Aerogel rice

[Arrow]

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1530/66/

Aerogel has been around for decades. It's the lightest substance ever created, being 99% air...insulates 37 times better than fiberglass..."

"Unfortunately aerogel costs about $1,300 per pound to produce...Dr. Halimaton Hamdan, has led a team of researchers who have created a way to produce aerogel that will be 80% cheaper...the new aerogel is produced from rice husks, a discarded agricultural product..."

[fritchie]

Your reference actually says this "new" aerogel is the same stuff as the old material, but made from silica in rice husks, by a process not described (probably siimilar to the original).