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Universality–diversity Paradigm
The universality–diversity paradigm (UDP) is the analysis of biological materials based on the universality and diversity of its fundamental structural elements and functional mechanisms. The analysis of biological systems based on this classification has been a cornerstone of modern biology. Example: proteins For example, proteins constitute the elementary building blocks of a vast variety of biological materials such as cells, spider silk or bone, where they create extremely robust, multi-functional materials by self-organization of structures over many length- and time scales, from nano to macro. Some of the structural features are commonly found in many different tissues, that is, they are highly conserved. Examples of such universal building blocks include alpha-helices, beta-sheets or tropocollagen molecules. In contrast, other features are highly specific to tissue types, such as particular filament assemblies, beta-sheet nanocrystals in spider silk or tendon fascic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biogenic Substance
A biogenic substance is a product made by or of life forms. While the term originally was specific to metabolite compounds that had toxic effects on other organisms, it has developed to encompass any constituents, secretions, and metabolites of plants or animals. In context of molecular biology, biogenic substances are referred to as biomolecules. They are generally isolated and measured through the use of chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques. Additionally, the transformation and exchange of biogenic substances can by modelled in the environment, particularly their transport in waterways. The observation and measurement of biogenic substances is notably important in the fields of geology and biochemistry. A large proportion of isoprenoids and fatty acids in geological sediments are derived from plants and chlorophyll, and can be found in samples extending back to the Precambrian. These biogenic substances are capable of withstanding the diagenesis process in sediment, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropocollagen
Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix of the connective tissues of many animals. It is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up 25% to 35% of protein content. Amino acids are bound together to form a triple helix of elongated fibril known as a collagen helix. It is mostly found in cartilage, bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin. Vitamin C is vital for collagen synthesis. Depending on the degree of mineralization, collagen tissues may be rigid (bone) or compliant (tendon) or have a gradient from rigid to compliant (cartilage). Collagen is also abundant in corneas, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs, and the dentin in teeth. In muscle tissue, it serves as a major component of the endomysium. Collagen constitutes 1% to 2% of muscle tissue and 6% by weight of skeletal muscle. The fibroblast is the most common cell creating collagen in animals. Gelatin, which is used in food and industry, is collagen that was irreversibly hydrolyzed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Materials Science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials science stem from the Age of Enlightenment, when researchers began to use analytical thinking from chemistry, physics, and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy. Materials science still incorporates elements of physics, chemistry, and engineering. As such, the field was long considered by academic institutions as a sub-field of these related fields. Beginning in the 1940s, materials science began to be more widely recognized as a specific and distinct field of science and engineering, and major technical universities around the world created dedicated schools for its study. Materials scientists emphasize understanding how the history of a material (''processing'') influences its struc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and distribution of life. Central to biology are five fundamental themes: the cell (biology), cell as the basic unit of life, genes and heredity as the basis of inheritance, evolution as the driver of biological diversity, energy transformation for sustaining life processes, and the maintenance of internal stability (homeostasis). Biology examines life across multiple biological organisation, levels of organization, from molecules and cells to organisms, populations, and ecosystems. Subdisciplines include molecular biology, physiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and systematics, among others. Each of these fields applies a range of methods to investigate biological phenomena, including scientific method, observation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and morphology. The results are a phylogenetic tree—a diagram depicting the hypothetical relationships among the organisms, reflecting their inferred evolutionary history. The tips of a phylogenetic tree represent the observed entities, which can be living taxa or fossils. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the taxa represented on the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about directionality of character state transformation, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in question. In addition to their use for inferring phylogenetic pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing properties of matter. This definition of nanotechnology includes all types of research and technologies that deal with these special properties. It is common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as "nanoscale technologies" to refer to research and applications whose common trait is scale. An earlier understanding of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabricating macroscale products, now referred to as molecular nanotechnology. Nanotechnology defined by scale includes fields of science such as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, energy storage, engineering, microfabrication, and molecular engineering. The associated rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Materiomics
Materiomics is the holistic study of material systems. Materiomics examines links between physicochemical material properties and material characteristics and function. The focus of materiomics is system functionality and behavior, rather than a piecewise collection of properties, a paradigm similar to systems biology. While typically applied to complex biological systems and biomaterials, materiomics is equally applicable to non-biological systems. Materiomics investigates the material properties of natural and synthetic materials by examining fundamental links between processes, structures and properties at multiple scales, from nano to macro, by using systematic experimental, theoretical or computational methods. The term has been independently proposed with slightly different definitions in 2004 by T. Akita et al. (AIST/Japan), in 2008 by Markus J. Buehler (MIT/USA), and Clemens van Blitterswijk, Jan de Boer and Hemant Unadkat (University of Twente/The Netherlands) in analogy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bionics
Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1958, is a portmanteau from biology and electronics which was popularized by the 1970s U.S. television series ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' and ''The Bionic Woman'', both based on the novel ''Cyborg (novel), Cyborg'' by Martin Caidin. All three stories feature humans given various superhuman powers by their electromechanical implants. According to proponents of bionic technology, the technology transfer, transfer of technology between lifeforms and manufactured objects is desirable because evolutionary pressure typically forces living organisms—fauna and flora—to become optimized and efficient. For example, dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) was inspired by the hydrophobic properties of the Nelumbo, lotus flower plant (the lotus e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Material Development
A material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geological origin or biological function. Materials science is the study of materials, their properties and their applications. Raw materials can be processed in different ways to influence their properties, by purification, shaping or the introduction of other materials. New materials can be produced from raw materials by synthesis. In industry, materials are inputs to manufacturing processes to produce products or more complex materials, and the nature and quantity of materials used may form part of the calculation for the cost of a product or delivery under contract, such as where contract costs are calculated on a " time and materials" basis. Historical elements Materials chart the history of humanity. The system of the three prehistoric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomimetic
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms "biomimetics" and "biomimicry" are derived from (''bios''), life, and μίμησις ('' mīmēsis''), imitation, from μιμεῖσθαι (''mīmeisthai''), to imitate, from μῖμος (''mimos''), actor. A closely related field is bionics. Nature has gone through evolution over the 3.8 billion years since life is estimated to have appeared on the Earth. It has evolved species with high performance using commonly found materials. Surfaces of solids interact with other surfaces and the environment and derive the properties of materials. Biological materials are highly organized from the molecular to the nano-, micro-, and macroscales, often in a hierarchical manner with intricate nanoarchitecture that ultimately makes up a myriad of different functional elements. Properties of materials and surfaces result from a complex interpla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Materiomics
Materiomics is the holistic study of material systems. Materiomics examines links between physicochemical material properties and material characteristics and function. The focus of materiomics is system functionality and behavior, rather than a piecewise collection of properties, a paradigm similar to systems biology. While typically applied to complex biological systems and biomaterials, materiomics is equally applicable to non-biological systems. Materiomics investigates the material properties of natural and synthetic materials by examining fundamental links between processes, structures and properties at multiple scales, from nano to macro, by using systematic experimental, theoretical or computational methods. The term has been independently proposed with slightly different definitions in 2004 by T. Akita et al. (AIST/Japan), in 2008 by Markus J. Buehler (MIT/USA), and Clemens van Blitterswijk, Jan de Boer and Hemant Unadkat (University of Twente/The Netherlands) in analogy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tension (physics), tension. Tendons, like ligaments, are made of collagen. The difference is that ligaments connect bone to bone, while tendons connect muscle to bone. There are about 4,000 tendons in the adult human body. Structure A tendon is made of dense regular connective tissue, whose main cellular components are special fibroblasts called tendon cells (tenocytes). Tendon cells synthesize the tendon's extracellular matrix, which abounds with densely-packed collagen fibers. The collagen fibers run parallel to each other and are grouped into fascicles. Each fascicle is bound by an endotendineum, which is a delicate loose connective tissue containing thin collagen fibrils and elastic fibers. A set of fascicles is bound by an epitenon, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
