The diabolical ironclad beetle … can withstand 39,000 times its own body weight, comparable to the force of being run over by a car on a dirt road. So what’s the secret to their superstrength? A collection of jigsaw-like joints and exoskeleton-adjacent support structures, an exoskeleton composed of three layered cuticles, and helically arranged proteins that together give the bugs multilayered protection, according to new work by David Kisailus at the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues …. Read More