I showed you guys Casio's new sintered ceramic lenses a few days ago, and now, Fraunhofer, the same gigantic research lab who brought you mp3's and the stolen father of Divx;) is proud to announce a bulk sintered transparent alumina ceramic which can be made in commercial quantities (larger than a lens) for the first time. The new material is "3 times tougher than hardened steel" which means it's pretty darn tough, but still freaking hard. Growing crystals in a matrix of glass as they describe is the same way that Corning engineers made unbreakable ovenwear in the 70's. The current star application of this material is for replacing sapphire windows in military vehicles like tanks and jets. The Sapphire is ridiculously expensive, because it is a single grown and polished crystal, but it's high strength and hardness were needed.