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from the something-to-do-with-Pearl's-mother-apparently dept.
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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 has revealed precisely how it works, in real time.
More commonly known as mother-of-pearl, nacre's combination of hardness and resilience has mystified scientists for more than 80 years. If humans could mimic it, it could lead to a new generation of ultra-strong synthetic materials for structures, surgical implants and countless other applications.
"We humans can make tougher materials using unnatural environments, for example extreme heat and pressure. But we can't replicate the kind of nano-engineering that mollusks have achieved. Combining the two approaches could lead to a spectacular new generation of materials, and this paper is a step in that direction," said Robert Hovden, U-M assistant professor of materials science and engineering.
Researchers have known the basics of nacre's secret for decades -- it's made of microscopic "bricks" of a mineral called aragonite, laced together with a "mortar" made of organic material. This bricks-and-mortar arrangement clearly lends strength, but nacre is far stronger than its materials suggest.
"Nature is handing us these highly optimized structures with millions of years of evolution behind them," he said. "We could never run enough computer simulations to come up with these -- they're just there for us to discover."
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191023150330.htm
Journal Reference: Jiseok Gim, Noah Schnitzer, Laura M. Otter, Yuchi Cui, Sébastien Motreuil, Frédéric Marin, Stephan E. Wolf, Dorrit E. Jacob, Amit Misra, Robert Hovden. Nanoscale deformation mechanics reveal resilience in nacre of Pinna nobilis shell. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12743-z
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday October 28 2019, @05:15PM (2 children)
Matrix 4: Out of the Rabbit Hole
Plot synopsis: it's simulations all the way up. The Matrix, the rise of the machines, is all an exercise in recursive programming by who you might as well call God, but if you get to know him he's really just an 11 year old script kiddie who was born on a world where Moore's law ran unchecked for 1000 years, trying out our universe on their equivalent of a Raspberry Pi.
Neo became self-aware because the recursion is reaching its limits and evidence of the code is starting to show through the fabric of the simulation.
In God's world, they use compounds and genes simulated in systems like these as a replacement for "naturally discovered" materials that the lower level sims like Neo's co-sims work with.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @06:48PM
Yes, but imagine if God and His world were but a simulation...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @10:06PM
Should probably call it Matrix 5, Matrix 4 was already done. It had a black Neo, aka Terry Crews. The reality in this one is scary, it had monsters. Furry monsters.
You can see the movie on youtube, search for Simulation Theory...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 28 2019, @07:11PM (2 children)
Someone who can speak with the clams. What is that, chlamydia?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @07:58PM (1 child)
Keep your clam shut, you silly.
You were parading your seafarer past, I guess it was all a figment of overheated imagination.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 29 2019, @12:05AM
...And all you dyslexics out there, just clam dwon.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday October 28 2019, @07:41PM (3 children)
Diamond has entered the chat
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday October 28 2019, @08:07PM (1 child)
You're probably supposed to limit 'nature' to 'biological'.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday October 29 2019, @10:40AM
Next you're going to tell me the cyanide in these apricot seeds isn't organic! Damn GMOs. :)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @08:20PM
> Diamond has entered the chat
Only to be cleaved easily by a jeweler who understands fracture planes.
Hint: toughness isn't the same as hardness.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Monday October 28 2019, @08:40PM (1 child)
Better have a good plan for recycling these materials then. I suppose they might have little environmental impact if they wound up exactly like little bits of shell, although it probably also depends whether humans will synthesize this stuff in vast quantities. We also need to consider byproducts and the manufacturing process.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 29 2019, @09:21AM
Aragonite is the same primary material as Biorock produces (the alternative is brucite, which is faster growing but weaker and through an ion exchange in saltwater 'ages' into Aragonite over time, or directly if lower current accumulation is used.) If you consider a mountain, or coral unsafe, then maybe mother of pearl is unsafe in the same way. But in reality it is about as unsafe as sand, and far more safe than any nano-fibers we produce. Now if it is made into flexible or easily accumulated nano-structures, that could make it a dangerous product in the same way microplastics are being considered today, but the material itself should be safer and have better known interactivity with our biological processes, since we've been having it in our jewelry, food, and dishes for hundreds if not thousands of years.