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Crack open an oyster shell and the inner face shimmers in a rainbow of kaleidoscopic colors. This smooth material, known as mother-of-pearl, is beautiful and resilient – so resilient that it has inspired the creation of virtually shatterproof glass.

“Our bioinspired glass is 2-3 times more impact resistant than laminated glass and tempered glass — the ‘standards’ for impact-resistant transparent materials,” says McGill University engineer Francois Barthelat