Simple as Hitching a Trailer

At a molecular level, nature loves multiplicity. Why use one link when you could use a few million. When we, as a species, manufacture something we tend to employ a single component. Galvanized steel, reinforced ceramics and the like are often the bread and butter of engineers. Nature, on the other hand, uses whats been most readily available, namely organic molecules. On the whole, it is easier to break something organic (a piece of wood) as opposed to something inorganic (a piece of steel). Nature has compensated for this deficiency by just upping the amount of organic compounds involved in the bond. It is analogous to hitching a trailer to a truck by the use of innumerable twisty-ties.

It is multiplicity that allows for the astounding height of the redwoods and the hardness of the rhino's horn. So why you might scoff at using twisty-ties in place of a hitch, remember that nature has had great success at holding things together with weak components. On that note, I'm off to hitch a trailer.