The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory has facilitated tens of thousands of experiments across nearly every conceivable area of scientific research since it first saw light more than two decades ago.
But it wasn’t until earlier this year that the storied facility was used to study shark vertebrae in an experiment that one Northwestern University researcher hopes will shed light on the functionality of human bone and cartilage. Shark spines constantly flex when they swim, said Stuart R. Stock, a materials scientist and faculty member of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Yet they remain surprisingly resilient throughout the fish’s lifetime, he said.
Human bones, however, cannot endure the same kind of bending and become more fragile as people age. Stock is using the APS to better understand shark vertebrae’s formation and strength. He wants to know how the animal’s tissue develops and how it functions when the animal swims.
>Read more on the APS at Argonne National Laboratory website