▲ The picture of new material which was invented by korean scientists

A group of Korean scientists made a new type of material that is more elastic on August 14th. They invented the new type of material for the sake of wanting to study biology and psychology in more effective and medical purposes. They took advantage of the silver's high conductivity, SBS' stretchability, and gold's high-conductivity. They struggled to find the best portion to mix them for a long time. Eventually, they found it.

Developing this new type of material gives us many advantages. It can even stretch 840 percent than the original state of it. The good stretchability of it means that the new type of material cannot break easily when it attaches to the muscle or the cardiac part. Also, this new type of material will record the electrical activity of the heart and muscles, which makes biologists and psychologists get data of biological activity of animals more easily. What is more, it has an outstanding ability of bio-compatible. All of these advantages let this new type of material utilized in many fields of science, and it is expected to help many people and researchers.

▲ The first example of the bio-material which is called `nano capsule`

▲ The second example of the bio-material that uses mussels

Without this new type of material, many other bio-materials are also used in many fields of biology. First, bio-materials are used in heart valves. The mechanics involve two semicircular discs moving back and forth, with both allowing the flow of blood as well as the ability to form a seal against backflow. The valve is coated with pyrolytic carbon and secured to the surrounding tissue with a mesh of woven fabric called Dacron. The mesh allows the body's tissue to grow while incorporating the valve. Also, bio-materials are utilized in skin repair. Most of the time, an artificial tissue is grown from the patient’s own cells. However, when the damage is so extreme that it is impossible to use the patient's own cells, the artificial tissue cells are grown. The difficulty is in finding a scaffold that the cells can grow and organize on. The characteristics of the scaffold must be that it is biocompatible, cells can adhere to the scaffold, mechanically strong and biodegradable.

As you see, various bio-materials help people in many fields. Maybe some people doubt their functions and criticize their danger. However, we have to acknowledge their advantages and they have helped us a lot. I suggest that more scientists should research about it, and invent more bio-materials that are more effective than the past.

By Seo Dong Jae, Sep 9th