By creating a digital replica, or twin, of a pine stand, researchers were able to simulate its year-to-year growth and see how different thinning decisions might play out. Credit: David Carter, Michigan State University In his office at Michigan State University, forestry professor David Carter shows off an image of a virtual forest on his laptop. It's not just any forest. It's a computerized replica, or "digital twin," of a loblolly pine stand, created using lidar, the laser scanning technology that self-driving cars use to map their surroundings. Carter says virtual landscapes like these could allow forest managers to test different management strategies in a simulation before deploying them in the real world. The concept is not new. Digital twins are now widely used across industries ranging from manufacturing to health care to run "what if" scenarios before taking action.…