Little Shop of Horrors

Glues and slimes have endless uses in nature, from catching prey to building a home, getting from A to B or sticking firmly underwater. Although uses of stickiness are as diverse as the sticky creatures themselves, there are recurring themes in natural glues that suggest evolutionary convergence. Humans, of course, rely on adhesives in various ways and we will take a lightning tour through the uses of glues in our history, as well as prospects for new bio-inspired adhesives.

The climate is changing at a pace humans have never experienced; we need to produce more food in the next 30 years than in the entire history of agriculture before this. Humans have been breeding and modifying crops for more than 10,000 years, and the tools of the trade have evolved alongside our food. Since we are what we eat, it’s no surprise that biotechnological approaches to agriculture like genetically modified and gene-edited organisms are a hotly debated topic, but they are also powerful tools for agricultural adaptation. We will discuss how they can be harnessed for a green future.