heh, Slartibartfast must have made that one. Cricket anyone?
A book I read decades ago postulated that a starship whose hull was made from solid diamond could withstand the stresses of near light speed travel(99.9%+). Now we know where to find it and when we are capable of travelling thousands of light years to get it we will probably be ready for it.
Take an idea from one person and twist or modify it in a different way as a return suggestion so another person can see a part of it that can apply to the oxp they are working on.
I think Arthur C Clark postulates in one of the 2001+ books (2010 I think) that the original carbon in Jupiter's atmosphere would have eventually reached the centre of the planet and been compressed into a diamond the size of the Earth - I thought it was a nice idea but dismissed it - but I heard Brian Cox repeat the concept recently in an interview...