Nowadays there is no getting away from plastics. We are producing over 300 million tons of plastic every year, over 40% of which is manufactured into films for packaging. Many of these plastic film products, such as plastic ...
Ice-templating is a powerful technique to construct biological materials using ice nucleation and growth to obtain frozen material architectures, but scientists have been unable to control these two factors with effective ...
In the summer, many people enjoy walks along the beach looking for seashells. Among the most prized are those that contain iridescent mother of pearl (also known as nacre) inside. But many beachcombers would be surprised ...
Nacre—the iridescent part of mollusk shells—is a poster child for biologically inspired design. Despite being made of brittle chalk, the intricately layered microstructure of nacre gives it a remarkable ability to resist ...
Nacre, the rainbow-sheened material that lines the insides of mussel and other mollusk shells, is known as nature's toughest material. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Michigan has revealed precisely how ...
Round, smooth and iridescent, pearls are among the world's most exquisite jewels; now, these gems are inspiring a U.S. Army research project to improve military armor.
Eight new freshwater mussels have been discovered by an international team of scientists in Myanmar, a finding that has sparked calls for action to protect this most vulnerable of freshwater animals.
In recent years, scientists have teased out many of the secrets of biomineralization, the process by which sea urchins grow spines, mollusks build their shells and corals make their skeletons, not to mention how mammals and ...
Using the iridescent mother-of-pearl often found lining seashells, researchers have engineered a new composite glass with a greatly boosted resistance to impacts.
Bioinspired engineering strategies rely on achieving the combined biological properties of strength and toughness inherent in nature. Tissue engineers and materials scientists therefore aim to construct intelligent, hierarchical ...
