Biochemistry Week 11 - Cleaning up oil spills with mussel power discussion

Aside from eating them baked at a sushi spot, in a Spanish paella, or in an Italian seafood pasta dish, I never really thought too much about mussels or the properties of the substance that allows them to concretely adhere to maritime objects. I thought them to be proliferative and unsightly, and not of much benefit to our environment or individuals who have shellfish food allergies. I'm amazed to find that the beard, the adhesive filaments, is actually quite beneficial in providing a solution for our man-made problems by mimicking its biochemistry. I believe nature is as it is, and it has with it all the answers if we are able to observe and see it clearly. But it still would not solve the issues of oil spills and water pollution - all of which are man-made. I would like to see mussel-inspired technology continue to advance to purify water and separate oil from ocean, but we must move away from extracting limited fossil fuels and oils as sources of energy, and move toward a sustainable source, such as solar energy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Biochemistry Week 12 - Cell biology and Radioactivity

Bananas are radioactive - But they aren't a good way to explain radiation exposure I had no idea that bananas could be considered radioactive because they contain isotope potassium-40. But I would also agree with the article that using a banana or the Banana Equivalent Dose is not very useful in explaining radiation to lay people. 'We are exposed to radiation all the time, just look at that banana you ate' does not help to justify or explain the impacts of radiation from things such as medical use, nuclear power plants, or electronics. I believe the terms radioactive or nuclear turn people off and simply freak people out, but it would be most beneficial to explain what makes a thing radioactive, how it can affect us, and the differences among radioactive materials. Virus Structure Viruses are so creepy!! I can't help but think how mosquitos resemble flying viruses and how they are just a vector for many diseases that even a monk would kill them - or should. I find i...
Read more

Week 14 Biochemistry - Living Diversity

Tardigrades may have survived spacecraft crashing on moon I learned about tardigrades for the first time about 6 years ago while going down the rabbit hole on YouTube. They are quite fascinating animals with their abilities to withstand extreme temperatures and pressures, as well as their ability to be in a cryptobiotic state. They might now be on the moon, but there also exists a theory known as panspermia which theorizes that tardigrades came from another planet like Mars and traveled to Earth on debris impact from an asteroid which would account for why they can survive the vacuum of space. We don't know how they've evolved and there aren't any relative animals on Earth, but they have a digestive tract, muscles, and nervous system like us. I doubt we would be able to mimic their biochemistry in order to travel through space. After they are revived from their cryptobiotic state, they continue on as if no time has changed, enjoying the moment and the now. If this is one l...
Read more

Week 14 Biophysics - Bionics and our Biophysical Future

Would you support the development of a bionic person? A bionic person sounds like a character from a sci-fi movie. I would support the development of bionic body parts for people who are missing parts in order to improve their quality of life. I would support them if they were made accessible to everyone who needed it, rather than it becoming a product that is profit driven. I would not support implanting a chip in someone's brain as if they were a computer. Would your view change if this were for a military purpose? I would not support any type of bionics for military purposes. I don't support most military initiatives even though I know many positive advances in sciences have stemmed from military research such as GPS. It would be scary to think about an army of bionic people, but we already have drones being used in the military so how would we able to to stop the military if they wanted to have a bionic army?
Read more