structural color
91. Color in feathers resists bacterial degradation: parrots
"The brilliant red, orange and yellow colours of parrot feathers are the product of psittacofulvins, which are synthetic pigments known only from parrots. Recent evidence suggests that some pigments in bird feathers function not just as colour gen...
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92. Web absorbs impacts: spiders
This strategy inspired the web furniture system sketched by Linda Dong, a sophomore industrial design student at Carnegie Mellon University. "How can we create furniture using the least amount of material and manufacturing? The web is inspired by ...
93. Footpads dampen shock: bush-cricket
"The fluid within the pad between the filaments contributes to the visco-elastic behaviour of the pad, because the fluid is able to flow through the gaps between the rods, when the pad deforms during contact formation and breakage (Gorb et al. 200...
94. Skin properties derive from arrangement of components: mammals
"A new model for stratum corneum keratin structure, function, and formation is presented. The structural and functional part of the model, which hereafter is referred to as 'the cubic rod-packing model', postulates that stratum corneum keratin int...
95. Teeth are resilient: sea otter
"Tooth enamel is inherently weak, with fracture toughness comparable with glass, yet it is remarkably resilient, surviving millions of functional contacts over a lifetime. We propose a microstructural mechanism of damage resistance, based on obser...
96. Threads have hard flexible coating: mussel
"Sacrificial bonds and hidden length in structural molecules and composites have been found to greatly increase the fracture toughness of biomaterials by providing a reversible, molecular-scale energy-dissipation mechanism. This mechanism relies o...
97. Nuclear lamina resists extreme strain: eukaryote cell
"The nuclear lamina [a dense (~30 to 100 nm thick) fibrillar network inside the nucleus of a eukariotic cell], composed of intermediate filaments, is a structural protein meshwork at the nuclear membrane that protects genetic material and regulate...
98. Scales prevent structural penetration: fig
"The gall wasp that lands on the fig's inflorescence is always a female. She has already mated and is needing to deposit her eggs. She begins to force her way into the tiny hole in the inflorescence. This is not easy for the entrance is guarded by...
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