For centuries, researchers have puzzled over how oysters grow stunningly symmetrical, perfectly round pearls around irregularly shaped grains of sand or bits of debris. Now a team has shown that ...

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is a biomineral that forms inside of molluskan shells and also makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is formed through a blend of minerals that are secreted by ...

Mollusks build shells to protect their soft tissues from predators. Nacre, also known as the mother of pearl, has an intricate, highly regular structure that makes it an incredibly strong material.

How nacre, or mother-of-pearl, is first deposited by the animals that make it has eluded discovery despite decades of scientific inquiry. Now, a team of scientists reports the first direct ...

The iridescent beauty of pearl and nacre, the material found inside the shells of some molluscs, appears to be due to two recently discovered proteins, say Japanese researchers. The discovery could ...

The iridescent beauty of pearl and nacre, the material found inside the shells of clams, oysters and other mollusks, would likely be impossible without two new proteins recently discovered by Japanese ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) The remarkable properties of some natural materials have motivated many researchers to synthesize biomimetic nanocomposites that attempt to reproduce Nature’s achievements and to ...

(Nanowerk News) Mother-of-pearl, also known as nacre, is an incredibly strong biomaterial forming the shell of some mollusks. Its strength and beauty comes from its remarkably regular and uniform ...

Researchers describe, how structural defects in self-assembling nacre attract and cancel each other out, eventually leading to a perfect periodic structure. Mollusks build shells to protect their soft ...

The strength and beauty of mother-of-pearl, also known as nacre, comes from its remarkably regular and uniform architecture. Until now, it was unclear how this intricate structure could be built by a ...