News
2019
The mantis shrimp's perfect shield
How it's inspiring a new class of lightweight, impact-resistant materials
The paper, "The Stomatopod Telson: Convergent Evolution in the Development of a Biological Shield," is published in Advanced Functional Materials. In addition to Kisailus and Zavattieri, authors include Nicholas Yaraghi, Adwait Trikanad, David Restrepo, Wei Huang, Steven Herrera, Jesus Rivera, Mikhail Zhernenkov, Dilworth Parkinson, and Roy Caldwell.
2018
Congratulations Morgan Dundon!
Morgan Dundon has been selected as a recipient of the highly‐competitive NSF‐GRF, or the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship! Of over 12,000 applicants in 2018, only 2,000 (or about 16%) are named recipients for this esteemed national award, with only 16 being from UCR! Morgan, a 1st-year PhD student in our lab, is focusing her research on heavy metal-hyperaccumulating plants for the development of biomimetic water purification membranes.
Read more about this award at NSF
"UCR Graduate Students Share Why Their Research Matters"
...[Jesus] Rivera shared with legislators his research on creating the next generation of lightweight, impact resistant materials for use in aerospace and automotive applications by looking to nature for inspiration. Specifically, Rivera is studying a beetle that can survive being run over by a car to create next-generation helmets, protective vests sand structural materials for electric automobiles and aircraft. Read more at UCR Today
Jesus Rivera [Left] at the Graduate Research Advocacy Day with Assemblymember Jose Medina
Jesus Rivera [Left] with UC President Janet Napolitano
"Car of the Future Made Affordable and Pollution-Free with New Hydrogen Fuel Cell"
Your future car that emits only water through its tail pipe just got a lot closer to becoming a reality. Scientists have discovered a cheaper metal can be used to spark the necessary reaction in hydrogen fuel cells‐and they still have the capability of functioning at a high performance level... Read more at Newsweek
"Making fuel cells for a fraction of the cost - New material creates fuel cell catalysts at a hundredth of the cost"
In a paper published today in Small, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, describe the development of an inexpensive, efficient catalyst material for a type of fuel cell called a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), which turns the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity and is among the most promising fuel cell types to power cars and electronics... Read more at ScienceDaily
"Researchers Develop a Cheaper Fuel Cell with Cobalt"
Fuel cells have the potential to be a clean and efficient way to run cars, computers and power stations. But the cost of producing them is limiting their use. This is because a key component of the most common fuel cells is a catalyst made from the precious metal platinum... Read more at Electronics360
"Making Fuel Cells for a Fraction of the Cost"
Fuel cells have the potential to be a clean and efficient way to run cars, computers, and power stations, but the cost of producing them is limiting their use. That's because a key component of the most common fuel cells is a catalyst made from the precious metal platinum... Read more at UCR Today
"How mantis shrimps pulverise their prey: Unique structure that wraps around the creature's club like 'a boxer's hand wraps' lets it smash its victims at 50mph"
In a new study, researchers at University of California, Riverside, investigated the structure of the creature's weapon. They found that the shrimp sports striations or fibres that wrap sideways around the full circumference of its club... Read more at DailyMail
"How the mantis shrimp uses a boxer's technique to protect itself"
The mantis shrimp is known as the ocean's heavy‐hitter. It has a hammer-like club that moves with the speed of a
.22 calibre bullet and strikes with the force of 1,500 newtons ‐ enough to smash the glass of an aquarium ‐ that pulverises its prey. Until now, scientists
have not known how the animal does this without injuring itself, but a new study shows that the hammer is bound with unique structure that protects it
rather in the way binding protects a boxer's hands...
Read more at Australia's Science Channel
"Mantis shrimp pack a punch fast enough to shatter shells"
A new study has investigated the structure of the shrimp's club, which the 10cm-long crustacean uses to batter prey at speeds of 20 metres per second or more. The paper, in the journal Advanced Materials, found that the club has a set of striations or fibres that wrap laterally around its full circumference. The shrimp protected its club, researchers wrote, "in much the same way that boxers wrap their..." Read more at The Times
"How Mantis Shrimp Punch So Hard Without Hurting Themselves"
Oftentimes, throwing a punch at something (or someone) ends up hurting the hand behind it more than anything else. Bruised skin, sore knuckles and even cracked wrists can result from an ill-fated punch, and that's just with human-level strength. Just imagine what it's like to be a mantis shrimp... Read more at Discover
"Mantis shrimps pack powerful punch thanks to ultra-strong hammers on limbs, finds study"
Mantis shrimps kill their prey by smashing them with hammer-like appendages known as dactyl clubs. These move at up
to 23 metres per second and accelerate faster than bullets, giving the creature one of the fastest blows in the animal kingdom...
Read more at Independent
"Mantis Shrimp Biomimicry: Stomatopod's Dactyl Club Could Inspire Aerospace Materials, Football Helmets"
A paper Tuesday in the journal Advanced Materials, led by David Kisailus of University of California, Riverside, discussed
one of the two interior regions of the dactyl club. Called the striated region, it is made up of a series of fibers that are highly aligned. These fibers
wrap around the club the moment it hits its target, so the club itself does not expand from the force of the impact...
Read more at International Business Times
"How mantis shrimp pack the meanest punch"
Smart boxers bind their hands with strips of cloth to avoid injury when they pack a punch. Millions of years ago, the "smasher" mantis shrimp, one of nature's feistiest predators, figured out a similar way to protect the hammer-like club it uses to pulverize prey with incredible speed and force... Read more at NSF and UCR Today
2017
Mantis shrimp and plant research featured on Fox's
"Xploration Nature Knows Best"
Professor David Kisailus and graduate students Nick Yaraghi and Ramya Mohan were featured on two episodes of Fox's Xploration Nature Knows Best." David, Nick, and Ramya discuss how the mantis shrimp and a pyrophytic plant species can inspire next generation impact-resistant & fire-resistant composite materials. View series
Congratulations Morgan Dundon!
Morgan Dundon, a first-year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside received the UCR Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship.
Congratulations Sarah McElligott!
Sarah McElligott, a third-year undergraduate student with the Chemical & Environmental Engineering Department, working in the Kisailus Biomimetic and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside received the UCR Chancellor's Research Fellowship.
Congratulations Thomas Dugger!
Thomas Dugger, a second year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside has received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.
2016
Congratulations Ramya Mohan!
Ramya Mohan, a first-year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside received the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Graduate Research Fellowship.
"Researchers Developing Super–Strong Materials Thanks to a 3D Printer and the Mantis Shrimp"
The rainbow–colored mantis shrimp is gorgeous to look at – to humans, anyway. To its fellow crustaceans, it’s a purple–eyed horror. The mantis shrimp is a brutal killer that dispatches its prey by beating it to death with a fist–like appendage that can hammer out blows at speeds of 10,000g – the velocity of a .22 caliber bullet. It may be a crab’s worst nightmare, but that appendage, called a dactyl club, is currently of great interest to researchers at Purdue University and the University of California, Riverside... read article
"The Secret of the Glass–Cracking Mantis Shrimp"
Mantis shrimp may reach only about 6 inches in length, but they pack quite a punch with their "clubs," appendages they slam down on prey with incredible velocity and power. These clubs reach speeds equivalent to that of a bullet fired from a gun, and their strike can break aquarium glass and split open human thumbs. This movement also creates an imploding underwater air bubble that, ever so briefly, reaches a temperature greater than the surface of the sun... read article
"Tiny Shrimp’s Powerful Punch Inspires a New Kind of Human Helmet"
Mantis shrimp pack a famously big punch. The same engineering that keeps their hammer–like claws intact could shape a new generation of human body armor.
The mantis shrimp has gained notoriety in recent years after being featured on popular internet sites such as YouTube or the webcomic, "The Oatmeal." This week, however, scientists have released a study that suggests the mantis shrimp may soon become better known for the body armor – including a helmet – it inspires... read article
"Scientists Crack Mystery of Shrimp Packing Such a Punch it can Split Your Thumb"
In tropical shallows the world over, a peculiar sort of creature scurries along the sea floor, unassuming except for the fact that it sports one of the most powerful biological appendages known to science – its spring–loaded claws. The mantis shrimp, which typically grows no more than 6 inches in length, is an aggressive, burrowing crustacean that looks a bit like a crayfish dipped in neon spray paint. Fishermen call the animals "thumb–splitters" – at least one man has had a finger amputated after a mantis shrimp strike – and a blow from the crustacean’s truncheon can crack a pane of stock aquarium glass... read article
"Ultra–strong 3D printed material inspired by natural herringbone pattern on mantis shrimp"
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Purdue University have used the mantis shrimp as inspiration for a new 3D printed material. The crustacean's club–like appendage, used to beat prey, consists of an unusual herringbone pattern, which the researchers synthetically replicated.
When looking for ways to strengthen a material, nature often provides the best answers. Airbus recently found that they could copy cell and bone structures to make a 3D printed airplane cabin partition, while researchers at Purdue University last year had a "Eureka!" moment with honeycombs, whose patterns were mimicked to make a super–strong 3D printed material for football helmets... read article
"Mantis Shrimp Inspires Next Generation of Ultra–Strong Materials"
Newly discovered structural motif is key to tougher, more impact resistant composite materials for aerospace, automotive and armor applications.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) – The next generation of airplanes, body armor and football helmets crawled out from under a rock–literally... read article
"The Mighty Claw of the Mantis Shrimp Inspires Next–Gen Helmets and Body Armor"
The powerful, hammer–like rounded claws of the mantis shrimp are incredibly strong, making them ideal for cracking open the hard shells of clams and crabs (its favored prey), and for warding off predators. Now those claws are also inspiring scientists keen on building super–strong materials to make tougher body armor and football helmets... read article
"Mantis Shrimp Inspires Next Generation of Ultra-Strong Materials"
The next generation of airplanes, body armor and football helmets crawled out from under a rock—literally.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Purdue University are one step closer to developing super strong composite materials, thanks to the mantis shrimp, a small, multicolored marine crustacean that crushes the shells of its prey using a fist–like appendage called a dactyl club... read article
"Bionic: Mantis Shrimp Inspires Next Generation of Ultra–Strong Materials"
Newly discovered structural motif is key to tougher, more impact resistant composite materials for aerospace, automotive and armor applications.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Purdue University are one step closer to developing super strong composite materials, thanks to the mantis shrimp, a small, multicolored marine crustacean that crushes the shells of its prey using a fist–like appendage called a dactyl club... read article
Past News
Congratulations Steven Herrera!
Steven Herrera who is a second year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside just received the California Space Grant Consortium (CaSGC) Graduate Research Fellow for 2015!
Congratulations Nick Yaraghi!
Nick Yaraghi who is a second year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside has won the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship for 2015! He also has received an Honorable Mention for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Convergent Evolution to Engineering: Multiscale Structures and Mechanics in Damage Tolerant Functional Bio–composite and Biomimetic Materials
Professor David Kisailus and a team of researchers from several universities across the country received a $7.5 million from the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Program (MURI) to study design structures of several organisms and develop tough materials based on those structures.
This MURI program is designed to uncover fundamental design rules and develop simple and basic scientific foundations for the predictable design of bio–inspired materials that are lightweight, tough and strong. An integrated team of materials scientists, biologists, and engineers will elucidate hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary changes in plant and animal species to understand structures and physical mechanisms that underpin the micro– and nanomechanics of tough, strong structures. We will incorporate comparative analyses of multiscale structures to pinpoint which design principles are evolutionarily unique solutions and which have arisen convergently; when more than one evolutionary path arrives at the same solution, we have a good indication that it is the best solution. We will also extend these structural themes to incorporate multifunctionality, for example, sensory and self–healing elements. In addition, we look to take small–scale mimicry and extend it to large scale processing. Through this process, we will derive new experimental characterization, modeling and biomimetic toolkits, which will be useful for other programs within the DOD and beyond.
The overall objectives of the program are to: Understand the effect of material components (organic, inorganic and porosity) on composites properties (density, stiffness and toughness). Uncover the effect of gradients and interfacial components on mechanical properties. Reveal the effect of length scale on mechanical properties. Orchestrate commonalities between design features within varied classes of organisms.
For more information about this project please go to: www.muri.ucr.edu
For more information about the MURI research program please go to: http://www.onr.navy.mil/Science-Technology/Directorates/office-research-discovery-invention/Sponsored-Research/University-Research-Initiatives/MURI.aspx
Using Snail Teeth to Improve Solar Cells and Batteries
2012 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) World Young Persons’ Lecture Competition
Brian Weden, a fourth year MS&E undergraduate student, working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside, won the "2012 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) World Young Persons’ Lecture Competition" this week (July 3) in London! Of the 8 world finalists,7 were graduate students and only one undergraduate, Brian. Brian, who has been a researcher in the Kisailus lab for the past 3 years under the tutelage of Dr. Qianqian Wang, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the Kisailus Lab, has worked very hard and is well deserving of this award. Congratulations Brian!
Congratulations Dr. Wang!
Qianqian Wang, a fifth year Chemical and Environmental Engineering graduate student, working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside, has successfully defended her dissertation entitled: "High Performance Abrasion–Resistant Materials: Lessons from Nature."
Congratulations John Johnson!
Steven Herrera who is a second year graduate student working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside just received the California Space Grant Consortium (CaSGC) Graduate Research Fellow for 2015!
Congratulations Dr. Milliron!
Garrett Milliron, a fifth year Chemical and Environmental Engineering graduate student, working in the Kisailus Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab at UC Riverside, has successfully defended his dissertation entitled: "Lightweight Impact–Resistant Composite Materials: Lessons from Mantis Shrimp."
The Stomatopod Dactyl Club: A Formidable Damage–Tolerant Biological Hammer
Congratulations to members of the Kisailus lab for publishing in the June 8 edition of Science, "Lightweight Impact–Resistant Composite Materials: Lessons from Mantis Shrimp" Kisailus and James C. Weaver, who worked with Kisailus as a post–doctoral scholar and is now at Harvard University, began work on the mantis shrimp when Kisailus arrived at UC Riverside in 2007. They were later joined at UC Riverside by Garrett W. Milliron, a Ph.D. student, and Steven Herrera, an undergraduate student. Kisailus and Pablo Zavattieri, of Purdue University, one of the co–authors of Science paper, just received additional $590,000 in funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to continue work on the stomatopod. They want to further understand the structure of club and continue work designing materials inspired by that structure. Additionally, this work has received an enormous amount of press coverage including articles in the New York Times and Chemical and Engineering News
Living the Promise
GRMP 2012 AWARD
Congratulations to Chris Salinas, who recently received the 2012–2013 Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship! Chris is currently producing hard and tough biomimetic composites as well as investigating structure–function relationships in an ultrahard, bioluminescent snail.