31/03/2026
Diamonds form under extreme pressure and heat, conditions that are actually common across planets and even in space. Some gas giants are thought to produce “diamond rain,” and carbon-rich stars may host vast amounts of crystalline carbon.
But wood is different.
Wood is the result of biology, specifically millions of years of evolution where plants developed lignin, a complex molecule that gives trees their strength and structure. That requires liquid water, a stable climate, sunlight, and a long, uninterrupted evolutionary history. It’s not just material, it’s a product of life.
So while diamonds can form through physics and chemistry alone, wood can only exist where life has reached a certain level of complexity.
Which means every piece of wood around you is evidence of a rare chain of events that happened on one small planet.
In a universe filled with extreme environments and exotic materials, something as ordinary as a tree might actually be one of the rarest things of all.