Editorial:Mechanics of biological and bio-inspired materials

The field of mechanics of biological and bio-inspired materials underwent an exciting development over the past several years,which made it stand at the cutting edge of both engineering mechanics and biomechanics.As an intriguing interdisciplinary research field,it aims at elucidating the fundamental principles in nature’s design of strong,multi-functional and smart Materials by focusing on the assembly,deformation,stability and failure of the materials.These principles should have wide applications in not only material sciences and mechanical engineering but also biomedical engineering.For instance,the knowledge in Mechanical principles of biological materials is very helpful for addressing some major challenges in material sciences and engineering.They also have the potential to provide quantitative understanding about how forces and deformation affect human being’s health,diseases and treatment at tissue,cellular and molecular levels.