Biomaterials play a crucial role in the development of future high-performance materials. A naturally occurring example of such biomaterial, the mollusk shell, guides chemical replication processes in ...

Shell-shaped decorative objects were very popular during the 19th century. There were trinket boxes covered in tiny shells, counter bells made with several mother-of-pearl shells put together into a ...

Beneath the shimmer of an oyster’s mother-of-pearl, an intricate microstructure bestows both strength and toughness on the natural ceramic. Now, scientists have come up with a way to replicate that ...

MOTHER NATURE has mastered how to make tough hybrid materials that resist fracture, such as bone and shell, using comparatively weak starting materials. Now, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National ...

When it comes to building tough, resilient materials without wasting energy, few human manufacturers can compete with Mother Nature. One of her most intriguing achievements is nacre, commonly known as ...

The earth contains a plethora of strong materials, and most of these are yet to be discovered by humans. Mother of pearl, which is also known as nacre, is a material of astonishing strength with ...

Scientists have studied nacre's growing mechanism of gastropods, a step for the artificial reproduction of this material in laboratories which could make possible its use in biomedicine. Although ...