I've had an idea about an easier, cheaper, safer form of canning for many years, but haven't figured out how to experiment.
You all know how the two-piece canning lids are made: a ring that screws on, and a disk for the middle that has a rubber border on the underside.
Now, imagine that the ring part is either ceramic or plastic. Also, imagine that instead of a disk, you have a flexible rubber diaphram that fits over the top of the jar and threads like a cap. Put food in jar, and pull the rubber diaphram over the top of the jar and threads
Now, screw the ring on after you put food in it.
Next, nuke it in the microwave on 'high'.
The food in the jar will get very hot, but the jar won't explode because the diaphram will expand like a balloon above the jar (through the center of the lid).
When we judge it to be hot enough, we let it cool, and the diaphram will shrink back as the steam and hot air cool down.
I can't see any germs or spores surviving a microwave oven, and sealing it before nuking it seems like it would create a sterile environment within the jar.