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Things I did not expect in life: my Year 10 work experience lab and Korean Skin Care regimes having elements in common
In Year 10, a week or two at work experience was compulsory, and I somehow managed to end up in a science lab. I was very excited to finally 1. earn money because I wasn't given regular pocket money 2. SCIENCE LABBBB
I was a leeeeetle disappointed to find myself mostly doing work in a prac lab because my work experience supervisor ran out of things to give me to do. There was a lot of glassware washing and set up; fixing broken glass vessels using bunsen burners, they even made a video
of me fixing glass measuring cylinders and beakers. We got to do fun things though, like going out to pick branches off actual trees, and for at least five years afterwards I could accurately identify and name at least 5 species of wattle
What I hadn't expected was to land in a lab, given my interests in biochemistry, that studied snails. And not just snails but slugs as well.
I did not like snails. I did not like slugs.
I did not like snails. I did not like slugs.
My experience with slugs and snails was limited to the strawberry patch at the house we lived in in Hobart, where most of the intensely fragrant berries were always either half eaten or tracked over with shiny slime. It put me off strawberries for years
We did not collect any snails. In a last ditch effort to give me something to do, we went digging for piles of dirt to sift through three different sizes of sieve. I was to attempt to find any snail shell fragments where possible.
Expecting to occupy me for at least two days on this, I finished the task in an afternoon and couldn't find any snail shells, eggs or remnants. My supervisor couldn't find any either. Finally, after holding my tongue for two weeks, I blurted out my burning question:
why study snails and slugs? This was the polite version of my Why On Earth Would You Study These Things What Function Do The Slimy Bros Even Serve In Nature And They Also leave slime everywhere???
It turns out that snails, and slugs especially are *amazing.* Apart from the fact that slugs and snails are often hermaphroditic and will sexually reproduce through some very ...unique forms of sex. But that's not the only interesting bit
What's really interesting is the gooey coating that slugs and snails have all over their bodies; slugs especially. It turns out that the complex gel that coats them can have some UV protection - slugs produce their own SPF. Considering they have to wander around all day without
any kind of shield, they need it. But in addition to the slime they exude so they can slide about everywhere and make sure everyone knows where they've been, they also secrete mucin, which keeps them nicely hydrated
The mucin is like any kind of gel - it's a kind of polymer, or long chain molecule - that's suspended in some kind of liquid. A polymer is made of a chain of smaller molecules that link up together. E.g in this gif, amino acids link up to form a peptide. Polymers can also
be made of the same molecular unit. So it's not just just amino acids that form polymers (that eventually become proteins), but they're a cornerstone of modern materials: plastics manufacturing, agar in some desserts, tapioca, the list goes on
So the polymers in this mucin happen to be good at holding water - and this mucin is now everywhere in skin care. Snail mucin. From snails. The wiggly things with pearlescent poop.
Snail mucin was not something I was expecting to find decades later in my attempts to improve my skin, or that I'd have to pay a huge price for it - and I won't be buying it because ugh no thanks seriously, I've seen snails
But all that work took decades - from the 1960s discovery of mucin composition - to make it to a commercial function. I don't know if snails are harmed in the making of cosmetic mucin, but it's a long way for the humble gastropod to come
literally from the gutter to glamour. But be warned: smearing snails and slugs on your skin is no substitute. Snails and slugs can harbour all kinds of bacteria and people have come to harm from attempting to uh - lick - them. Seriously. Don't
Who knew the humble snail, that my gardening neighbours told us to "gather into a brown paper bag and crush under your gumboots" were so glamorous and had evolved such amazing materials. There's also a snail that has teeth made of iron-particle nanomaterials so that it can
*crush rock.*
So when scientists talk about how we might find a "cure for cancer in the Amazon," this is kind of the thing we mean. Nature has evolved some pretty astonishing substances. Losing biodiversity means we kill the earth slowly - and, more selfishly, lose many
So when scientists talk about how we might find a "cure for cancer in the Amazon," this is kind of the thing we mean. Nature has evolved some pretty astonishing substances. Losing biodiversity means we kill the earth slowly - and, more selfishly, lose many
potentially interesting compounds.
I still don't like snails and slugs but by heck I do respect them. As long as they stay away from my strawberry patch.
I still don't like snails and slugs but by heck I do respect them. As long as they stay away from my strawberry patch.
