How Studying the Exoskeleton Can Help Society

Making stronger materials that are stiff but ductile makes buildings able to withstand a wide variety of natural disasters. An Earthquake rumble makes for a difficult situation for the structure that is under stress and likely to fall due to the inability of the structure to flex and hold its strength. This is the crux of civil engineering and the biggest riddle to solve. Diabolical ironclad beetles have been shown to hold at least 39,000 times their body weight (Kisailus 2020). This comes from the overlapping of the exoskeleton that creates many layers with still being flexible because of the multiple layers allows for the flexibility as shown in the picture below. Concrete is detrimental to the environment with the dust and waste that is created to create an artificial strength mixed with steel to construct massive buildings. If a new building material could replace concrete, it would have to provide the same strength and create less waste in the production process. The diabolical ironclad beetle has the strength and flexibility to withstand a car and a beetle is very impressive. Using studies based on the beetle helps civil engineers know the direction to innovate and test building materials suitable for any situation. The issue with taking designs from a beetle is that buildings, houses, and skyscrapers are built much differently in look and size than beetles. Current building materials have been tested and proven to withstand most disasters.