This is abalone.

The abalone shell here.

It's an abalone shell.

Now, going back to the abalone shell, the abalone makes this shell by having these proteins.

Very specialized material that the abalone self assembles, millions of abalone, all the time, every day, every year.

Very specialized material that the abalone self assembles, millions of abalone, all the time, every day, every year.

I brought along with me an abalone shell.

Now, millions of abalone every year make this shell.

Off the coast of California comes this It's an abalone shell.

One order of abalone porridge. And one order of pumpkin porridge.

And a lot of people might use structures like abalone shells,

I would like abalone porridge, with grilled green tea mountain roots.

Instead of the abalone porridge, I would like the chicken breast.

And a lot of people might use structures like abalone shells, like chalk.

And so, going back to this abalone shell, besides being nanostructured, one thing that's fascinating is, when a male and female abalone get together, they pass on the genetic information that says,

It took them about 50 million years to learn how to perfect how to make that abalone shell.

Abalone is a shellfish, the meat of which is considered a delicacy in certain parts of the world.

I heard he's interested in this business. Abalone, sir. There's talk that he started dealings with Southeast Asia.

And so, going back to this abalone shell, besides being nano structured, one thing that's fascinating, is when a male and a female abalone get together, they pass on the genetic information that says, This is how to build an exquisite material.

The abalone shell here and if you fracture it, you can look at the fact that it's nano structured.

This abalone shell is a biocomposite material that's 98 percent by mass calcium carbonate and two percent by mass protein.

Because the lowly abalone is able to lay down the calcium carbonate crystals in layers, making this beautiful, iridescent mother of pearl.

And why? Because the lowly abalone is able to lay down the calcium carbonate crystals in layers, making this beautiful, iridescent mother of pearl.

Nature didn't need to because, unlike the abalone shell, the survival of a species didn't depend on building those materials, until maybe now when it might just matter.

Nature didn't need to because, unlike the abalone shell, the survival of a species didn't depend on building those materials, until maybe now when it might just matter.

So for instance, you could develop super efficient roof structures based on giant Amazon water lilies, whole buildings inspired by abalone shells, super lightweight bridges inspired by plant cells.

So for instance, you could develop super efficient roof structures based on giant Amazon water lilies, whole buildings inspired by abalone shells, super lightweight bridges inspired by plant cells.

A recent publication, for example, explored the nature of the illicit market in Australian abalone, describing stages in the market from poaching, through processing and selling to the end consumer.

What if they had some of the same capabilities that an abalone shell did, in terms of being able to build really exquisite structures at room temperature and room pressure, using non toxic chemicals and adding no toxic materials back into the environment?

What if they had some of the same capabilities that an abalone shell did, in terms of being able to build really exquisite structures at room temperature and room pressure, using nontoxic chemicals and adding no toxic materials back into the environment?

So basically what I didn't tell you is that about 500 million years ago, the organisms started making materials, but it took them about 50 million years to get good at it 50 million years to learn how to perfect how to make that abalone shell.

Inspired by an abalone shell, Angela Belcher programs viruses to make elegant nanoscale structures that humans can use. Selecting for high performing genes through directed evolution, she's produced viruses that can construct powerful new batteries, clean hydrogen fuels and record breaking solar cells. At TEDxCaltech, she shows us how it's done.

So an interesting idea is, what if you could take any material you wanted, or any element on the periodic table, and find its corresponding DNA sequence, then code it for a corresponding protein sequence to build a structure, but not build an abalone shell build something that nature has never had the opportunity to work with yet.