Publication Date:
2009-11-27
Description:
Living organisms use composite materials for various functions, such as mechanical support, protection, motility and the sensing of signals. Although the individual components of these materials may have poor mechanical qualities, they form composites of polymers and minerals with a remarkable variety of functional properties. Researchers are now using these natural systems as models for artificial mechanosensors and actuators, through studying both natural structures and their interactions with the environment. In addition to inspiring the design of new materials, analysis of natural structures on this basis can provide insight into evolutionary constraints on structure-function relationships in living organisms and the variety of structural solutions that emerged from these constraints.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fratzl, Peter -- Barth, Friedrich G -- England -- Nature. 2009 Nov 26;462(7272):442-8. doi: 10.1038/nature08603.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Department of Biomaterials, Research Campus Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany. fratzl@mpikg.mpg.de〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19940914" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Biocompatible Materials/*metabolism
;
Biomechanical Phenomena
;
Humans
;
Mechanoreceptors/physiology
;
*Models, Biological
;
*Plant Physiological Processes
;
Spiders/anatomy & histology/*physiology
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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