Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Ling Li is studying the knobby sea star to discover the key to creating strong, lightweight materials. The sea star has a internal lattice structure which is highly organized, which is different from previous model organisms. This porous lattice structure helps make the sea star lightweight but still impact resistant. The researchers also found ossicles that connected bone to soft tissue, which allowed for flexibility in the structure. In addition, the thickening of certain regions of the skeleton and slight modifications to the lattice structure contributed to increased strength.

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