18 votes

No one is prepared for hagfish slime

2 comments

  1. Omnicrola
    Link
    Started reading the article expecting it to take a turn to how engineers used the slime to design a disgusting replacement for car airbags. That's not where it went, but was an interesting read...

    Started reading the article expecting it to take a turn to how engineers used the slime to design a disgusting replacement for car airbags. That's not where it went, but was an interesting read anyway.

    4 votes
  2. MonkeyPants
    Link
    I am so disappointed in the associated video. It edits out the hand being lifted out. Which is strange, as that is the most interesting bit.

    Typically, a hagfish will release less than a teaspoon of gunk from the 100 or so slime glands that line its flanks. And in less than half a second, that little amount will expand by 10,000 times—enough to fill a sizable bucket.

    It doesn’t feel like much at first, as if a spider has built a web underwater,” says Douglas Fudge of Chapman University. But try to lift your hand out, and it’s as if the bucket’s contents are now attached to you.

    I am so disappointed in the associated video. It edits out the hand being lifted out. Which is strange, as that is the most interesting bit.

    4 votes