A team at MIT has developed a new way to grow plant tissue in the laboratory. It is possible to produce wood and fiber in a laboratory environment, and the research team has already demonstrated its function in this process by growing it into a simple structure using cells collected from zinnia leaves.
Of course, this research is still in its infancy, but the potential application potential for plant materials grown in the laboratory can be expected in two major areas: agriculture and construction materials. Traditional agriculture has less damage to the ecosystem than livestock, but it still requires a lot of resources such as impact and cost. Of course, it goes without saying that even small environmental changes have a significant impact on crop yields. In addition, the adverse environmental impact on forestry is greater.
If the results of this research are used to ultimately develop a method of producing experimental wood used in construction and manufacturing in a way that is scalable and efficient, it is possible to reduce the global impact of forestry. For example, it is expected that a wooden table can be grown directly and ultimately in a specific shape of a vegetable material to take on part of the manufacturing altogether.
It is still at the level of growing materials only on a small scale, and finding a method of growing plant materials with different properties is also a challenge. One of the problems to be solved is to increase efficiency. Nevertheless, it is clear that they have high potential. Related information can be found here .