Tubes in Colony of Glue-making Worms (IMAGE)
Caption
University of Utah bioengineer Russell Stewart looks over a chunk taken from a sandcastle worm colony on California's coast. The colony is made up of numerous individual tubes, each occupied by a single 1-inch-long worm. The worms make the tubes using their own natural, underwater glue and bits of sand and shell. Stewart has developed a synthetic version of the worm glue, and says it holds promise for use gluing together small pieces of bones in fractured knees, other joints and even faces.
Credit
Fred Hayes for the University of Utah
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