Coconuts to car parts.

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With more than 50 billion coconuts harvested every year, shelling the hairy fruit can result in a heap of husks. Normally, this outside covering is discarded, but Walter Bradley, an engineering professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has found a way to utilize this renewable resource by turning coconuts into car parts.

Bradley's team has developed a way to compress the husks' stiff fibers into a lightweight material that could replace the synthetic (human-made) materials currently used in automobiles' trunk liners, sun visors, floorboards, and inside door panels.

The team is now working to perfect the formula to meet required vehicle certification standards. Once they are road-ready, the eco-friendly car parts could provide a much-needed income boost for coconut farmers in developing countries. "We're turning trash into cash," says Bradley.