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posted by n1 on Friday February 20 2015, @07:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the bioinspiration dept.

El Reg reports:

Limpets – a type of aquatic snail – [...]need high strength teeth to scrape algae off rocks. [...] Scientists used atomic force microscopy to pull the teeth apart at the atom level. They found the teeth contain a hard mineral known as goethite, which forms in the limpet as it grows.

[...]Professor Asa Barber from [Portsmouth] University's School of Engineering said: "Until now we thought that spider silk was the strongest biological material because of its super-strength and potential applications in everything from bullet-proof vests to computer electronics but now we have discovered that limpet teeth exhibit a strength that is potentially higher."

The research also discovered that limpet teeth are the same strength no matter what the size. Usually, the bigger a structure, the more prone it is to flaws. Limpet teeth break this rule, as their strength is the same no matter what the size.

These structures could be mimicked and used in high-performance engineering applications such as Formula 1 racing cars, the hulls of boats, and aircraft structures.

[...]The research was published [February 18] in the Royal Society Journal Interface.[1]

[1] That may hold the record for the most scripts on a page with just 38kB of content.

Related Stories

Spider Silk Made Stronger by Feeding Spiders Graphene or Carbon Nanotubes 20 comments

Spider silk can be made stronger by feeding the spiders that produce the silk aqueous dispersions containing graphene or carbon nanotubes:

[Researchers] in Italy and the UK have found a way to make [spider] silk a lot stronger, using various different spider species and carbon nanotubes or graphene. The research team, led by Professor Nicola Pugno at the University of Trento, Italy, succeeded in having their spiders produce silk with up to three times the strength and ten times the toughness of the regular material.

[...] "We already know that there are biominerals present in in the protein matrices and hard tissues of insects, which gives them high strength and hardness in their jaws, mandibles and teeth, for example. So our study looked at whether spider silk's properties could be 'enhanced' by artificially incorporating various different nanomaterials into the silk's biological protein structures."

To do this, the team exposed three different spider species to water dispersions containing carbon nanotubes or graphene. After collecting the spiders' silk, the team tested its tensile strength and toughness. Professor Pugno said: "We found that the strongest silk the spiders spun had a fracture strength up to 5.4 gigapascals (GPa), and a toughness modulus up to 1,570 joules per gram (J/g). Normal spider silk, by comparison, has a fracture strength of around 1.5 GPa and a toughness modulus of around 150 J/g.

Spider silk reinforced by graphene or carbon nanotubes (DOI: 10.1088/2053-1583/aa7cd3) (DX)

Related: The Strongest Natural Material: Sea Snail Teeth
Synthetic Spider Silk Fiber Created


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Friday February 20 2015, @07:55PM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday February 20 2015, @07:55PM (#147547) Homepage

    HOLY SEA SNAILS! Their TEETH are strong enough to build a plane

    This is the rather excitable Register headline. I mean, wood is strong enough to build a plane, and plenty of things eat wood with their teeth...

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @07:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @07:57PM (#147549)

      As opposed to the other kind of Register headline?

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday February 20 2015, @08:04PM

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Friday February 20 2015, @08:04PM (#147554) Journal

      How harder than a limpet's tooth is it to have a thankless post?

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      You're betting on the pantomime horse...
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Friday February 20 2015, @10:01PM

      by richtopia (3160) on Friday February 20 2015, @10:01PM (#147616) Homepage Journal

      I can cut down a tree with a stone, but I cannot build an aeroplane with stone. Compressive/tensile strength and all that.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday February 21 2015, @12:27AM

        by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Saturday February 21 2015, @12:27AM (#147659) Journal

        Cut down the tallest tree in the forest wiiiiith... a herring!

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        You're betting on the pantomime horse...
        • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday February 21 2015, @07:48AM

          by mhajicek (51) on Saturday February 21 2015, @07:48AM (#147703)

          Build an aeroplane with... A herring!

          --
          The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:03PM (#147642)

      i've heard that steel is pretty strong. let's build a plane out of steel, cos everyone knows that strength is the only criteria for material selection

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @05:01AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @05:01AM (#147691)
        • (Score: 2) by fnj on Sunday February 22 2015, @12:27AM

          by fnj (1654) on Sunday February 22 2015, @12:27AM (#147929)

          On the other end of the scale, the use of cheap AISI 4130 chrome-moly steel tubing in airplane fuselages dates back to the 1920s and before. This was a welded truss built up of tubes, with doped fabric covering (more recently, often fiberglass or carbon fiber composite). Despite the "chrome", this material is not stainless; it contains only about 1% chrome, 1/5% molybdenum and 1/2% manganese. It is very readily welded and possesses outstanding strength.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by CoolHand on Friday February 20 2015, @08:00PM

    by CoolHand (438) on Friday February 20 2015, @08:00PM (#147552) Journal

    Could we finally see our space elevator?

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    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:14PM (#147558)

      No. There because there are many kinds of factors to consider, such as hardness, but there are also other factors to consider such as tensile strength, Young's modulus, etc. (that whole thing about how concrete is great in compression, but sucks in tension). It depends upon the conditions whereby the forces act. Besides, the article quote implies that the most important advances will be for Formula 1 cars. :/

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 21 2015, @04:37PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday February 21 2015, @04:37PM (#147800) Journal

        Formula 1 cars.

        Formula 1 cars I could care less about, but using the material, which they said would be cheap, in components in EVs would be welcome if it meant lighter cars with longer range.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Buck Feta on Friday February 20 2015, @09:05PM

      by Buck Feta (958) on Friday February 20 2015, @09:05PM (#147584) Journal

      It's sea snails all the way up.

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    • (Score: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Friday February 20 2015, @09:10PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 20 2015, @09:10PM (#147588) Journal

      Depends on how much es cargo it could carry.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:07PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:07PM (#147644)

        not to mention we'd be holding on by the skin of our snails teeth

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:09PM (#147557)

    WAR.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by JeanCroix on Friday February 20 2015, @08:20PM

      by JeanCroix (573) on Friday February 20 2015, @08:20PM (#147561)
      Good god, y'all.
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by CoolHand on Friday February 20 2015, @08:34PM

        by CoolHand (438) on Friday February 20 2015, @08:34PM (#147567) Journal

        What is it good for?

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        Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by Covalent on Friday February 20 2015, @08:48PM

          by Covalent (43) on Friday February 20 2015, @08:48PM (#147574) Journal

          Absolutely nothing.

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          You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
          • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:55PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @08:55PM (#147577)

            Say it again

            • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday February 20 2015, @09:42PM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 20 2015, @09:42PM (#147605) Journal
              WAR
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              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:10PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:10PM (#147645)

                we should append "without my pants" to every comment... without my pants

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:11PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20 2015, @11:11PM (#147646)

              WAR.

  • (Score: 5, Touché) by mtrycz on Friday February 20 2015, @10:39PM

    by mtrycz (60) on Friday February 20 2015, @10:39PM (#147635)

    While I have nothing interesting to say about this, and will certainly not read TFA, what I wanted to say is that:

    I'm really happy that there's SoylentNews bringing all these neat curious news around.

    Often, stories like this will go with 3-5 comments. I think that's probably because it's a very specific kind of thing, and not much to argue about. I don't think that it's because the story is uninteresting.

    It's a great time to be alive, and it's great to have Soylent to bring all these awesome news.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 22 2015, @12:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 22 2015, @12:15AM (#147924)

      Not to piss in your cornflakes, but you do realize that out of the 27 comments posted here (including this one), I don't think there are even three that aren't either meant to be a joke, or a reply to a joke?

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Hartree on Friday February 20 2015, @10:56PM

    by Hartree (195) on Friday February 20 2015, @10:56PM (#147640)

    "Limpet teeth break this rule, as their strength is the same no matter what the size."

    Please tell me they didn't find a several ton limpet tooth to test this, or I'm never going near the water again.

    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday February 21 2015, @07:52AM

      by mhajicek (51) on Saturday February 21 2015, @07:52AM (#147704)

      Oh I'd go. To hunt the great white limpets!

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @06:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @06:47PM (#147840)

    I want implants to replace my rotting sugar chompers.