The United States Navy scientists found their new line of defenses in the depths of the oceans apparently, as they are busy developing their synthetic version of an immensely durable and resilient slime, which is secreted by hagfish at its predators.
The bottom-dweller Hagfish uses its slime to obstruct the gills of its predators and the engineers over at the US Navy aim to employ the substance in exactly more or less the same way; creating a synthesized version of the thick slime to protect ballistics, artillery and even divers from preying sharks.
Intriguingly, hagfish slime being the resilient substance that it is, can expand up to 10,000 times its size upon contact with water and such are its properties that the scientists from the Naval Surface Warfare Centre look to harness.
"Researchers have called the hagfish slime one of the most unique biomaterials known. For the US Navy to have its hands on it or a material that acts similar would be beneficial," says Ryan Kincer, one of the teams materials engineer.
There are two protein-based components in hagfish slime: tightly coiled threads, and a sticky membrane covering called mucin.
The slime being five times stronger than steel for its weigh, when excreted turns into uncoiled threads as the mucin quickly binding with water; releases the connecting proteins between threads which in immediate effect turn the slime into a sticky, elastic shield.
To obtain their own stash of hagfish slime in the lab, the US Navy scientists played around with E. coli bacteria to produce the required proteins, having created an artificial version of the slime being more or less the same as the real deal.
"From a tactical standpoint, it would be interesting to have a material that can change the properties of the water at dilute concentrations in a matter of seconds," says Josh Kogot, a team member.
"The synthetic hagfish slime may be used for ballistics protection, firefighting, anti-fouling, diver protection, or anti-shark spray. The possibilities are endless," Kogot further added.
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