Chitons are constantly scraping their teeth on rocks to eat the algae off of them, but that means their teeth need to be pretty tough. And it turns out one species’s teeth are the hardest, stiffest biominerals in any living thing we’ve seen!
Hosted by: Hank Green
SciShow is on TikTok! Check us out at https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow
———-
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
———-
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Bryan Cloer, Chris Peters, Matt Curls, Kevin Bealer, Jeffrey Mckishen, Jacob, Christopher R Boucher, Nazara, charles george, Christoph Schwanke, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Adam Brainard, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, James Knight, GrowingViolet, Sam Lutfi, Alisa Sherbow, Jason A Saslow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Melida Williams, Tom Mosner
———-
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: http://www.scishowtangents.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
———-
Sources:
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/23/e2020160118
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37839-2
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/05/rare-mineral-from-rocks-found-in-chiton-teeth/
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2019/01/31/magnetic-teeth-hold-promise-materials-and-energy
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2014.959574
https://www.materialstoday.com/biomaterials/articles/s136970211070016x/
Images:
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/gumboot-chiton-gm183967843-27618844
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37839-2
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santabarbaraite-270526.jpg
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Chiton-teeth-and-their-formation-A-Light-micrograph-of-the-radula-of-the-chiton_fig19_342396092
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/gumboot-chiton-gm467679603-34055468