marine life

Diatoms serve as tiny silica scaffolds for inexpensive and scalable growth of molybdenum disulfide flakes

By April Gocha / September 26, 2016

Researchers at the University of Manchester in the U.K. have devised a strategy that gives new use to diatom shells, using the silica shells as scaffolds for building atomic sheets of molybdenum disulfide.

Read More

Ceramic double duty: Bifunctional material affords chiton shells strength and visibility with built-in eyes

By April Gocha / December 16, 2015

Ivy league researchers now show that mollusks called chitons have an interesting feature to adapt to their life under the sea—hundreds of tiny ceramic eyes integrated in and scattered across their strong aragonite shells.

Read More