Multifunctionality of chiton biomineralized armor with an integrated visual system

Abstract

Although many biological tissues serve more than one purpose, rarely are they optimized to do multiple tasks well. When you try to optimize for one functionality, it comes at the expense of another. Li et al. investigated the biomineralized armor of the small mollusc chiton Acanthopleura granulata . The armor appears to be optimized for both mechanical strength and for image capture by hundreds of integral aragonite-based lenses.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Nov 20, 2015
Source ID
10.1126/science.aad1246

Entities

People

  • Christine Ortiz
  • Daniel I. Speiser
  • Grant T. England
  • Joanna Aizenberg
  • Ling Li
  • Mathias Kolle
  • Matthew J. Connors
  • Xianghui Xiao

Organizations

  • Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • Army Research Office
  • Harvard University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Science Foundation
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of South Carolina

Tags

Readers

  • Military Science
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Research Science/Academic Research