Secret of the mantis shrimp's famous punch revealed
We are pleased to share that the research conducted by Associate Professor Ali Miserez and his team has been featured on various media platforms. The research is focused on elucidating the biomechanical design of the mantis shrimp saddle.
The mantis shrimp is a colourful but aggressive crustacean which attacks its prey with a clobbering using its club-like appendages (dactyl clubs). It relies on incredible speed and strikes victims at velocities as high as 23 m/s. The mantis shrimp does not have particularly strong muscles and its dactyl clubs are not strong enough to deliver such a powerful blow. Instead, its success hinges on ingenious evolutionary design, which has blessed the species with naturally spring-loaded limbs. During the strike, the elastic energy is stored in the saddle-shaped mineralized spring, which is an efficient storage of elastic energy.
Using a technique called nano-indentation, Associate Professor Ali Miserez and his team examined the composition of the saddle-like structure to determine the material and hardness. They discovered that the bilayer structure is composed of two materials – (1) A relatively brittle bio-ceramic forming the top layer, (2) A more stretchable underlying layer containing a higher concentration of biopolymers.
Video: https://youtu.be/bTpUJWWIAaM
Media Coverage
Wired Magazine
Daily Mail
The Express
MSN News
TheScientist.com
Discover Magazine online
The Royal Society of Chemistry: Chemistry World
New Scientist
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Phys.org
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Earth.com
