Mechanical Adaptation of Brachiopod Shells Via Hydration-Induced Structural Changes

This dataset accompanies the paper 'Mechanical Adaptation of Brachiopod Shells Via Hydration-Induced Structural Changes', where using ptychographic X-ray tomography, electron microscopy and spectroscopy, we describe the hierarchical structure and composition of the shell of the brachiopod Discinisca tenuis as a function of hydration. We show that absorption of water by these shells results in structural changes at the micron- nano- and molecular scales, resulting in the material switching from hard and stiff when dry to malleable when hydrated within minutes. The deposited dataset includes the reconstructed X-ray ptychography tomograms of shells that were dry, exposed to 70 % relative humidity and 100 % relative humidity and the original electron microscopy images (SEM, STEM) that are presented in the paper.