Scientists have zeroed in on the mantis shrimp's physical make-up in the hopes of developing technology that will better protect humans.

"Shrimpy" has a whole new meaning.

The heavy-hitting mantis shrimp can deliver and absorb incredible blows for a creature its size. So scientists have zeroed in on its physical make-up in the hopes of developing technology that will better protect humans who find themselves in harm's way.

Thanks to a helicoidal structure, the shrimp's club-like appendage, aka "dactyl club," can survive regular strikes of speeds up to 321,739.84 feet per second, according to ucrtoday.ucr.edu. Researchers at University of California — Riverside report the discovery could lead to safer "automotive frames, body armor and athletic gear, including football helmets."

The key is resistance to "shear waves" that travel at the speed of sound. Elastic shear waves travel in a perpendicular motion to the angle of impact, such as ripples in water and earthquakes in the earth's crust. The study discovered the chitin-heavy, spiral structure of the shrimp's club filters out such waves.

Mantis shrimp in the lab of David Kisailus. (Photo by Carlos Puma)

"This is a novel concept. It implies that we can make composite materials able to filter certain stress waves that would otherwise damage the material," said David Kisailus, the Winston Chung Endowed Professor in Energy Innovation at UC Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering, according to ucr.edu.

The ongoing research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Tests "modeled the structure with the same mathematical equations used to study materials in solid-state physics and photonics, showing the structure possesses 'bandgaps' that filter out the damaging effects of shear waves … "