Jeremy Shere

When I was a kid, one of the coolest posters I had in my room was of a sperm whale locked in a death struggle with a giant squid. (Yes, I was a nerdy kid.) And always wondered who came out ahead. the whale had size, obviously, and strength. And teeth, I guess. But the squid had those long, snaking tentacles wrapped around the whale’s massive body. And while the squid had not teeth per se, it did have a pointy beak.

Now, what I didn’t know then is that a squid’s beak is an awesome weapon. It’s one of the hardest and stiffest organic materials known and is supposedly strong enough to bite through steel cable.

But here’s the thing. If you’ve ever seen a squid up close, or even just seen a picture of one or on TV, you know that a squid’s body is kind of gelatinous. Squid’s have no bones. So scientists have been puzzled by how such a squishy creature can operate such a sharp, hard beak without cutting itself to ribbons.

Last week, scientists as UC Santa Barbara uncovered the squid’s secret. Turns out that a squid beak is super-hard at the pointed tip but then gradually becomes softer and more flexible toward the base, where it meshed seamlessly into the squid’s pliant, rubbery tissue.

This is fascinating in its own right. And what fascinates materials scientists and engineers even more is what the composition of a squid’s beak may teach us about how to create materials that are both stiff and flexible, extremely hard at one extreme and relatively more soft at the other. Squid beaks could serve as a model for joining different materials together–like metal and plastic–and for creating new types of medical implants and artificial limbs.

Giant squids are elusive creatures. Scientists know very little about their behavior in the wild and none have been captured alive. Last year, scientists finally got a picture of a giant squid in the wild. Most of what we know about giant squids comes from dead specimens that wash up on shore. But now at least we know something more about their beaks.

Check out this very cool squid documentary:
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Source: Time Magazine