Creativity on the Coasts: Bioengineering with Common Marine Organisms

Everyone living in Santa Barbara has seen barnacles, mussels and sandy tube worms, but most people don’t think about them as engineering marvels. Christoph Pierre, collector and naturalist at UCSB, reminded Anacapa students and faculty about the important role these common creatures play in our lives and in current science research. For example, the byssal threads of mussels were the inspiration for super glue and continue to be studied as materials scientists search for the elusive, one-part underwater glue. Sponges, comprised of thousands of intricately-shaped structures, are studied in hopes that our earthquake engineering can someday imitate these strong yet flexible creatures. After an engaging discussion of these little known facts, Christoph even brought some critters for us to see and feel.