Well, sort of. Fans of classic science fiction and/or campy Disney films will recall that squid and humans have a score to settle. But Captain Nemo will be happy to hear that our cephalopod friends may have finally repaid their debt to humankind.
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, my alma mater, have discovered a property of squid beaks that may lead to breakthroughs in the design of medical devices. They've answered a long-standing, deceptively simple conundrum: "Why don't squid hurt themselves?"
See, squid beaks are nasty, hard, sharp little things. Or, as UCSB biologist Herbert Waite so eloquently put it to the Associated Press:
"A dozen of them could eat you, or really hurt you a lot."
Squid, on the other hand, are soft, pulpy, boneless little creatures. How is it that they can clamp down on their prey with these knifelike little things and not hurt themselves at the same time? It'd be sort of like you or me trying to cut up a piece of cardboard using a pair of scissors that was missing a handle. The sharp part may be aimed at the box, but the ragged end that digs into your hand still hurts like hell.
The back end of that sharp beak, figured biologists, must be like ragged scissor handle on squishy squid body. But squid don't seem to mind, and so scientists asked that most fundamental question: "What's up with that?"
Turns out, say the UCSB scientists, that the squid beak isn't hard through-and-through. The beak material actually graduates slowly from being super-hard on the business end to being rather squishy and elastic on squid end.
Now, you right-brained people out there may already be going, "Huh, that's pretty cool." But those of you with MBAs and sliderules are probably saying, "So? Why should I care?"
Well, the human body is full of hard-soft interfaces that we all-too-often find in need of replacement. If material scientists can replicate this sort of rigid/pliable gradient in artificial joints and prosthetics, professional athletes, wounded veterans, AARP members and all the rest of us may soon be singing the praises of our mollusk friends.
As for the featured photo—yeah, I don't really know what's up with that.
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