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Scientists discover how mother-of-pearl self-assembles into a perfect structure – Science Daily
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 tissues from predators. Nacre, also known as the mother of pearl, has an intricate, highly regular structure that makes it an incredibly strong material. Depending on the species, nacres can reach tens of centimeters in length. No matter the size, each nacre is built from materials deposited by a multitude of single cells at multiple different locations at the same time. How exactly this highly periodic and uniform structure emerges from the initial disorder…
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