
Funky Materials Give the Mantis Shrimp Its Powerful Punch - wglb
https://www.wired.com/story/funky-materials-give-the-mantis-shrimp-its-powerful-punch/
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btown
This is actually really cool. New research being reported on indicates that,
for the "saddle" organ it uses to store energy, the shrimp evolved a two-
layered structure: one made of ceramic, which is brittle only when under
tension but here is compressed heavily; and the other made of a polymer, which
is stronger under tension as it is here. So it's a masterful specialization of
the right materials for the job.

I've typed this TL;DR primarily because the mods frown on low-effort content,
but I really just wanted to post the required viewing for any story about the
mantis shrimp, a YouTube classic: True Facts About The Mantis Shrimp -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM)

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twic
> the shrimp evolved a two-layered structure: one made of ceramic, which is
> brittle only when under tension but here is compressed heavily; and the
> other made of a polymer, which is stronger under tension as it is here

That's pretty much how a composite bow works, as i understand it:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_bow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_bow)

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screature2
Obligatory shoutout to the Oatmeal's writeup on mantis shrimp. It's still my
favorite love letter to a (non-human) species.
[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp)

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jaytaylor
What a marvelous creature!

The oatmeal piece is a great accessory to the news reported by Wired.

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jaytaylor
Nag screen bypass (wouldn't go away for me on mobile):

[https://archive.is/MUpHy](https://archive.is/MUpHy)

