SLIMY

Science: Insect Goo Could Replace Stitches

Biologist working on new medical first-aid technology.

Band-Aids, Neosporin, and snails? Biologists are working on new medical first-aid technology that would render stitches and staples relics of the past. Their replacement? Snail goo! The gel produced by slugs, snails, mussels, and insects as they glide across surfaces could create an ideal medical adhesive, according to Ithaca College biology professor Andrew Smith. The gel could potentially avoid the negative side effects of sutures, such as the risk of the stitches coming undone or leaking bodily fluids. The snail glue “would stick to wet surfaces, and no matter how much the tissue flexed and bent, the gel would flex and bend with it,” he said, meaning no more leakage or scarring. Science!