The convergent design evolution of multiscale biomineralized structures in extinct and extant organisms

Abstract

Evolution has generated a sophisticated convergence of material components, ultrastructural designs, and fabrication processes in response to similar selective pressures across a diverse array of extinct and extant species. This review explores three key convergent design strategies: struts for lightweight structures with load-bearing efficiency, sutures for increased flexibility and stress management, and helicoids for impact resistance and fracture toughness. Through this examination, the review sheds light on how evolution can inspire innovative engineering approaches and technologies through the adoption of aspects of natural design. We foresee natural evolutive processes of construction as the informative harbingers of new, advanced, ecologically aware, and energy-efficient modes of human fabrication. The evolutionary process has created natural systems with structures that impart high mechanical performance, providing guidance for biomimetics. Here, the role played by three convergent design strategies – struts, sutures and helicoids – is discussed, spanning their occurrence in nature through to applications.