Peptide balls prove stiffer than steel

Transparent nanospheres self-assembled from a simple protected dipeptide molecule have become the stiffest organic materials yet reported. The team of Israeli researchers who produced the spheres found that their mechanical properties surpassed those of steel and the organic armour material Kevlar. 

'When we applied force to measure these particles, diamond probes were the only thing that actually made an indentation,' explained Itay Rousso, from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. 'It's quite astonishing that you can get such a strong material made of biological ingredients.'  More...

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/October/08101001.asp