Innovative techniques to investigate comparative biomaterials across disciplines and length scales

Comparative biomechanics describes investigating animal models to inform, understand, and improve health and locomotor understanding in humans and across biological organisms and species. In recent years, there has been an increased understanding of comparative biomaterials, which utilizes intincredibly diverse, yet can primarilyerdisciplinary techniques spanning physics, materials science, engineering, and biology to mimic and model the complex morphology and mechanics of biological structures. This perspective piece highlights some recent innovations in biological material characterization of mechanics, morphology, and composition, highlighting specific innovations that help address classical challenges in biomaterials analysis. It concludes with a review of highlights in material fabrication techniques that have expanded the scope of biomaterials through bio-inspired multi-material 3-dimensional printing, textiles, and bio-hybrids. This perspective serves as a starting guide for researchers to broaden their understanding of the innovations that different disciplines have made in characterizing biological materials across various length scales, which could be applied to bio-inspired design.