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"Usually if you bend a ceramic by 1 percent, it will shatter," Schuh says. But these tiny filaments, with a diameter of just 1 micrometer - one millionth of a meter - can be bent by 7 to 8 percent repeatedly without any cracking, he says. Application areas would be microactuation as the ceramics can sustain the largest forces. Drug release?

this is very interesting - we should speak to some colleagues here about it, e.g. in the melissa project ....

additional information: http://atelierdna.com/?p=144

isn't this a bit of a contradiction: on the one hand: "Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area" and on the other: "After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor's diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. " still, very interesting concept!

The secrets behind a marine creature's defensive armor -- one that is exceptionally tough, yet optically clear -- have been revealed by scientists. The shells' unique properties emerge from a specialized nanostructure that allows optical clarity, as well as efficient energy dissipation and the ability to localize deformation, the researchers found.

With the aid of short infrared laser pulses, researchers have succeeded for the first time in making a ceramic superconducting at room temperature - albeit for only a few millionths of a microsecond.