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Scientist Testing Spider-Man-Style Web Shooters He Accidentally Made in Lab

Chock Full o Nuts

Chock Full o Nuts

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futurism.com

Scientist Testing Spider-Man-Style Web Shooters He Accidentally Made in Lab

Tufts University biotech researcher Marco Lo Presti accidentally discovered a "remote adhesive" that acts like Spider-Man style web shooters.
futurism.com futurism.com
Tufts University biotech researcher Marco Lo Presti made an astonishing discovery while investigating how silk and dopamine allow mussels to stick to rocky surfaces.
"While using acetone to clean the glassware of this silk and dopamine substance," he told Wired, "I noticed it was undergoing a transition into a solid format, into a web-looking material, into something that looked like a fiber."
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Footage of the team's experiments shows strands of the material being dripped onto a number of objects from several inches above, forming a solid connection in a matter of seconds and allowing the object to be carried away.
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The fibers also have an impressive tensile strength.
"We can now catch an object up to 30 or 35 centimeters away, and lift an object of around 15 to 20 grams,"
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Very interesting. But trying to think of a real world application.
 
You are living up to your handle/DP name :)
 
maxparrish said:
Given that it can carry 80 times its weight it might be upscaled for crowd control, cocoon wrapping the violent, or entertaining your cat.
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Oh, encasing my buddy's head had came to mind. :)

But what happens to the acetone component once combined? Is this mixture toxic?
 
Chock Full o Nuts said:
Oh, encasing my buddy's head had came to mind. :)

But what happens to the acetone component once combined? Is this mixture toxic?
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Yes, i would have liked a better description of the interaction of dopamine with the silk...acetone likely does more than partially dissolve the misture.
 
maxparrish said:
Yes, i would have liked a better description of the interaction of dopamine with the silk...
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From the start of the write up it seems the two are natural in mussels to allow them to adhere.
maxparrish said:
acetone likely does more than partially dissolve the misture.
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It just dilutes but solidifies it into a semi-solid? :unsure:

Off-gassing?
 
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