Porcupines may be animals many people try to avoid, but medical researchers have recently become interested in studying the spiked creature – more specifically, studying the porcupine’s quills.
Researchers from both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston detailed their work emulating porcupine quills, in an attempt to create new medical adhesives, needles and more, Medical News Today reported. The paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencies (PNAS).
The scientists took inspiration from the quill of the North American porcupine. Harboring a four-millimeter tip covered in microscopic barbs, the quill is extremely difficult to remove once it punctures an animal’s skin.
