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Materials From Tough-as-Nails Crustacean Could Inspire Better Body Armor
carmendrahl writes "The peacock mantis shrimp, a crustacean which is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, has hammer-like clubs for smashing the shells of its prey. They're so strong that regular glass aquariums can't hold them. But what's interested researchers for some time is how the clubs stand up to all that stress. Now, a team has figured out why: the mantis shrimp club's molecular structure is set up to resist fractures. That discovery could lead to stronger and lighter car frames or body armor."
The peacock mantis shrimp, a crustacean which is neither a mantis nor a shrimp...
Ok. So it is a peacock.
Soon I can order my suit of pseudo-chitin armour? It will have to do until they invent power armour.
If they make it out of solar-powered spider silk, possibly at a room-temperature fusion reactor......the world will asplode.
No. We have already passed the point on the strength axis at which the car survives but the occupants die of internal injuries. For cars, what you need is energy absorption to decelerate the car's contents gradually. That means a body that will crumple.
Body armor, perhaps. Here, the total energy of a typical round is not lethal if it can be spread over a large area of the body. This can be facilitated by stiff materials backed by some padding.
Have gnu, will travel.
...tell the military that your science project has military applications. Otherwise, good luck getting a grant.
I can see the future of hot melted butter with a hint of lemon jiuce on those body armor piecing rounds. On the hand to hand combat front,shrimp forks being the weapon of choice.
about animal lovers, is that the world, naturally, is a place of violence
although, what it isn't a place of, is cruelty. nature kills for hunger, and with no emotion. taking delight in another's suffering is the problem. the mechanics of the violence we are born and live in and die in is without cruelty, it just is
you see something like this shrimp, and you think: isn't this evil? and the answer is, no, because it is only hungry, it is not cruel. it is the human mind that perceives cruelty where there is none. much like those against eating meat
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Everything I know about Mantis Shrimps comes from The Science of Discworld (a book which should really be named, The Science of Roundworld, since it's about how the inhabitants of Discworld might view our world), by Terry Pratchett and two scientists, one of whom actually owned one of these critters. They're extremely smart (relatively speaking). He used to set it puzzles it had to solve to get food. After a while, it started ignoring food that didn't involve solving a puzzle, apparently because it was too boring.
Trinocular vision with at least 8 visual pigments (as opposed to our mere rgb) and the ability to detect the direction of circularly polarized light.
Theorized to help them detect the phase of the moon for breeding and to see in turbid waters and as secret communication channel between the sexes that cant be exploited by predators.
The very point of a car frame is to crumple. They're expensive to replace, but not as much as the driver.
If it's as tough as nails, then why not just make the armor out of nails? Thanks folks, I'll be here all week!
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
"The peacock mantis shrimp, a crustacean which is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, let alone a peacock..."
... in the process.
This is neither the first nor in any way exceptional, but in every single instance, it is a disgrace!
Does this protect against it? Never know when you might be fighting Xenomorphs.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Kinda worthless linking an article the requires a paid subscription to access.
Just to outline what the standard gear can do as of fairly recently; I'm out, but I wore it in 2010.
The kevlar lining in the vest, by itself, is rated to stop 9mm pistol rounds.
The main chest and back ESAPI plates are rated to stop a NATO 7.62x51 round. (The AK commonly fires the lighter 7.62x39 round.)
The armor is bulky as hell. The full assemblage, helmet, shoulder protectors, front and back plates, side plates, etc., is heavy and greatly restricts movement. I found it very difficult, with everything on, to man a gun and drop down to check radios. (I've also never found a decent pair of gloves.) I stopped wearing the neck protection and shoulder protection while driving because I couldn't easily turn my head.
The problem of being trapped is partially addressed through the quick-release mechanism; there is a strap you pull that will simply make your armor fall off. Of course, there's a fairly elaborate system of cables wound throughout the armor, and the armor itself is more annoying to put on.
My feelings are that we're well past the point where the increased likelihood of getting shot while stumbling around is worse than the benefits of not getting hurt by shrapnel. I'm considering a common combined IED and small arms attack in which the convoy is successfully stopped, and they have to kick out dismounts to respond. In that scenario, getting in and out of vehicles is very dangerous (especially some MRAPs where you have to basically go out ass-first) and performing tricky tasks like hooking up tow bars and tow cables.
The next biggest problem is it's hard to allow air flow. The armor tries, and they recently came out (thank god) with a lighter shirt to wear underneath it instead of the regular ACU top. That was a huge improvement, but it's fundamentally hard to put yourself inside a ceramic box and not cook.
Except for shoulders (and no one wants to wear the damned shoulder armor) it doesn't protect joints. The neck protection further restricts mobility.
Wearing it, overall, I felt like a damned turtle. Other people I saw didn't seem to be doing much better.
Lots of natural materials exhibit really interesting properties, sometimes at odds with the way we'd expect such materials to react. For example crustacean shells are ceramic but quite tough because of the layering of the ceramic with small amounts of organic binder material which causes any fractures to be diverted before they spread though the bulk of the material.
Many natural materials exhibit high levels of hierarchy like this and it's one of the many reasons why natural structures and materials are way cooler than most of the things that we make, with the possible exception of aerogel. One of the most interesting hierarchical structures is Euplectella Aspergillum (Venus' flower basket), its structure is really complex. I can easily see this being an aerospace material in 10 years...
The way the fibers are laid out to create the surface can have a dramatic effect on it's strength and ability to maintain shape. Watch this TED talk for more interesting facts about penis anatomy.
Well, whatever it is. Anyways. Let them build their armor. I'll hold off a few years and then throw a Lodsys on them!
Evolution is just amazing. It produced a complex highly application specific material that we will need to copy because of its (undeniably intelligent) design.
Go bungee jumping off the brooklyn bridge with the bungee secured to the helmet on your head.
That's the extent of the whiplash a human being would feel if a car actually bounced off a wall.
maybe; but those people already have concussion from their previous accident
...is it's primary hitting power is not the claw itself, but the inertial cavitation shockwave.
The creature lashes out so fast and powerful, that the impact generates a cavitation bubble on the forward surface of the claw. So not only does the claw hammer in, but there's a nasty blast of energy as the cavitation bubble collapse at the speed of sound. Its so powerful, it even generates light!
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And I just happen to be watching the QI episode with them in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPtGdLTnriE&feature=related, at around 21:35
Pssst. Scientist. God has gotten ahead of you again.
Makes me think of the pistol shrimp.
Layered composite materials. People who have been designing and building fault tolerant systems have been using such techniques for a very long time.
It may be interesting to determine that's what's at work in this instance, but it's not a new technology.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
Will this crustacean based armor be available in Cepheus Pack 6 for Soul Calibur 5?
It's amazing how much we are still learning and benefiting from nature around us.
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