Humans have learnt many from nature. These things have helped us in our life. The latest thing is self-repairing . Scientists have developed a special for clothing to repair rips and tears by , without the need for sewing. It works with materials such as cotton, linen and . The scientists are from the Naval Research Office and Pennsylvania State University in the USA. Scientists Dr. Walter Dressick and Dr Melik Demirel looked at how squid can cling on to things so . The research team found a protein in the rings of teeth that cover the suckers on a . The protein is to the one found in the silk that spiders use to make spider . It is very strong and elastic (stretchy).
The new protein has been developed as of a coating, which is put on clothes. When the is dipped in water, the area around the or tear joins together in than a minute. This could help clothes last longer and save us money. It could also be useful for and survival clothes. People like soldiers and mountaineers would be if they had clothes that repaired quickly and . Professor Demirel spoke about the . He said: "The coatings are thin, less than a micron, so they wouldn't be noticed in wear." He added: "Even thin, they increase the overall strength of the material. For the first , we are making self-healing textiles."