The inventor of Velcro, George de Mestral, got his idea by looking at the way burdock burrs attached to his clothes after he walked in fields with his dog.Walking the beach in Rhode Island after a ferocious storm, the thought of that inventor came to mind while observing a scattering of odd plantlike things scattered all over the sands.
According to the OceanLink site, "instead of roots seaweeds have holdfasts, which attach them to the sea floor. A holdfast is not necessary for water and nutrient uptake, but is needed as an anchor. Holdfasts are made up of many fingerlike projections called haptera."
The variety on display that ocean day include specimens varying in size from minuscule pebbles to cannonball-size heavy orbs.
Okay, so how does a holdfast fasten itself to a stone? How does it let go as it grows and find another (more suitable) anchor? Imagine the potential and applications of a biological cement (how does this thing "hold fast?")
Sometimes it's best to turn away from the things of man - and look for ideas in what may wash up on a walk.
