Also: catch connective tissue, mutable collagenous tissue
Sea cucumbers can switch their skin from soft to stiff in seconds. This inspired materials that change stiffness on demand, such as softening brain implants.
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Capadona and colleagues made a polymer composite that switches between stiff and soft when wetted, inspired by sea cucumber dermis.
Built / tested: stiffness-changing composite
As reported in: Capadona, Shanmuganathan, Tyler et al. (2008). Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Nanocomposites Inspired by the Sea Cucumber Dermis. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1153307
Abstract only