Not all slime is created equal. A species of land snails tweaks its slime’s chemical recipe to create five different varieties of mucus, using each for a particular job.
Depending on the amount of calcium added to the mix, these sundry slimes can range from a slippery lubricant to a boogerlike glue, researchers report August 6 in Science . The nimble physics of the mucus may inspire the design of new materials that can shift their mechanical properties.
There are myriad uses for mucus in the animal kingdom. Hagfish choke predators with an expanding cloud of gunk. Tubelip wrasse fish use their snotty lips to safely nibble on stinging corals…
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