By soaking wood in a mix of chemicals and then compressing and heating it, researchers have created a material that is stronger than steel, writes Sid Perkins for Scientific American.
Material scientists have been working for decades — squeezing wood, cooling and passing it through rollers , treating it with ammonia or steam — all in the name of creating a strong, tough material made from a relatively renewable resource. The new wood is three times as dense as natural wood and 12 times stronger, the researchers report in a new study published in the journal Nature.
Source: Smithsonian.com