Recently, Yu Shuhong, an academician of the University of Science and Technology of China, made use of natural biomass and natural minerals to prepare a pure natural wood like aerogel with excellent heat insulation and fire resistance. Relevant results were published in German Applied Chemistry. Wood, as a widely used material and rich resource, has been widely used for thousands of years because of its low density, low thermal conductivity, good mechanical properties and sustainability. In recent years, based on the understanding of wood structures, various wood like materials with unique physical properties and wide applications have also been developed. Among them, aerogel with excellent thermal insulation performance is one of the most important research topics. Wood like aerogels based on plastics and resins are severely limited by poor biodegradability, which will lead to the accumulation of waste and serious environmental problems. However, wood like aerogels based on existing nanostructures are limited by their lack of sustainability and high cost. Therefore, in order to solve the problem of unsustainable materials at present, developing new building elements with low cost, low energy consumption and environmental protection will play a crucial role in the development of wood like aerogels. Through ingenious surface chemical control methods, researchers have successfully activated the surface of micron-scale sawdust particles under mild conditions, thus exposing cellulose nanofibers. The nanofibers on the surface of these particles significantly enhanced the interaction between particles, and combined with unidirectional freezing technology, a strong and durable wood like aerogel was successfully constructed. This aerogel has an orientation channel structure similar to that of natural wood. This wood like structure can greatly reduce the thermal conductivity of the aerogel, making it have an ultra-low radial thermal conductivity of 17.4 milliwatts per meter per kelvin, which is superior to the existing cellulose based aerogel materials and various commercial sponges. At the same time, the addition of natural clay nanoflakes has greatly improved the fire resistance of this aerogel, which can withstand the flame at 1300 ℃ and will not be burned through for at least 20 minutes. Researchers believe that this all natural wood like aerogel has better thermal insulation and fire resistance than natural parsa wood and most commercial sponges, and is expected to become an ideal substitute for existing commercial thermal insulation materials. In addition, its natural raw material source and low energy consumption and low emission preparation process make this aerogel have good biodegradability and sustainability, which can reduce the negative impact of thermal insulation materials on the environment in the production, use and waste process. (Outlook New Era)