My Mussel Glue Can Beats Your Gorilla Glue
Kirt's Cogitations™ #13

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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My Mussel Glue Can Beats Your Gorilla Glue

From the glands of its slug-like foot, a mussel secretes a glue that in less than five minutes - under water - hardens into a filament, or byssal thread, that will attach it for life to an intertidal rock. Mussel glue can resist forces of 1000 lbs/in². That's better than a barnacle. "There's no manmade glue that can do that underwater," says marine biologist Herbert Waite. Using Blue Mussels in his research, Waite is on the verge of creating the first synthetic mussel-like glue. It's all in the polymer cross-linking. Applications include surgery on hard and soft tissues, marine vessel repair, and dentistry. This is "disruptive technology" in the world of adhesives.

WithWave microwave devices - RF Cafe Website

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...