Barbara Steigenberger

Editor’s summary Abstract Supplementary Materials References and Notes Information & Authors Metrics & Citations Check Access References Figures Tables Media Share Editor’s summary Organisms can fabricate materials with completely different mechanical properties using a limited number of building blocks, such as the way that spiders can spin multiple types of fibers for different parts of their webs. Gabler et al.

Abstract Anaemia is a major global health burden that affects one-quarter of the human population and annually accounts for over 50 million years of healthy life lost1. It arises from nutritional iron deficiency, hereditary disorders (including thalassaemia and sickle cell disease) and malaria, and is characterized by haemoglobin imbalances2. Haem—the active component of haemoglobin—is both essential and potentially toxic, which necessitates tight control of levels.

1 Introduction Diabetes mellitus affects more than 500 million people worldwide. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) makes up over 95% of all diabetes cases, and we face an ever-increasing prevalence, primarily caused by increasing obesity rates [1]. It is expected that T2DM will remain a major global epidemical burden [2] and T2DM patients often suffer from comorbidities, most prominently cardiovascular disease (CVD), [3] being a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with T2DM [4].