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HUMBLE LIMPET IRRIDESCENT SPOTS. "Apart from the well-known pearly appearance on the smooth inside surfaces of many shells, iridescent coloration is relatively rare for seashells. A possible reason could be that their outside surfaces are invariably exposed to harsh abrasive conditions, which will quickly erode away any delicate microstructure smooth enough to create optical interference effects." https://lnkd.in/dtxJCX4 View in LinkedIn

STRUCTURAL COLORS IN NATURE. A lovely summary of irridescence physics in natural objects, and the effects of diffraction gratings and light interference. https://lnkd.in/dxCbUNp View in LinkedIn

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FEATHER STRENGTHENING. "Iridescent bird feathers may also be stronger than some non-iridescent or white feathers. Iridescent feathers commonly involve the pigment melanin as a structural element, and melanized feathers are sometimes stronger than unmelanized feathers." http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/Suppl_2/S115 View in LinkedIn

TWO COMPONENTS. "The elaborate morphologies and abundant functional structures of many biominerals are caused by a biologically mediated combination of organic substances with inorganic material at the nanometer scale." https://lnkd.in/d2qZRG4 View in LinkedIn

NANOFABRICATION. "Nature has evolved complex bottom-up methods for fabricating ordered nanostructured materials that often have extraordinary mechanical strength and toughness ... nacre, the pearly internal layer of many mollusc shells. It has evolved through millions of years to a level of optimization currently achieved in very few engineered composites." https://lnkd.in/dk9bKyT View in LinkedIn

"NACRE is composed of two relatively weak materials: 95 percent calcium carbonate, a brittle ceramic, and 5 percent flexible biopolymer. Even though the calcium carbonate is very weak and brittle on its own, one can get enormous increases in toughness through design at multiple-length scales." https://lnkd.in/dMsDYCF View in LinkedIn

TOUGHNESS. "The complexity we have observed in nacre at the nanoscale is quite amazing and seems likely to be a critical determinant of the toughness of the material." https://lnkd.in/dMsDYCF View in LinkedIn

SHELLS ARE TOUGH. "Nacre is composed of hexagonal platelets of aragonite ... arranged in a continuous parallel lamina. These layers are separated by sheets of organic matrix composed of elastic biopolymers (such as chitin, lustrin and silk-like proteins). This mixture of brittle platelets and the thin layers of elastic biopolymers makes the material strong and resilient." https://lnkd.in/da6Ufu6 View in LinkedIn

MOTHER OF PEARL, or "Nacre consists of 97 percent lime, but has a thousand times higher breaking strength." https://lnkd.in/dyrsJF9 View in LinkedIn