The ocean is an unforgiving environment for any shipwreck, but sunken wooden vessels are particularly susceptible to saltwater’s corrosive effects and high bacterial content. The dangers of deterioration don’t end when the archeological remains are recovered,

Now, a team in China has developed an innovative hydrogel that could revolutionize the preservation of wooden artifacts from shipwrecks. Wooden artifacts submerged in seawater are highly vulnerable to decay.