Booming Bamboo: The Next Supermaterial?

By Mike Wooldridge  
BBC News, Nicaragua

Bamboo is being hailed as a new super material, with uses ranging from textiles to construction. It also has the potential to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, the biggest greenhouse gas, and provide some of the world's poorest people with cash. 

Bamboo's image is undergoing a transformation. Some now call it "the timber of the 21st Century".
Today you can buy a pair of bamboo socks or use it as a fully load-bearing structural beam in your house - and it is said that there are some 1,500 uses for it in between.