Lobster skin could make car tyres, according to Science (AAAS) News 19 February 2019 and Acta Biomaterialia 31 January 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.067.
Lobsters have a hard exoskeleton over their backs, legs and sides, but they have a soft flexible membrane covering the undersides of their tails and around their joints that enables them to move with speed and agility.
A group of scientists have studied the membrane of a lobster named Homarus americanus, and found it consists of a natural hydrogel combined with multiple layers of chitin fibres, with the fibres in each layer oriented at different angles to the adjacent layers. This composite structure is soft and pliable, and when stretched is extremely tough and resistant to cracking.
The researchers wrote: “We demonstrate that the unique multilayered structure in this membrane, achieved through the ordered arrangement of chitin fibres, plays a crucial role in dissipating energy during rupture and making this membrane tough and damage tolerant.”
The material is so tough and resilient it could be used to make car tyres, hoses or conveyer belts, but the researchers have more exotic high-tech ambitions for it. They wrote: “The knowledge learned from the soft membrane of natural lobsters sheds light on designing synthetic soft, yet strong and tough materials for reliable usage under extreme mechanical conditions, including a flexible armour that can provide full-body protection without sacrificing limb mobility.”
Editorial Comment: Note, it is the organisation of the components in the lobster skin and not just the substances themselves that give lobster skin its superior properties. Organisation always requires plan and purpose, and is only the result of creative design, not just the chemistry.
Once again, intelligent scientists using highly technical equipment have uncovered clear evidence for design, but will they admit it? Maybe not verbally, but by “designing synthetic soft, yet strong and tough materials” they will be admitting it by their actions. Therefore, they should give praise and honour to the Creator who ‘invented’ lobster skin, and who will hold any of us (including scientists and engineers) accountable for not recognising His handiwork when we use the minds God gave us.
Evidence News vol. 19, No. 3
13 March 2019
Creation Research Australia
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