Conch Shells Inspire Next Generation Helmets, Body Armor (rdmag.com)
New submitter omaha393 writes: Researchers at MIT used a 3D printing approach to develop a biomimetic composite capable of withstanding 70-85% more resistance than typical helmet designs. The material was manufactured using a composite of hard and soft printable polymers called VeroMagenta and TangoBlackPlus. The polymers were printed to overlay in a specific pattern that mimics conch shell molecular hierarchy, thus preventing cracks from spreading and offering a substantially more crack-resistant material. The researchers propose the material can be custom tailored and readily printed for future helmets and body armor manufacturing. The study has been published in Advanced Materials.
A scientific paper was published but you need to pay to read it. Some guy reads it or maybe skims it and to meet a quota, he writes a quick summary of the paper but doesn't include any illustrations of a conch shell. Omaha393 sees this summary and submits a quick summary of that summary to Slashdot where BeauHD writes a quick introduction and posts it on the main page of Slashdot. Nobody will read that summary of a summary yet they will discuss and debate the pros and cons of a broad generalization of the topic and some may even post racial slurs because they thinks it's clever. Penis.