For a few hundred dollars, a bedroom can be refreshed with the latest flat-pack offerings. Wood particleboard furniture is affordable and generally easy to assemble, but particleboard is often held together with formaldehyde-based resins that make it hard or impossible to recycle. Now, with the help of science, old pressed-wood furnishings could be repurposed, and new modular decor could incorporate more environmentally friendly materials. Four articles published in ACS journals reveal how.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known as forever chemicals because of their extreme persistence. These compounds have useful properties including durability and waterproofing, so they’re commonly used in consumer products like food packaging and cosmetics, as well as industrial processes. But PFAS’ potential negative impacts on human health are driving the search for potentially safer substitutes. Now, researchers publishing in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology propose alternatives for many applications.