[Lee Stewart]

These underwater mollusks have inspired scientists to make one of the strongest adhesives on the market. Researchers have cracked how mussels attach to wet surfaces, and have replicated it into an adhesive for commercial use. They created a biomimetic polymer model that contains proteins with the amino acid DOPA, which provides the glue’s adhesion. In a study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, scientists found that the glue performed 10 times better than other commercial adhesives when used to bond polished aluminum.