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Octopussy
31 July 2017

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

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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