Insect Substance Synthesized For Science

An anonymous reader wrote to mention an article discussing the successful synthesis of resilin, a super-elastic material used by insects to perform amazing feats. From the article: "Dr. Elvin predicted the substance would lead to everything from artificial arteries to spinal parts that would not wear out despite being flexed 100 million times. 'That's how many times you move your back in 50 or 60 years,' he said. It could also be used in micro electronics. 'We even imagine putting it in running shoes.'"

I like where this is going...

[feagle814]

Dragonflies and bees use resilin to beat their wings all day long

I like where this is going...

Re:I like where this is going...

[Associate]

Been there, done that.

Re:I like where this is going...

[revery]

Dragonflies and bees use resilin to beat their wings all day long
I like where this is going...

Yeah, Ornithopter, babeee!!!

``If humans had these [resilin] pads ...

[Kaz Kylheku]

they could leap 100 story buildings.''

Oh the amusing stupidity of some science journalists. :)

Re:``If humans had these [resilin] pads ...

[Retric]

If you where 100th your height you would be ~1/100^2 as strong but ~ 1/100^3 as light thus if you could jump 1 foot in the air now you could still jump ~1 foot into the air even though you where only ~2cm tall. (Ignoring things like wind resistance ect.) It's funny but if the "Honey I shrunk the kids" thing really happened they would have been a lot stronger than any of the insects they came into contact with. When you start scaling the human body down you find that it's incredibly strong for it's size (~2

Price

[GenKreton]

This all sounds very good but how cost efficient will large, industry scale production of resin be? Just because they can successfully reproduce its chemical structure does not mean that they can do it in a cost efficient enough manner to break into any of the mentioned markets.

RTFA

[kotku]

"We currently make sufficient material for research purposes, but this could be scaled up for commercial use," Dr Elvin said. "It looks a bit spaghetti [but] we can cast it in any shape."

Re:RTFA

[deltalimasierralima]

Now we have the first observable effects of the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster [wikipedia.org]...Hurrah Intelligent Design!

That's what they always say

[mosb1000]

Sure, anything that can be done in the lab can be done on a larger scale. But they don't know whether or not this kind of thing would be economically feasible when done on a larger scale. That's why it's called research, because we don't already know. It might be feasible, but the truth is we won't really know until it's happened.

Furthermore, these kind of things usually don't pan out. Even it it does, it won't be practically available to the general public for decades because of the secondary technolog

Re:RTFA

[poot_rootbeer]

"It looks a bit spaghetti [but] we can cast it in any shape."

They would just need to swap out the die on their Play-Doh Fun Factory.

Re:Price

[bzeichick]

This all sounds very good but how cost efficient will large, industry scale production of resin be?

Because resilin production is such a ground-breaking undertaking, a revolutionary manufacturing process will need to be created. A process that involves many busy-bees to make the resilin, which could be called "workers". These workers would go to a "hive" to create the resilin, and would work furiously in the hopes that some day all of their labors might give them a chance to rub elbows with someone import

Re:Price

[Reducer2001]

Well, I for one welcome our new... Hey wait, that actually might be an appropriate response!!!!

Re:Price

[Stripsurge]

Once they've got the gene(s?) into bacteria making more of the substance becomes very easy. Grow a whole bunch of the transgenic bacteria and extract product. Cost will vary with application. For everyday uses (running shoes) it'd be cheap but for implants into humans it needs to be a lot purer as to not trigger an immune response. Even small bits of leftover bacteria is a very bad thing. Pure typically = $$.

Re:Price

[stunt_penguin]

"The scientists initially cloned the fruit fly gene that naturally produces the material. It was then put into bacteria, creating a biological "factory" to reproduce it as a liquid. The liquid was then cured under projector bulbs to form a workable solid."
As far as i'm aware, insulin is made by a similar process using bacteria that have been genetically altered to produce the substance in large quntities. It isn't a particularly new technique past the point of getting the initial bacteria to produce the s

Re:Price

[shotfeel]

Then there's the possibility that resilin itself might trigger an immune response. Not to mention the fact that degradation of the material over time hasn't been determined. Who cares if it can withstand being flexed 100 million times, if it can't withstand proteases and other reactive compounds in the human body?

Re:Price

[Itchy Rich]

This all sounds very good but how cost efficient will large, industry scale production of resin be?

Pretty efficient I expect. Having substances made by bacteria isn't a new idea, and since this will primarily be proccesed in liquid form is should be fairly easy to produce. The major question for me would be how long the bacteria take to synthesise the material.

The question as to whether it's economically viable is misleading, because you can't answer it accurately without knowing the application for

Re:Price

[TheSync]

The brewing of pro-resilin sounds very similar to a wide range of pharma products created from genetically engineered E. Coli, and the final assembly using the metal catalyst is pretty standard chemistry. No worse than beer and ammonia production.

Re:Price

[ArsonSmith]

Don't belive the hype, pro-resllin is all fake.

Registration only, lots more here

[Markus Registrada]

Lots of better (non-registration-required) links here:

http://news.google.com/news?q=resilin&btnG=Search+ News [google.com]

Re:Registration only, lots more here

[Seehund]

Or why not go to the original source instead of trying to understand what the hell the dumbed-down popular press versions are trying to say (which can be difficult when the journalists don't know squat about the topic they're covering)?

Nature's news story [nature.com], which summarizes the original article [nature.com] by Elvin et al. (You need to be sitting at a Nature subscriber institution to read the latter.)

I wish Fred MacMurray were still with us

[glomph]

This sounds wayy too much like Son of Flubber! [imdb.com]

Less information

[KeiserSoze]

Learn less about Resilin at Wikipedia [wikipedia.org].

Hey!

[Frodo Crockett]

I spent a full two minutes researching that article, you insensitive clod!

Condoms

[Bad Labrador]

Resilin condoms. One size really does fit all.

Re:Condoms

[fmwap]

Resilin condoms. One size really does fit all.

Good for 100 million uses!

Re:Condoms

[cbrocious]

This is Slashdot, where even a one-use condom is unnecessary.

Re:Condoms

[urmensch]

Stop projecting [wikipedia.org]

Re:Condoms

[gstoddart]

Resilin condoms. One size really does fit all.

Good for 100 million uses!

Eeeew!

I am so not washing out my rubbers.

Re:Condoms

[ArsonSmith]

"I am so not washing out my rubbers."

Eeeeeeew!!!!!

man if you don't wash them out the get crusty.

Re:Condoms

[idontgno]

Good for 100 million uses!

Actually that would be good for 100 million individual beats...

This is Slashdot. Same thing.

Re:Condoms

[cerberusss]

Resilin condoms. One size really does fit all.

Female slashdotters are thinking about this amazingly flexible *ahem* replacement for men's genitalia.

bringing down the price

[Andreas Schaefer]

this will only become affordable on an commercial scale once the porn industry starts using resilin - i won't go into details, but there are interesting applications for a high durabality super-elastic material... ..or maybe just new alien case-mods?

- Andreas

You know its getting late when...

[Toxicgonzo]

You know its getting late when you read the article as "Incest Substance Synthesized For Science" ..." An anonymous reader wrote to mention a article discussing the successful synthesis of resilin, a super-elastic material used incest to perform amazing feats" and I'm like WTF

Re:You know its getting REALLY late when...

[Anonymous Coward]

And you know it's getting REALLY late when you don't even go "WTF".

Webshooters!

[Anonymous Coward]

Admit it, you guys are all thinking that too. Boo organic web spinnerets.

Yeah it's flexible

[3.5 stripes]

But will your body accept it?

It doesn't do any good if your body rejects your new arteries..

Re:Yeah it's flexible

[Wwolmack]

It's a non-volatile protein, not living cells like a kidney or liver. So theres a very low chance of rejection.

Re:Yeah it's flexible

[3.5 stripes]

Lord knows why your reply wasn't modded up.

Good to know though, thanks.

Re:Yeah it's flexible

[efatapo]

Non-volatile protein? What does that mean? Does it not trigger the immune system or is it not prone to explosion? Seriously, I'm a biochemist PhD student (I work with nucleic acids mostly...but still) and I've never heard that term.

Re:Yeah it's flexible

[Linux_ho]

Brundlefly says no problem, flexy flexy.

Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[Vellmont]

Spiders produce super-strong silk, other insects produce this perfect rubber substance. What is it about insects that they produce such desireable materials? Are there more insect substances equally amazing?

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[duffahtolla]

What is it about insects that they produce such desireable materials?

Short life span, and extreme numbers give them accelerated evolution compared to other animals.

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[Vellmont]

I could see it, but what is it about insects that the thing to go for, the thing that gives them the best bang/buck is substances with excellent physical properties?

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[archeopterix]

I could see it, but what is it about insects that the thing to go for, the thing that gives them the best bang/buck is substances with excellent physical properties?

Maybe it is their size. I suspect that spider net would not scale up to mammal sizes. Basic geometry/physics - volume/weight goes cubic, while surface goes only quadratic with size.

Btw, spiders are not insects.

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[clem]

Maybe it is their size. I suspect that spider net would not scale up to mammal sizes.

What part of, "Does whatever a spider can," did you not understand?

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[SB5]

You have heard of evolution right? You don't live in Kansas do you?

Natural selection gets rid of competitors that can't compete. The best way to compete is to have the best of the best, because then you don't have to compete to survive as much.

Lets have two people swim in a race, one guy will wear a wetsuit and flippers and one will wear a regular speedo bathing suit. The guy in the suit probably has a better chance of winning because of the wetsuit and flippers.

Now take two people with wetsuit and flippers

Until someone pulls the drain plug

[brokeninside]

After the water all runs out, those without flippers, or with minimal flippers suddenly start to outcompete those with the uberflippers.

Not to mention, your view of competition is a bit skewed. Natural selection favors survival of the adequate, not survival of the fittest. Only in extreme situations does being the best help individuals survive to a significantly greater extent than being adequate. Certainly, there are some situations in nature where resources are so scarce that only the `best' survive, but

Re:Until someone pulls the drain plug

[TGK]

It doesn't matter if a swimmer has the best fins in the world if the guys in speedos mate more frequently and have enough progeny to ensure that some survive the attacks of their quicker swimming brethren.

That IS fitness. If that's the case then the speedos are fitter (is that a word?) than the flippers. Fitness in the evolutionary sense of the term doesn't mean the strongest, the most powerfull, or the most impressive -- it means the most capable to pass on genetic material.

Sometimes that means avoiding

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[AGMW]

One assumes you mean the Lord GSM http://www.venganza.org/ [venganza.org] ?

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[Triskele]

Then again, keeping on that frame of mind, bacteria should be building spaceships now.

<friday> They are - they just took a billion years to evolve into us to do it! </friday>

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[RedCard]

Bah! Evolution! Actually, His Noodleyness is unhappy with us for denying Him and is working on our replacements. These are the future of 'Big Business'.

You, Sir, are on the right track! From the article:

Dr Elvin said. "It looks a bit [like] spaghetti [but] we can cast it in any shape."

I do believe that this is in fact a sign!
I mean... Arrrrr.....

Kind of sad

[WindBourne]

When we finally have the ability to find out, we may end up losing the interesting species that we will not find out.

Re:Kind of sad

[Chris Burke]

I know. I think of all the species we have lost and are losing in the rain forests and other places, all those innovations from millions of years of evolution that are now gone, and its our own stupid fault.

I don't understand how any rational person could not be at least in principle an environmentalist.

Re:Kind of sad

[ArsonSmith]

Actually according to evolution it is their own stupid fault. If they couldn't adapt then they were not adequate to survive. That's just how evolution works.

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[nwbvt]

Spiders are not insects. And I'm sure you can find some amazing structure or protein in virtually any highly evolved organism.

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[greg_barton]

What is it about insects that they produce such desireable materials?

It's obvious, isn't it? Jesus wanted it that way.

Re:Why do insects produce such amazing substances?

[shotfeel]

Are there more insect substances equally amazing?

Yeah, that stuff they leave on the windshield when you hit them. Resistant to almost every cleaning substance known to man that doesn't dissolve the glass too.

From the horse's mouth...

[scdeimos]

... so to speak. No soul-eating registration required:

Harnessing flea power to create near-perfect rubber [csiro.au]

secret identity

[nielkosh]

It looks a bit spaghetti [but] we can cast it in any shape. Dr. Elvin, I presume? Or is it .... Peter Parker...

I, for one ...

[threaded]

I, for one, welcome our super bouncy overlords.

Re:I, for one ...

[Nimloth]

The instructions specifically said "do not taunt happy fun resilin ball"!

The new WMD?

[nz_mincemeat]

I just can't wait for those terrorists lugging slingshots powered by resilin bands ;-)

Re:The new WMD?

[zev1983]

Using resilin balls as ammunition it would be like that scene in Men in Black where the bouncy ball tore up half the office. I can think of a few places I could use that....

Phew!

[10Ghz]

"Dr Elvin predicted..."

For a moment I read that as "Dr Evil"...

Elvin is correct

[Belial6]

No, Elvin [classicgaming.com] is right. So, stay a while... [classicgaming.com]

Super...

[Anonymous Coward]

Love to get some of that stuff into my knee joints. It'll be great to not have to worry about wearing them out. Too bad he said it'll take at least a decade to make human joint replacements. Hope other researchers jump in to speed it up.

Re:Super...

[Skye16]

Yeah, and I'd like to get a replacement disk at L4/L5, too. Most days it feels fine, but every so often, things go awry. (I had a microdisectomy at L4/L5 my freshman year of college, so there isn't much left in the disk to keep it...juicy. And whatnot.)

Re:Super...

[bleckywelcky]

Hopefully it doesn't get bogged down by patent issues as well. If this is the kind of breakthrough development in materials that they make it out to be, it should be accessible to anyone and everyone to come up with great new ideas on how to use it. Just sitting here I've already thought of half-a-dozen different uses to reduce complexity, cost, risk, and increase accessibility in existing systems. I'm concerned about the "patent" and "commercial partners" wording in the article. They need to have flexible

doubtful

[Loconut1389]

While resilin sounds interesting, the article seems a bit hyped up...

"If humans had such pads they could leap 100-storey buildings"

That sounds like unsubstantiated exxageration- eg no reality behind it. Now it may be true, but seems highly improbable to me?

I hope resilin does neat things, but I'd rather read about it in Science magazine or Scientific American.

Re:doubtful

[Capt James McCarthy]

I just hope they can make drive belts out of the stuff so I never have to pay the auto mechanic again for that rubber crap thats on there now.

Mistakes of scale are so common

[ianscot]

"If humans had such pads they could leap 100-storey buildings"

That sounds like unsubstantiated exxageration- eg no reality behind it. Now it may be true, but seems highly improbable to me?

One does tend to suspect any popular press story that makes mistakes of scaling like unto the ones in 1950s science fiction movies that have giant ants running around. For a basic primer on the goofiness of this claim, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics [intuitor.com] would be one source.

Re:doubtful

[mysticgoat]

I have no problem envisioning the up side of leaping over a 100 storey building.

However there is a down side to this that I'd rather not visualize...

Re:doubtful

[bleckywelcky]

They just forgot to mention that we would not survive the landing.

Re:doubtful

[Analogy Man]

A simple length scale conversion...you are right.

The interesting thing is the g-forces involved. Impulsively (1 ms) give yourself a sufficient boost to be rocketed 1000 feet into the air. I think more likely your shoes would cause your legs to explode from the knee down.

uh?

[tuxette]

What exactly can this stuff make you do that 50 espresso shots can't?

Remain alive

[RidiculousPie]

"a gallon and a half (5 liters) of espresso" contains so much caffiene that it can kill you. source: wikipedia [wikipedia.org].

Re:Remain alive

[thorgil]

correctly made espresso contain less caffiene than normal coffe per volume due to fast extraction (20-30 sec depending on coffe bean and roasting)
One cup of espresso is 3 cl (a REAL espresso, 1-2 cl if restritto, 4 cl if lungo)
50 cups of espresso would be aboutish 1.5 liters not counting crema (foam)

still a lot...

Re:Remain alive futurama style

[Blurredplacebo]

and after 300 cups do you break the coffee barrier?

Re:uh?

[shotfeel]

What exactly can this stuff make you do that 50 espresso shots can't?

Walk past a rest room without stopping?

More info

[Maikel_NAI]

You can read more about it in BBC News [bbc.co.uk] (English) and in Astroseti [astroseti.org] (Spanish).

sure, it all sounds cool now

[martin-boundary]

but once we all wear our super strong resilin shoes and belts with Insect Power(TM), I just hope nobody then also invents a cheap, mass market universal teleporter.

Re: *Sniff* Whats that smell?

[EddyPearson]

If humans had such pads they could leap 100-storey buildings.

I dont beleive it for a second. Take scale into account! The force needed and the required energy could not be stored in a bit of rubber between you're legs.

Re: *Sniff* Whats that smell?

[klmth]

That hyperbole was invented by the reporter. The summary in Nature has no such claims.

I really hate it when scientific discoveries get FUBARed by the press. What is it with journalists? Why don't they have any common sense?

Re: *Sniff* Whats that smell?

[MalHavoc]

Hey, now! You'd be amazed at the amount of force and energy that's stored in the rubber between my legs!

Nothing changes...

[charlie763]

...gee whiz, future technology always seems so promising. Too bad it never seems to change from being only promising.

Take a look around you right now.

[ianscot]

Too bad it never seems to change from being only promising.

Yeah, that whole microwave oven thing is vastly overrated. And the dweebs at college carrying around backpack computers, they're completely losing their nerdy minds over the idea that someday we'll all be using computers embedded in the simplest daily things.

Take a look around you at all the lasers you encounter. Played a CD lately?

Almost nothing's ever the panacea that real true believers think it might be, but if anything the pace of change

Always beware...

[carldot67]

...Scientists trying to score their next round of funding by claiming "breakthroughs".
I am sure the material is very good but I am cautious. Biomechanically, insects operate in a very different world to us and proteins (even structural ones) have a tendency to need care and feeding from surrounding tissues.

Shocks

[N8F8]

Another use could be shock absorbers for vehicles.

Obscure Star Trek Reference

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

"Return To Tommorrow"

Scotty commenting about an alien synthetic muscle compound in front of him:
"It's a fancy name, but how will something that looks like a drop of jelly
make this thing work?"

Henoch (The evil alien):
It will have twice the strength and agility of your body. It will last 1,000 years.

The perfect use for resilin

[Woogiemonger]

The ultimate superball! Throw it against a wall and watch it bounce all over for hours!

Nature's neat.

[rnelsonee]

Although I'm a huge fan of the scientific achievements we've made over the centuries, as well as the ones we're sure to make in the future, I find it humbling that the 'new hotness' material is something that mother nature's had for plain old insects for millions of years. And this certainly isn't the first time that nature has shown to be superior to our synthetic devices. I guess millions of years of evolution can produce some amazing things.

did anyone else think...

[mikers]

of Mithril [wikipedia.org], yes from... JRR Tolkiens now (in)famous EPIC (Lord of the rings... for those who haven't had coffee this morning yet).

From the pedia... "...It is a precious silvery metal, stronger than steel but much lighter in weight..."

And brought to us by none other than Dr. Elvin.

What will the elves think of next!

Re:Go Australian Scientists ....

[my ky is brokn]

Now lets see another invention go overseas while our anti science government sits on its's hands ...

Anothr invntion go ovrsas? Invntions don't gt outsourcd...thy gt invntd. Nxt tim, try a littl hardr with the anti-govrnmnt rhtoric.

Re:Go Australian Scientists ....

[kotku]

Move along. No dealing here please .... many young children frequent this site.

Re:Go Australian Scientists ....

[aaza]

look at the username, AC, then read the message again.

It's either very clever, or true.

Re:Go Australian Scientists ....

[shokk]

Riddle me this... why does invention need to come from the government? We live in a free society where you and others, including corporations, can engage in research and then development of the results. Me think you like to rail against the "gummint" any chance you get.

Re:Go Australian Scientists ....

[awol]

The issue is not that the Government should be doing the invention but that Australia has a history of breaking ground, passing off the "value add" to other countries and then buying back the value added product. In particular with respect to some pretty fundamental science. I am not sure I am in the same boat as the poster with respect to their feelings about that situation, but the point is certainly arguable that a little more government investment in those inventions would benefit the whole country grea

Re:I hate quote like this.

[Dread_ed]

Makes me cringe too...

Think of the LANDING!

Re:Why synthesize?

[Just Some Guy]

why couldn't it have been harvested from insects before synthesis was posssible?

Look at a grasshopper. Any grasshopper. Try to spot one of its tendons. Now, imagine how many of those you'd need to somehow glue together to make a pair of sweatshop tennis shoes.

That is why you can't just harvest the stuff.

Re:Why synthesize?

[bleckywelcky]

Have you tried milking a flea? It's not a pretty sight. Half the time you end up crushing it with the tweezers.