This Is My One Piece Corner

Museum für Druckkunst (Museum for Printing Arts), Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

Sawdust-Based Foam Could Offer a Sustainable Alternative to Polystyrene

Waste swept off a sawmill floor, plant-based binders, and beeswax create foams with potential for sustainable packaging and building materials.

Newswise — Polystyrene — common in packing peanuts and box inserts — is manufactured from fossil fuels. To develop a sustainable alternative, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials tested an unconventional starting material: sawdust. Their prototype foams incorporated cellulose binders and other additives to form rigid or flexible materials, and some versions matched polystyrene’s strength and impact resistance. A simple beeswax coating made them water-resistant, producing biobased foams with potential for packaging and building materials.  “It can be exciting to use waste products as a starting point for materials fabrication, rather than a chemical catalog,” says Todd Emrick, the corresponding author of the study. He adds that the first author of the paper, Isha Farook, drove to nearby farms and sawmills asking if the research team could have their sawdust waste. Both researchers were pleased and surprised that, once it was dried, this waste sawdust created well-performing foams. 

The Haunted Gallery, Hampton Court Palace, Molesey, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Me reading the Mysterious Affair at Styles: That was probably very true when they were written, but there's a whole genre based on her work now. It's probably more predictable to those of us who have experienced so many derivatives of her work in the hands of other authors.

MR. SPIRO: Do you give these lectures at all of your depositions? MR. BANKSTON: I do, and you can watch them.

is ESPECIALLY hilarious to me having listened to multiple depositions Mark has had to take in the Sandy Hook case, where he has needed to lecture EVERY. SINGLE. ATTORNEY. at some point in the case about how they're violating Texas Rule XYZ, because they all, to a one, did something seriously ethically questionable during the deposition.

❤️ Day 5 Corazon Week 2026

NATURE

Vanitas Cordis

Today's illustration is the penultimate piece of this year's Corazon Week, and without a doubt, it took me the furthest outside my comfort zone.

Portraits have always been my favorite subject to paint, so creating an entire still life felt like stepping into unfamiliar territory. It was also my very first time studying and painting an anatomically accurate human skull. As a Mexican, the skulls I usually create are inspired by calaveras de azúcar:full of color, life, and celebration... so approaching one through the lens of classical painting was both challenging and incredibly rewarding.

🎨 This piece is inspired by the Vanitas still lifes of the Dutch Baroque. These symbolic compositions combine elements of nature with reminders of mortality: skulls, extinguished candles, flowers, fruit, and other everyday objects become quiet reflections on the fleeting nature of life, the passage of time, and the certainty of death. For the prompt "Nature," I wanted to embrace the idea of nature morte (still life), allowing each object to carry its own meaning. The extinguished candle symbolizes a life that has come to an end. The skull reminds us that death is the one fate shared by all. The flowers speak of beauty that inevitably fades with time, while the Devil Fruit quietly represents the extraordinary life and legacy Corazon left behind.

I won't hide it... this illustration made me emotional :( As I arranged every object, I kept thinking about Rosinante's final moments and the hope he chose to leave behind. In many ways, this piece became less of a still life and more of a quiet farewell.

Ironically, this illustration also brought back the artistic block I thought I had already overcome. There were many moments when I felt stuck, unsure of every brushstroke, and I only managed to finish it today. Even so, I chose to keep going, one step at a time.

Painting the flowers was especially challenging, and I still have so much to learn when it comes to botanical studies. Although I can already see things I would love to improve in the future, I decided to embrace this piece as part of my growth rather than chasing perfection.