Insects Inspire New Biodegradable Plastics

http://images.gizmag.com/hero/beetle.jpg

Traditional plastics are the children of oil; they are derived from the photochemical process. Since their inception, synthetic plastics have left an indelible mark on society. According to the U.S. National Park Service, however, plastic bottles can take up to 450 years to fully decompose. While they do eventually degrade, they are not considered truly biodegradable. Instead, they accumulate in landfills and oceans, killing wildlife and polluting our environment.

Mantis Shrimp: Weapon to Armor

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52e032cdeab8ea6713a97b42/no-other-animal-in-the

-world-sees-color-like-the-mantis-shrimp--and-researchers-finally-know-why.jpg

Last post, we covered the incredibly tough and highly impact resistant mother of pearl which keeps most mollusks safe from predators. But the mantis shrimp can break through these extremely hard structures with the speed of a .22 caliber bullet.

Artificial Mother of Pearl: Stronger Lighter Armor

http://prlo.aps.org/files/focus/v20/st1/nacre1_BIG.jpg

One of nature's strongest materials is nacure, colloquially known as "Mother of pearl." This is the surface coating of pearls and the iridescent coating that lines the inside of many mollusks such as oysters, abalone, and mussels. Nacure is composed of 95% aragonite, a hard but brittle calcium carbonate mineral, with the remaining 5% made up of soft organic molecules. While on their own, each material has poor mechanical properties, when layered together by the mollusks, the nacure can be (in energy terms) up to 3,000 times more resistant to fracture.