As children, many of us get to play at being superheroes and “master” the powers of Spider-Man and company. Although today there is no way we can transform our bones into claws through our knuckles like Wolverine, There are other ways in which science can offer interesting solutions.
It is clear that wanting to imitate the super power of a comic book mutant sounds very crazy, covering your skeleton with a liquid metal harder than steel and fusing with your bones is so unreal that it remains only in the imagination of the people. However, biological engineering has interesting surprises.
The science behind Wolverine’s bones
Deposition of atomic layers. Based on how ants incorporate zinc into their jaws to make them stronger, a team from the Institute of Physics and Microstructures in Halle, Germany, used said technique in its search to replicate that wonder of nature.
Testing the theory. To create a possible replica of the above, they introduced metallic compounds into the protein structure of spider silk through a mixture of titanium, aluminum and zinc. As a result, they managed to make spider silk have strength and elasticity up to 10 times greater than normal.
Use in biomaterials. The conclusion of the study showed that this could strengthen other biomaterials for various applications, such as creating artificial tendons from collagen. It was even explored to what extent it could help in the improvement of bone structures.
A second invention based on Wolverine. Inspired by this same character and his ability to self-regenerate, a group of scientists from the Universities of California, Riverside and Colorado developed a transparent membrane that can repair itself. Unlike Logan’s speed, this is achieved in a period of 24 hours. The goal is to create a prototype of an artificial muscle that can move through electrical signals and, of course, regenerate itself.
Although this is still far from reaching the capabilities of the Weaponboth are close to the possibility that in the future it will be possible to assimilate into a superhero.
