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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

KEY FINDING. "One of the most interesting discoveries in the last decades was certainly the fact that nucleic acid sequences are not only information bearing molecules that serve as a read-only storage medium, but they can be actively modified by several coplayers." https://lnkd.in/eUYvi8e View in LinkedIn

NANOFABRICATION. "Despite their small size (1−10 μm across), coccoliths are remarkably elaborate biomineral structures characterized by precise control of both nucleation and growth of calcite by the organic system...Calcification in coccolithophores occurs primarily in Golgi-derived vesicles." https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn

NANOFABRICATION. "Despite their small size (1−10 μm across), coccoliths are remarkably elaborate biomineral structures characterized by precise control of both nucleation and growth of calcite by the organic system...Calcification in coccolithophores occurs primarily in Golgi-derived vesicles." https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn

GREAT VARIETY. "Different groups of algae form CaCO3 in strikingly different ways, and the cellular sites of calcification can be either internal or external, suggesting that calcification mechanisms evolved independently in different groups." https://lnkd.in/eXTtntg View in LinkedIn

CONCLUSION. "This analysis suggests that calcification is unlikely to be a major energy sink for excess (to photosynthesis) excitation energy in photosynthesis. Coccolithophores are generally characterised as not being very susceptible to photoinhibition." https://lnkd.in/e2i9eMi View in LinkedIn

NUCLEATION. "The presence of a foreign surface can be used to exert even greater control over nucleation because, quite often, the interfacial energy between a crystal nucleus and a solid substrate is lower than that of the crystal in contact with the solution. This is because the molecules in the crystal can form bonds with those in the substrate that are stronger than the bonds of solvation. Because the enthalpic contribution to the free energy comes primarily from chemical bonding, stronger bonds lead to a smaller interfacial free energy." https://lnkd.in/eVX4ANS View in LinkedIn