Mussels（贻贝） might be a welcome addition to a hearty1（丰盛的） seafood2 stew3（炖汤）, but their notorious ability to attach themselves to ships hulls4（外壳）, as well as to piers5（防洪堤） and moorings（系泊设施）, makes them an unwelcome sight and smell for boaters and swimmers. Now, researchers report in ACS journal Langmuir a clearer understanding of how mussels stick to surfaces, which could lead to new classes of adhesives6 that will work underwater and even inside the body. Shabeer Ahmad Mian and colleagues note that mussels have a remarkable7 knack8（秘诀） for clinging onto solid surfaces underwater. That can make them a real nuisance to recreational boaters and professional fishermen, who have to scrape the hitchhikers off their vessels9 to help them run more efficiently10. Some types of mussels can even plug up drinking water pipes. Mussels also can stick to materials with nonstick（不粘锅的） coatings.Although researchers have already developed mussel-inspired glues, they still dont have a full understanding of exactly how these critters stick so well to underwater surfaces. So, Mians team set out to investigate this mystery in painstaking11 detail to improve these adhesives and to develop new ones.Using complex calculations and simulations, they determined12 that one part of the mussel glue molecule13, called catechol（苯临二酚）, pushes water molecules14 out of the way to bind15 directly to wide variety of surfaces. They say that this study provides a clear picture of the first step of mussel adhesion, which could pave the way for better adhesives for many applications, such as for use in surgeries. The adhesives can be nontoxic and biocompatible, says Mian.
点击收听单词发音
1 hearty adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 参考例句： After work they made a hearty meal in the workers canteen.工作完了，他们在工人饭店饱餐了一顿。 We accorded him a hearty welcome.大家给他热忱的欢迎。
相关文章推荐
