A new synthetic material similar in structure to nacre – mother of pearl – is likely the toughest ceramic-based material ever made, according to US researchers. The low-density, high-strength ...

Now, though, inspired by nature, researchers are making a ceramic that mimics mother of pearl—and is ten times stronger than normal ceramics. The material, developed by researchers from the ...

Although you may know it simply as the shiny iridescent stuff on the inside of mollusk shells, mother-of-pearl (or nacre) is a remarkable material.It allows those shells, which otherwise consist ...

The stacked arrangement of nacre makes it incredibly strong, because cracks cannot travel in a straight line through the material. For the science geek in everyone, Live Science offers a ...