By heating carbon to 1,000 degrees Celsius, and putting it under 250,000 times normal atmospheric pressure, a team of Chinese and American scientists has produced a form of carbon that is incredibly strong and super-flexible that could be used in everything from exoskeletons to spaceships, according to a study published in Science Advances. Called  'compressed glassy carbon,' it's more elastic than organic rubber and silica, and around five times stronger than many common metals and alloys; properties that come from the graphite- and diamond-like bonds, and layers of graphene, which give it both softness and strength. To find out more go to Compressed glassy carbon: An ultrastrong and elastic interpenetrating graphene network.