Biology of Fibrous Composites: Development beyond the Cell Membrane

This book tackles a major unsolved problem in developmental biology--how does chemistry create architecture outside cells? The underlying hypothesis of this book is that the fibers are orientated by self-assembly just outside the cells during a mobile liquid crystalline phase prior to stabilization; the author demonstrates that the commonest orientations of the fibers are plywood laminates (orthogonal and helicoidal), and as parallel fibers. Finally, he shows that these may be imitated in t...