ACS Washington 2009: Worm-inspired glue
This cute little worm has constructed a tube around itself from beads of zirconium oxide. It's a pretty impressive feat by human engineering standards, as the animals have to stick together all the little bits (normally sand and pieces of seashell) while submerged in flowing water — not the best conditions for your average adhesive.
Russel Stewart at the University of Utah is looking to these innovative little carpenters for tips on synthesizing a glue with similar advantages. Gluing in wet conditions would be great for a number of reasons, especially for sticking together bloody human body parts like broken bones. Currently, Stewart says, there aren't any clinical adhesives for bone, only for superficial wounds.
When Stewart cloned the genes in the worm's protein-rich glue, he found that they all shared a key feature: they were very negative on one side and positive on the other. Instead of copying the exact genes, then, he'd just have to get the charges right.
After he made his synthetic protein goop, he tested it by sticking bones together underwater, and found that the glue bonded them together with a strength of 750 kilopascals — meaning a bond just over a square inch could hold a full keg of beer. While this isn't enough for a weight-bearing bone, it's probably adequate for reaffixing small fragments or bones in the face.
