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Chemists Crack Secrets of Mussels' Super Glue
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."
So, the next time a lamp breaks or something, I'll just go fetch a mussel and fix it with that. Cheap and easy! Just don't tell PETA.
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
That's my dinner!
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
"Stick to your ribs" suddenly has a whole new meaning...
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
This area of research is similar to what I did as a chemistry post graduate.
h tm
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After a bit of googling, I found the researcher's home page:
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/Faculty/wilker.
I also found the page for his research group. Linked from it, was a more detailed description of the chemistry involved:
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/wilker/adhe
Unfortunately, while I could find a number of links to actual publications in peer-reviewed chemistry journals, all where subscription sites.
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.
We all talk about expanding recycling programs, and cutting down on fossil fuels, but then build structures that have such highly developed components, they can never be re-used or perhaps even dismantled (without disintegration, probably releasing even more agents into the biosphere).
Now don't get me wrong, with the right regulation and foresight, these kind of developments can be true breakthroughs. But forging ahead without considering whether an invention can be dismantled or reduced to its original components is not good engineering these days.
But hell, my field is ancient history, what do I know...
This was discovered by Sander Haemes 3 years ago.
actually, research has been conducted on mussels like these for at least the past 15 years. scientists were having horrible trouble producing this adhesive on their own, and could only get something remotely close by crushing thousands of mussels and extracting the adhesive from them, and still the glue would wear off sooner than expected.
the discovery that iron contributes to the chemical structure will perhaps expedite the process of simulation and production, but there's still a long way to go. as technologically advanced as we are, we know hardly anything about how to build things on a molecular level, and even if we finally observe the chemical makeup of this glue, i believe production technology will be holding back synthesis.
More information about the zebra mussel can be found here:
The Zebra Mussel Page
The slide show link is informative. To quote: "Zebra mussels are a pest organism because they not only attach to one another, but also to man-made objects, including water intakes and other plumbing of water, power, and other companies that use fresh water. [snip] Zebra mussels also attach to other organisms, such as these native (North American) mussels from Lake Erie. Heavy loads of zebra mussels have killed essentially all native Unionid mussels in western Lake Erie, an early site of the zebra mussel invasion. Zebra mussels first appeared in Lake St. Clair (yellow star, north of Lake Erie), possibly from ship's ballast water from the Black Sea region. They rapidly spread downstream with the current, and upstream and to other watersheds on boats, with bait, and by other man-mediated mechanisms."
The National Atlas website has a nice Shockwave animation illustrating the invasion between 1988 and 1999:
Animated Map Showing Zebra Mussel Distribution
er... the frying pan.
2 1337 4 u!
So, er... frying pans... are made of... mussels?
-- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
On the oxidation state of the iron molecules. The glue dissolver might have to reduce the iron in order to break the bond. Iron is commonly found in the Fe2+ and Fe3+ oxidation states. If the iron molecules are in the Fe2+ state, then you would be correct.
There's a couple of easy mnemonics to remember the general RedOx rules:
OLEGON (Oxidation is Loss of Electrons and Gain in Oxidation Number)
or
LEO says GER (Loss of Electrons is Oxidation, Gain of Electrons is Reduction).
There's probably others, but basic chemistry was a looong time ago for me...
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Hence she's a witch! Burn her!
Just goes to show that chicks dig guys with mussels....
*rim-shot*
Oh well, I'm known for my awful puns, so I guess this just adds to my rep!
*--BigMan--- Time flies like an arrow.. but personally I prefer a nice glass of wine!