030, a draft strategy paper says. It also wants organic waste and cover crops to play a greater role in bioenergy, while plant operators typically prefer to use energy crops such as corn or wood to produce heat, power or biofuels. Biomass, which is the main renewable energy source in both Germany and the European Union, has been considered a controversial alternative to conventional fossil fuels. While proponents argue that burning trees and plants — which absorb carbon dioxide — results in lower net emissions, critics worry about deforestation, land use and biological diversity.
