A Synthetic Tree Grows at Cornell & Solar Trees Grow at UC San Diego

Very interesting new research from Cornell University, duplicating transpiration—the way a tree moves water up through its system without using any biological energy. One of the researchers was just brainstorming: "It would be nice if you could, in a building, put these passive elements that carry heat around very effectively from a solar collector on the roof, to deliver heat all the way down through the building," said study co-author Abraham Stroock in a press release. Then you could "recycle that fluid back up to the roof the same way trees do it -- pulling it back up.

Also, at the University of California, San Diego, "Solar Trees" on the roofs of two parking structures create shade and generate electricity.