In developing novel materials, Mother Nature gave us enormous inspiration with its already existing highly organized structures varying from macro to nanoand molecular scales. Biological hard tissues are the examples of composite hybrid materials having both inorganic and organic phases that exhibit excellent physical properties, all based on their evolved architectural design. Biocomposites in...

Hagfishes thwart attacks by fish predators by producing liters of defensive slime. The slime is produced when slime gland exudate is released into the predator's mouth, where it deploys in a fraction of a second and clogs the gills. Slime exudate is composed mainly of secretory products from two cell types, gland mucous cells and gland thread cells, which produce the mucous and fibrous componen...