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Insect Substance Synthesized For Science

Posted by Zonk on from the boing-boing-boing dept.

An anonymous reader wrote to mention an article discussing the successful synthesis of resilin, a super-elastic material used by insects to perform amazing feats. From the article: "Dr. Elvin predicted the substance would lead to everything from artificial arteries to spinal parts that would not wear out despite being flexed 100 million times. 'That's how many times you move your back in 50 or 60 years,' he said. It could also be used in micro electronics. 'We even imagine putting it in running shoes.'"

8 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Registration only, lots more here by Markus+Registrada · · Score: 4, Informative

    Lots of better (non-registration-required) links here:

    http://news.google.com/news?q=resilin&btnG=Search+ News

    1. Re:Registration only, lots more here by Seehund · · Score: 5, Informative

      Or why not go to the original source instead of trying to understand what the hell the dumbed-down popular press versions are trying to say (which can be difficult when the journalists don't know squat about the topic they're covering)?

      Nature's news story, which summarizes the original article by Elvin et al. (You need to be sitting at a Nature subscriber institution to read the latter.)

      --
      Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
  2. RTFA by kotku · · Score: 5, Informative

    "We currently make sufficient material for research purposes, but this could be scaled up for commercial use," Dr Elvin said. "It looks a bit spaghetti [but] we can cast it in any shape."

    --
    The bikini - security through obscurity since 1943
  3. From the horse's mouth... by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... so to speak. No soul-eating registration required:

    Harnessing flea power to create near-perfect rubber

  4. Re:Price by Stripsurge · · Score: 3, Informative

    Once they've got the gene(s?) into bacteria making more of the substance becomes very easy. Grow a whole bunch of the transgenic bacteria and extract product. Cost will vary with application. For everyday uses (running shoes) it'd be cheap but for implants into humans it needs to be a lot purer as to not trigger an immune response. Even small bits of leftover bacteria is a very bad thing. Pure typically = $$.

  5. More info by Maikel_NAI · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can read more about it in BBC News (English) and in Astroseti (Spanish).

    --
    Faith does not move mountains, but drills can go through it.
  6. Re:Yeah it's flexible by Wwolmack · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a non-volatile protein, not living cells like a kidney or liver. So theres a very low chance of rejection.

  7. Re: *Sniff* Whats that smell? by klmth · · Score: 3, Informative

    That hyperbole was invented by the reporter. The summary in Nature has no such claims.

    I really hate it when scientific discoveries get FUBARed by the press. What is it with journalists? Why don't they have any common sense?