The sea cucumber has inspired scientists to create a new material that hopefully one day will be used to treat all types of problems associated with the brain, namely, Parkinson’s. This new material has the ability to go from stiff to supple and vice versa. How does it work? Well in a nutshell: In the absence of water, the nanofibres are held together by chemical links known as hydrogen bonds. This gives the material its rigidity. When exposed to water, the water molecules “competitively bond” with the fibres. This has an effect of “ungluing” the fibre-to-fibre bonds, and the material becomes about 1,000 times softer, with the consistency of rubber. This will hopefully lead to many further jumps and many abnormalities of the brain may be solved but, are they curing the problem or the symptoms?

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