Last night my mate told me about d3o, a plasticine like substance that becomes very hard under compression.
It doesn't sound that interesting until you see the videos and then start thinking of what they could make out of the stuff! Top of my list is the beanie for snowboarding, but also a laptop bag, and then full on body armor! I inquired about the hats in a few snowboarding shops today, but no one had heard anything about it!
It's hard to explain, and far easier to check out some of the videos of d3o on youtube.