Funky Materials Give the Mantis Shrimp Its Powerful Punch

wired.com

49 points·wglb··6 comments

This is actually really cool. New research being reported on indicates that, for the "saddle" organ it uses to store energy, the shrimp evolved a two-layered structure: one made of ceramic, which is brittle only when under tension but here is compressed heavily; and the other made of a polymer, which is stronger under tension as it is here. So it's a masterful specialization of the right materials for the job.

I've typed this TL;DR primarily because the mods frown on low-effort content, but I really just wanted to post the required viewing for any story about the mantis shrimp, a YouTube classic: True Facts About The Mantis Shrimp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM

> the shrimp evolved a two-layered structure: one made of ceramic, which is brittle only when under tension but here is compressed heavily; and the other made of a polymer, which is stronger under tension as it is here

That's pretty much how a composite bow works, as i understand it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_bow

Thank you for linking that classic.

Obligatory shoutout to the Oatmeal's writeup on mantis shrimp. It's still my favorite love letter to a (non-human) species. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

What a marvelous creature!

The oatmeal piece is a great accessory to the news reported by Wired.

Nag screen bypass (wouldn't go away for me on mobile):

https://archive.is/MUpHy

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