Friday 28 July 2017

Slugging it Out!


Reports that Professor Li of Harvard University has copied the properties of slug slime to develop a surgical glue that can be effectively used in wet tissues (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/27/from-goo-to-glue-slug-slime-inspires-new-wound-mending-surgical-adhesive). He basically found that the defensive slime of our molluscan mates had many positively-charged protein polymers and combined similar materials with hydrogels to produce a wound-sealing adhesive. This is yet another example of developing something of use to humans by studying the properties of animals. Not many people would connect slugs and surgery.

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What's In a Critter's Name? 11. Comma butterfly

The Comma butterfly ( Polygonia c-album) gets its name from the punctuation-like mark, on the underside of its wings.