Octopussy

A horrifying cage of octopus arms is the last thing a crab (or a pirate, if you believe the legends) sees as suckers pull it helplessly towards a waiting mouth. Scientists know that an octopus’s infundibular, or funnel-shaped, suckers stick to wet and dry surfaces – a feat that surgeons could put to good use. The first step to making artificial suckers is covering this silicon disc with thousands of round particles, which scatter white light in a distinctive rainbow pattern. Biotechnologists next 'print' a mould using the disc like a stamp. Then it’s just a matter of pouring a bendy material called PDMS into the mould – out pop thousands of tiny 'nanosuckers'. Although a long way from the sea, nanosuckers imitate the forces that an octopus uses to pull its prey closer – biomimicry that researchers are using to create bandages that stick to slippery organs like the heart.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

Website

• Image from work by Ying-Chu Chen and Hongta Yang
• Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
• Image reprinted with permission from ACS Nano. Copyright 2017 American Chemical Society
• Published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, April 2017