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#royalsociety — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #royalsociety, aggregated by home.social.

  1. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: Asa Barber’s team at the University of #Portsmouth found that common #limpet #teeth are five times stronger than #spider #silk, making them the strongest known natural material.

    Their goethite nanofiber #protein composite can withstand pressures comparable to turning #carbon into #diamond and could inspire synthetic materials.

    👉 smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/

    #snails #science #biomimicry #nature #spiders #nanotechnology #goethite #biology #engineering #royalsociety #animals #wildlife #mollusks

  2. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🛩️🪰 Male #dragonflies engage in aerial dogfights to defend territory, using simple visual rules like fighter pilots.

    Researchers in the #UK used stereoscopic cameras to reconstruct 3D flight paths of the scarlet Trithemis aurora dragonfly. The #insects pull up to 6 Gs and compete for tail chase positioning rather than intercepting like they do with prey.

    👉 arstechnica.com/science/2026/0

    #flight #biomechanics #animals #science #nature #biomimicry #drones #research #royalsociety #arthropods

  3. Update. In a new open letter, UCambridge prof #RachelOliver criticizes #PaulNurse, president of the #RoyalSociety, for proposing to change the society's code of conduct so that Fellows (like #ElonMusk and #TimHunt) could only be expelled for scientific misconduct, and not (e.g.) for sexual misconduct.
    drive.google.com/file/d/18poQr

  4. Over 30,000 archival items associated with scientific papers presented to the #RoyalSociety (London) are now available on the new 'Science in the Making' archive, covering 1665-1949.
    makingscience.royalsociety.org

    Includes original manuscripts submitted to the RS; correspondence; lots of #images (many never published, and in colour); and >14,000 #peerreview reports.

    Essential browsing for historians of science, and not just science. (Search '#mozart'!)

    #histodons #histsci #bookhistodons #openaccess