Ideas change everything

What sticky sea creatures can teach us about making glue

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Jonathan Wilker |

TEDxPurdueU

• March 2018

What if we could harness the sticking powers of sea creatures like mussels, oysters and barnacles, which refuse to budge even on wet, stormy coastlines? Dive into the wonderful world of animals that make their own glue and cement with scientist Jonathan Wilker -- and preview some of the amazing things we can learn from how they do it.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

What if we could harness the sticking powers of sea creatures like mussels, oysters and barnacles, which refuse to budge even on wet, stormy coastlines? Dive into the wonderful world of animals that make their own glue and cement with scientist Jonathan Wilker -- and preview some of the amazing things we can learn from how they do it.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPurdueU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

About the speaker

Jonathan Wilker

Scientist, engineer

See speaker profile

Jonathan Wilker explores the science and engineering happening within our oceans. He works to understand the ways that sea creatures survive and how we can adapt their technologies to create new materials.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPurdueU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.