Chemists Crack Secrets of Mussels' Super Glue

Posted by Hemos on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:15AM from the your-secrets-revealed dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers from Purdue University working under an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) have discovered that common blue mussels are using iron found in seawater to create their own super glue. "In addition to using the knowledge to develop safer alternatives for surgical and household glues, the researchers are looking at how to combat the glue to prevent damage to shipping vessels and the accidental transport of invasive species, such as the zebra mussel that has ravaged the midwestern United States." This overview contains more details and references about this discovery. You'll also find an image of mussel glue at a magnification of 25,000X and one of a mussel adhering to a sheet of Teflon."

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Re:More permanence may not be best by 1u3hr · 2004-01-12 04:11 · Score: 3, Interesting

You know, with this development, and all the recent talk about gecko super-tape being developed... it makes me feel a little uncomfortable. We're developing products that make structures, installations etc. more and more permanent.
If we used a glue that was similar to an existing organic substance it most likely would be more recyclable than the current acrylics and cyanoacrilates and such; hopefully production would produce less toxic waste, though I doubt they'll be milkng mussels for it. Conversely, making more durable products reduces obsolescence so ideally less is discarded.