Bambooseemed to fit the billItgrowsquickly , de-grades readilyand hasappropriately long fibres. And it worked .When the researchers blended a smallamount of bamboo pulp into bagasse, theyfound that theresult had a stronginterweaving of short and longfibres. As abonus, they also discovered that the hotpressing used as part of the process hadmobilised some of the lignin in the fibres,andthat this stiff, water-repellin materialwas nowacting as an adhesive that boundthe fibres together .