"MATERIALS: Carbon-impregnated plastic: Strong as steel! Thin as cellophane!"

Nanomaterials are often cited as being up to a thousand times stronger than steel, but researchers have had a difficult time transferring that strength to bulk materials. Now, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) claims to have invented a "brick-and-mortar" technique that achieves that goal by mimicking the way oysters embed calcium carbonate into an organic matrix to create sea-shells--one of the strongest materials found in nature. The result is a material as strong as steel, but ultra-thin and transparent.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202402048