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The Squid's Beak May Revolutionize Engineering
Ace905 writes "For years the razor-sharp beak that squid use to eat their prey has posed a puzzle to scientists. Squid are soft and fragile, but have a beak as dense as rock and sharp enough to break through hard shells. Scientists have long wondered why the beak doesn't injure the squid itself as is uses it. New research has just been published in the the journal Science that explains the phenomenon. One of the researchers described the squid beak as 'like placing an X-Acto blade in a block of fairly firm Jell-O and then trying to use it to chop celery.' Careful examination shows that the beak is formed in a gradient of density, becoming harder towards the tip end. Understanding how to make such hardness gradients could revolutionize engineering anywhere that 'interfaces between soft and hard materials [are required].' One of the first applications researchers envision is prosthetic limbs."
A front page article with no comments? Really? ...are you all having sex or something?
hookers and grits.
Now if only they can figure out why the "lobster sticks to magnet!" and LOBSTER HAS A BEAK! (if you dunno what that's from, don't hate. Trust me, it's funny)
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
OK, so there may be a few disappointed faces when people get a prosthetic beak instead of a hand. But I'm sure they'll come around to the idea when they think about it a little bit and realise that beaks are awesome.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
The creator of this post (Jacob Smith) hereby releases it, and all of his other posts, into the public domain.
No, as the headline says, the entire field of Engineering will never be the same.
"Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
Indeed. The puffer fish is not as well known as its cousin, the Babel Fish, but that should not let you from putting a puffer fish into your pocket and letting it get to work. You'll find that the puffer fish is a far better master of the sensual arts, and you'll not again be tempted by a blow job hamster which is, as I am sure you will agree, too little endowed in the lips, and to much endowed with the teeth.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Meta will eat itself
Using B to get from A to C is an engineering revolution?
How the hell did we ever get into space?
I think it's because we used numbers instead of letters.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Actually, if I understand the article right, the gradient is more like soggy ramen to 3-week old dried-on-the-stove Spaghetti-o. It gets pretty hard on the far side, and cannot be destroyed without the power of Dremel at your disposal.