What was looking like the quills of a porcupine?
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To pierce your skin, a porcupine quill needs only about half the force of a hypodermic needle, according to a new study. The work, which also explains why the quills are so hard to remove, could improve the design of a variety of medical instruments, from devices that poke us to those that help keep wounds shut.
Porcupines are famed for their quills, which are actually large, stiff hairs that help defend the animals against natural predators. Contrary to popular notions, the large rodents can't throw their quills at an enemy, says Jeffrey Karp, a bioengineer at Harvard Medical School in Boston. However, the quills are readily shed and can become firmly embedded in an unfortunate victim.
The North American porcupine has about 30,000 quills, each one adorned with between 700 and 800 barbs along the 4 millimeters or so nearest its tip. Although those barbs help the quills remain embedded in a victim's skin, scientists haven't studied the details of how they do so. To better understand the function of the barbs and to determine if they might be useful for medical devices, Karp and his colleagues conducted several lab tests—with, in some cases, unexpected results.