Leopard Slug
My friend Chuck uses his hand as a point of reference to show the size of the Leopard Slug he found in Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo Credit: Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.
Good thing I’ve never really been bothered by them. I actually think they are cute creatures. And unlike another friend of mine who was known to chase down slugs and pour salt on them before they ruined her plants, I like to watch them slowly travel across the land. Apparently researchers are also into slugs. The Guardian article notes that a team of scientists have developed tough, flexible glues designed to help patch up wounds, drawing on lessons learned from the creatures’ sticky goo.
While medical-grade glues exist, they have known issues including adhesives being weak, toxic to cells, unable to work well on wet surfaces and being rigid and brittle.
“[The research] both demonstrates the properties of slug mucus can inspire the design of new adhesives, and these adhesives have greatly superior properties to the currently available medical adhesives,” says Harvard University’s David Mooney, one of the authors of the study.
You can read the entire article on slug goo here.
