Sea Cucumber Inspires Polymer That Goes Floppy When Wet

Posted by Joel Johnson, March 7, 2008 10:17 AM | permalink

Oh, sea cucumbers! What can't you do? Besides accept my love, I mean?

Researchers have developed a two-compound polymer that goes from "rigid to floppy when soaked in water." They hope to use the material in brain implants. Another version, which switches between hard and floppy when hit with an electric shock—ahem—might be used to develop clothing that can turn into uncomfortably chafing armor.

From New Scientist:

Sea cucumber skin can become more than 10 times stiffer in this way, but the new material can go further – softening by more than 2500 times. Simply soaking the transparent material in warm water for 15 minutes is all it takes to complete the transformation. After drying out it is identical to its original rigid state.

Floppy when wet: Sea cucumber inspires new plastic [Technology.NewScientist.com] (Thanks, Nathan!)

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Not a Doktor , March 7, 2008 2:42 PM

I know something else that gets floppy when wet
.
.
.
noodles

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#2 posted by demidan , March 7, 2008 3:12 PM

Just an old tale here,,, I once stepped on a sea cucumber and the "guts" shot out, and into my brothers open mouth! I know does not go with topic but couldn't pass up sharing the tale.

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#3 posted by Joel Johnson

, March 7, 2008 3:34 PM

I think that goes with the topic because it's AWESOME.

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#4 posted by dculberson , March 7, 2008 4:21 PM

Gulp!

Bleh! Eww!

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#5 posted by VagabondAstronomer , March 10, 2008 7:51 PM

A polymer that goes floppy when wet, eh? Hmmm. Not sophisticated enough for a hard drive, I suppose. Also, switching between floppy and hard after receiving a shock is not a big deal, really; with the right setup, you can do it at boot by simply holding down the F8 ke...
Oh? You meant going from rigid to non-rigid. Sorry...

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#6 posted by Anonymous , March 11, 2008 7:35 PM

Uh,

Can anyone on the engineering side think of a USE for a material that has these properties?

There really aren't many compared to a material that has the opposite properties.