NSN Short | Snail Slime

What do you get when you cross the world's most famous slowpoke with some of MIT's latest high-tech robotics? Robotics engineers at MIT are looking at snails for inspiration. Nature's famous slowpokes produce a "yield-stress fluid," better known as slime, that has remarkable properties. It can behave both as a solid glue and as a slippery lubricant. A slime-like synthetic substance could one day help tiny robots explore the human body and aid high-tech medicine. A NOVA Production by Diatom Media for WGBH/Boston © 2007 WGBH Educational Foundation Funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0407101. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.