A Medical Breakthrough?

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Barnacles have attracted the attention of medical researchers because the glue that barnacles use to attach themselves so firmly to rocks works wonderfully well on wet surfaces – something that conventional glues don’t do. A series of experiments by the Zoology Department at NUI Galway are looking at the natural super glues used by barnacles to attach themselves to rocks or floating objects. If these experiments are successful, then we’ll know a lot more about creating a natural superglue that can be used to mend bones in human surgery or, on the other hand, how to create ways of preventing barnacles clinging to ships and lowering their fuel efficiency.