Latest David Kisailus Stories

[ Watch the Video: Using Snail Teeth to Improve Solar Cells and Batteries ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new study led by the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering is using the teeth of a coastal California marine snail to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials in an effort to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries. Published in the recent issue of Advanced Functional Materials, assistant professor of...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Engineers at the University of California, Riverside are looking to nature for inspiration in creating stronger vehicle frames and body armor. They may have found a key structure in the club-like claw of the sea floor-dwelling mantis shrimp, according to a report published online this week in the journal Science. The 4-inch crustacean, also known as a stomatopod, uses its claw with the deadly speed of a 22-caliber bullet to crack open everything from crab...