Mother-of-pearl -- Classic beauty and remarkable strength

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Pupa Gilbert a professor of physics holds an abalone shell. Gilbert and her colleagues are studying how the microscale architecture of mother-of-pearl the iridescent material that lines abalone shells makes it 3000 times more fracture-resistant than ...
Pupa Gilbert, a professor of physics, holds an abalone shell. Gilbert and her colleagues are studying how the microscale architecture of mother-of-pearl, the iridescent material that lines abalone shells, makes it 3,000 times more fracture-resistant than its mineral building blocks. Photo: Jeff Miller

While the shiny material of pearls and abalone shells has long been prized for its iridescence and aesthetic value in jewelry and decorations, scientists admire mother-of-pearl for other physical properties as well.


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Fast quantum computer building block created

Aug 20, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- The fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit has been demonstrated by researchers at University of Michigan, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and ...

Large Hadron Collider set to unveil a new world of particle physics

Aug 19, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- The field of particle physics is poised to enter unknown territory with the startup of a massive new accelerator--the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)--in Europe this summer. On September 10, LHC ...

Chemist Travels World to Study Mysterious Properties of Neutrinos

Aug 19, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In the quest to better understand one of nature's most "ghostly" elementary particles — the neutrino — scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are spreading their expertise from ...

Scientists Move Optical Computing Closer to Reality

Aug 19, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have theorized a way to increase the speed of pulses of light that bound across chains of tiny metal particles to well past the speed of light by altering the ...

Olympic Swimmers Shattering Records in NASA-Tested Suit

Aug 18, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Swimmers from around the world are setting world and Olympic records in Beijing this month and most are doing it wearing a swimsuit made of fabric tested at NASA.
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