A day late and a dollar short! Just under the wire here, but I had a good excuse. At town meeting till 10 and then dinner with my son. Very good excuses indeed.
So slime is a favorite topic of any middle schooler you meet these days. Especially those who have no interest in fidget spinners and prefer to make their own fun. There is an entire culture built around DIY slime and I know from an expert: a bonafide 13 year old middle schooler.
A little clear school glue, a little liquid starch and then just about anything else you could image putting in it - food coloring, glitter, paint, kinetic sand, Model Magic, beads, googely eyes, scented hand lotion. The possibilities are endless. I'm going to make a container for each member of my Adolescent Development class in Sept.
The other surprising news today comes from another form of slime, the kind that comes from common garden slugs. Apparently when they're hreatened they exude a slime glue so strong it keeps them attached to leaves like "gum on the bottom of shoe" even if the leaves are wet. This is according to Jianyu Li a scientist at the Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. This ability makes them very valuable in the medical field of surgery where slime has successfully repaired damaged organs in pigs and other animals. While yet to be tested in humans this slime glue could prove less invasive than staples or stitching in repairing wound tissue around a surgery site.
Typically strong glues like Super Glue dry rigid and are toxic to humans, but slug slime glue remains flexible while being super sticky. This could be the future for repair of heart surgery.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/27/539473673/slug-slime-inspires-scientists-to-invent-sticky-surgical-glue
In these days of really slimey politics, remember the lowly slug and the power of positive slime!
So slime is a favorite topic of any middle schooler you meet these days. Especially those who have no interest in fidget spinners and prefer to make their own fun. There is an entire culture built around DIY slime and I know from an expert: a bonafide 13 year old middle schooler.
A little clear school glue, a little liquid starch and then just about anything else you could image putting in it - food coloring, glitter, paint, kinetic sand, Model Magic, beads, googely eyes, scented hand lotion. The possibilities are endless. I'm going to make a container for each member of my Adolescent Development class in Sept.
The other surprising news today comes from another form of slime, the kind that comes from common garden slugs. Apparently when they're hreatened they exude a slime glue so strong it keeps them attached to leaves like "gum on the bottom of shoe" even if the leaves are wet. This is according to Jianyu Li a scientist at the Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. This ability makes them very valuable in the medical field of surgery where slime has successfully repaired damaged organs in pigs and other animals. While yet to be tested in humans this slime glue could prove less invasive than staples or stitching in repairing wound tissue around a surgery site.
Typically strong glues like Super Glue dry rigid and are toxic to humans, but slug slime glue remains flexible while being super sticky. This could be the future for repair of heart surgery.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/27/539473673/slug-slime-inspires-scientists-to-invent-sticky-surgical-glue
In these days of really slimey politics, remember the lowly slug and the power of positive slime!
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