No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

bklynmed

Researchers Unravel Natural Adhesion System

Adhesion is an extremely important factor in living nature: insects can climb up walls, plants can twine up them, and cells are able to adhere to surfaces. During evolution, many of them developed mushroom-shaped adhesive structures and organs. Lars Heepe and his colleagues at Kiel Univ. have discovered why the specific shape is advantageous for adhesion. The answer is in homogeneous stress distribution between a surface and the adhesive element. The results have recently been published in the renowned scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

Not only the roughness of contacting surfaces but also their contact shapes, also called contact geometry, determine adhesion strength between them. In nature, mushroom-shaped contact geometry prevails. It evolved in diverse terrestrial and aquatic organisms independently – at the nano, micro and macro scale. Examples are among others the bacteria Caulobacter crescentus that clings to surfaces (nano scale), the mushroom-shaped hairs of specific leaf beetles (micro scale), and the Virginia creeper plant (Parthenocissus) (macro scale). “This particular contact geometry developed independently in various living organisms. This fact might indicate an evolutionary adaptation of organisms to optimal adhesion,” says Stanislav Gorb, biologist at the Institute of Zoology at Kiel Univ.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/10/researchers-unravel-natural-adhesion-system

ucsdhealthsciences

Chinese red-headed centipede

A drug idea with legs

Frankly, it’s a safe guess that any critter whose Latin name is Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans is going to be pretty scary (mutilans!). And, by all outward appearances, the Chinese red-headed centipede qualifies. It averages eight inches in length and packs a venomous bite.

In this case, though, you might want to reconsider outward appearances. According to ancient Chinese medical traditions, the centipede possesses distinctive healing properties. Apply one to a rash or wound and it’s supposed to heal faster.

Or not. The case for using centipedes as living Band-Aids is fairly anecdotal.

On the other hand, the bite of the bug might actually prove empirically healthful. Or more accurately, the venom contained in that bite.

In a new study, researchers in Australia and China say the centipede’s venom contains a pain-killing molecule potentially as effective as morphine. Specifically, the molecule targets a nerve channel called Nav1.7. “People without a functioning Nav1.7 channel cannot feel pain,” said Glenn King at the University of Queensland, “so it’s likely molecules that can block this channel will be powerful painkillers.”

(The centipedes presumably evolved the molecule to block similar nerve channels in insects, allowing them to kill and eat them more efficiently.)

More research and development is required, of course, to convert these basic findings into a usable drug, but the idea has been tried before. There are already a number of pain relievers on the market based upon animal venom, with more in the works, among them painkillers based upon the venoms of snakes, scorpions and, um, snails.

It should be noted that while cone snails are neither scary-sounding nor scary-looking, they are terrors of the sea. They are carnivorous and predatory and use a venomous harpoon to capture faster-moving fish. The venom of larger species is powerful enough to kill a human.

Conversely, Chinese red-headed centipedes tend to be non-aggressive and reportedly make fine pets, though you probably shouldn’t let them bite you.