Crystals made from sugar can actually be “hard” to the point where they are close to aluminum. An international research team discovered that mucic acid crystals, an organic crystal derived from sugar, showed extremely high rigidity in terms of mechanical properties, almost comparable to metallic aluminum. This discovery refreshed people's traditional impression that organic materials are “not strong enough”, and the relevant results were published in the recent “Chemical Science” magazine.

Crystals made from sugar can actually be “hard” to the point where they are close to aluminum. An international research team discovered that mucic acid crystals, an organic crystal derived from sugar, showed extremely high rigidity in terms of mechanical properties, almost comparable to metallic aluminum. This discovery refreshed people's traditional impression that organic materials are “not strong enough”, and the relevant results were published in the recent “Chemical Science” magazine.