Nature Materials is a multidisciplinary journal aimed at bringing together cutting-edge research across the entire spectrum of materials science and technology. Nature Materials covers all applied ...

This article was originally published with the title “ The Nature of Polymeric Materials ” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 217 No. 3 (September 1967), p. 148 doi:10.1038 ...

Arranged in three parts, it begins with a review of the mechanical properties of nature's building blocks (structural proteins, polysaccharides and minerals) and the mechanics of cellular materials.

While this knowledge was never truly lost, the techniques associated with these materials have long remained in the background. Today, they are making a resurgence, adapting to modern challenges ...