I published these posts on Science 2.0 first, but I discontinued contributing there, and asked to have all traces of my presence removed from that site. Now the content is still there, with Anonymous listed as the author! I hereby re-publish MY original content here (edited slightly).
Exoskeletons To Envy
We human primates evolved and innovated extreme flexibility of body and mind, partly because we grow flesh around, instead of within, a bony framework. Yet we envy and copy the crusty, scaly or shelly attire of many biological predecessors.
Who sports the best exoskeleton?
Echinoderms grow some of the most fancy and flashy. Mollusks grow plenty of ornate, effective examples.
According the California Museum of Paleontology website, arthropods have advanced within their chitinous armor to become the real rulers of our world. Three fourths of all known living organisms are arthropods, the article states.
Other chordates besides humans, such as the turtles, hedgehogs, and bony fishes have revisited exoskeletal defense systems with great success.
Both exoskeletons and endoskeletons have advantages and disadvantages, but humans, as the most flexible living beings on earth, have merged ingenious "both/and" capabilities with insistent "do and/or die" attitudes since prehistoric days, and surged in shield inventing ever since.
This print by Gideon Algernon Mantell titled "Battle of the Trilobites" pokes fun at these human nature traits (and the results).
Still, materials scientists at MIT are studying the "scaly-foot" gastropod, Crysomallon squamiferum, hoping to design new and improved battle armor based upon features of its nearly uncrushable, tri-layered shell. The research team is planning to pick up shell construction tips, with military applications, from many armored animals in future projects.
However high-tech portable or mobile protection can serve peaceful or adventurous purposes just as well. HplusMagazine reports that the robotic exoskeletons being developed by the US Department of Defense to give soldiers a boost might become available for medical and recreational uses soon.
Now, I am pausing to imagine some of the relief, fun and trouble those advances could bring.
Have you ever wished you had a natural or high-tech exoskeleton? Have you ever dreamed of running, flying or swimming in powered armor? Do tell!
Exoskeleton Update:
Today's National Science Foundation (NSF) news release about the high-tech armor inspiring "scaly-foot gastropod" mollusk,Crysomallon squamiferum, included better pictures of this deep-sea wonder. So I am posting the pictures in this brief update to my "Exoskeletons to Envy," published January 18.
The scaly-foot snail inhabits the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field, two-and-one-half miles below the central Indian Ocean, according to the press release. Yesterday while I was writing about this extra-tough snail from the earlier MIT press release, here and elsewhere, I was unable to find pretty-enough accompanying images with clear permissions for usage.
Now, thanks to the NSF, I can post pictures that almost do this marvelous critter justice!
The scaly-foot snail resists a knight's lance attack in the fanciful illustration above. But the gastropod's unusual, three-layered shell is both penetration and crush resistant.
Key features of this snail's shell that may inspire new and improved vehicle or personal armor design are the outer granular layer made of iron sulfide and a much thicker than usual organic middle layer.
The inmost layer of the scaly-foot snail's shell is highly calcified. Most snails have much thinner, two-layered shells.
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