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MINIMAL ENERGY SURFACES. "Mackay has recently described the 'flexicrystallography' structure and symmetry properties of about 50 periodic minimal-energy surfaces, and how they allow one to transcend the boundary of traditional crystallography and the 230 classic space groups, to encompass periodic curved surfaces found in soft structures such as liquid crystal mesophases and biological assemblies." https://lnkd.in/eY-FGha View in LinkedIn

MINIMAL ENERGY SURFACES. "Mackay has recently described the 'flexicrystallography' structure and symmetry properties of about 50 periodic minimal-energy surfaces, and how they allow one to transcend the boundary of traditional crystallography and the 230 classic space groups, to encompass periodic curved surfaces found in soft structures such as liquid crystal mesophases and biological assemblies." https://lnkd.in/eY-FGha View in LinkedIn

GEOMETRIC MISFITS. "Many biomaterials are organized from nanoscale to the macroscopic scale...to give hierarchical materials that are sculpted with complex form -- spirals, spheroids and skeletons...with apparent disregard for the rigid geometric symmetry of their inorganic constituents." https://lnkd.in/eY-FGha View in LinkedIn

EXQUISITE CONTROL. "These examples demonstrate that organisms are able to control the location and crystallographic orientation of nucleation, the shape of the growing crystallites, and even the phase of the resulting material." https://lnkd.in/eVX4ANS View in LinkedIn

COMPLEXITY FROM SEEMING SIMPLICITY. "The vast array of organisms are now known to synthesize inorganic materials and more than 60 different biogenic minerals have been identified to date, most of them are calcium carbonates, calcium phosphates, silicates, iron oxides and iron sulfides. Unicellular organisms such as bacteria and algae also are capable of synthesizing inorganic nanomaterials, both intra- and extracellularly." https://lnkd.in/es5DATt View in LinkedIn

BIOMINERALIZATION CONTROL. "Examples of such synthesis include silica biosynthesis in diatoms, sponges and radiolarians, calcareous structures in coccoliths, gypsum in S-layer bacteria and the nanocrystals of magnetite and greigite in magnetotactic bacteria." https://lnkd.in/es5DATt View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues on biomineralization from last weekend, focusing on geometry, energetics and the mechanism of bio-fabrication of these organic crystals. Most of these crystal structures are fabricated by microscopic marine creatures, which affect global carbon cycles. Nanofabrication in a commercial setting is a hot topic, and nature illustrates that efficient solutions to difficult problems are possible via the endless inventivity of evolution. View in LinkedIn

HYBRID SYNTHESIS. "During biologically controlled synthesis of inorganic materials, inorganic phases grow within or on organic matrix or vesicles inside the cell, allowing the organism to exert a strict control over the composition, grain size, habit, and intracellular or surface location of the produced minerals." https://lnkd.in/es5DATt View in LinkedIn

The Guardian view on farming: not about food View in LinkedIn

MASS PRODUCTION. "Estimates of coccolith formation in E. huxleyi have shown that approximately one coccolith can be formed per hour." https://lnkd.in/eXTtntg View in LinkedIn