clipped from www.technologyreview.com Sticky inspiration: The chemistry of protein strands that mussels use to attach themselves to nearly any type of material (the mussel here is attached to Teflon) has helped researchers develop a new, versatile adhesive. Flexible displays, water-purification filters, and materials that convert heat directly into electricity could be easier to make thanks to a new polymer that allows researchers to coat almost any object, even one made of Teflon, with microscopic patterns of metals and organic materials. clipped from www.technologyreview.com The adhesive, which is described in the current issue of Science, is already attracting the interest of other researchers. For example, Nicholas Kotov, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, intends to use it to make thermoelectric materials–materials that convert heat directly into electricity. Kotov says that it may be possible to use the adhesive to bind together electrically conductive materials such as carbon nanotubes.

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