Sealing Wounds Wet

The human body is the ultimate wet surface, which is exactly where ordinary surgical glue lets go. So chemists turned to the mussel.

DOPA-based adhesives, copied from byssal glue, bond reliably to slick, bloody tissue. Surgeons are testing them for emergency wound closure and for delicate fetal surgery, where a stitch can tear an organ still forming. A mollusk's ancient trick could one day reduce the need for stitches.