Ideas worth spreading

401,412 views | Jonathan Wilker • TEDxPurdueU

What sticky sea creatures can teach us about making glue

What if we could harness the sticking powers of sea creatures like mussels, oysters and barnacles, which refuse to budge even on wet, stormy coastlines? Dive into the wonderful world of animals that make their own glue and cement with scientist Jonathan Wilker -- and preview some of the amazing things we can learn from how they do it.

Become a TED Member

Want to hear more great ideas like this one? Sign up for TED Membership to get exclusive access to captivating conversations, engaging events, and more!

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPurdueU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

What if we could harness the sticking powers of sea creatures like mussels, oysters and barnacles, which refuse to budge even on wet, stormy coastlines? Dive into the wonderful world of animals that make their own glue and cement with scientist Jonathan Wilker -- and preview some of the amazing things we can learn from how they do it.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPurdueU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

About the speaker

Jonathan Wilker

Scientist, engineer

See speaker profile

Jonathan Wilker explores the science and engineering happening within our oceans. He works to understand the ways that sea creatures survive and how we can adapt their technologies to create new materials.

Jonathan J. Wilker | In Letters to a Young Chemist, Edited by Abhik Ghosh Wiley, 2011 | Book

"Biomaterials at the Beach: How Marine Biology Uses Chemistry to Make Materials"

Here is a book chapter that I wrote describing the chemistry of how several marine organisms make adhesives, plus ongoing efforts to develop synthetic mimics.

Courtney L. Jenkins, Heather J. Meredith, Jonathan J. Wilker | In Biomaterials from Nature for Advanced Devices and Therapies, Edited by Nuno M. Neves and Rui L. Reis Wiley, 2016 | Book

"Adhesives Inspired by Marine Mussels"

Here is another book chapter, this one focusing on biomimetic adhesives.

Edited by Janek von Byern and Ingo Grunwald | Springer, 2010 | Book

Biological Adhesive Systems. From Nature to Technical and Medical Application

This book is a good overview of biological and biomimetic adhesives.

Jonathan J. Wilker | Nature, 2017 | Book

"How to Suck like an Octopus"

This paper has a fun title.

"Morning Edition" | NPR, 2013 | Listen

"Why A Hoosier State Scientist Is Stuck On Oysters"

This is a story that National Public Radio did on our lab. It's the very best general audience link that explains what we do with humor interspersed. It also provides some of the human, behind-the-scenes aspects of research. You can listen to the audio by clicking the blue circle in the upper left corner.

Kate Baggaley | Popular Science, 2017 | Article

"Your guide to the practical uses of hagfish slime, glowworm glue, and other animal goo"

This Popular Science article puts our lab in the context of studying biological adhesives and why people want to learn more about them.

About TEDx

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.

Find a TEDx event near you