A new plastic that mimics the surface of insect wings might help save people’s eyesight. More than 40,000 people each year need a transplant for the front part of the eye, called the cornea. But donors aren’t always available. Also, some people’s bodies won’t accept a replacement from someone else. And bacteria could easily infect materials for artificial ones — at least until now.
Researchers at the University of California (UC), Irvine have made an antibacterial material with thousands of teeny, spike-like pillars. Each pillar is like one of the invisible hairs on a cicada wing. And like the insect wings, the surface kills various types of bacterial cells. Better still, such surfaces can be shaped in a curve, just like the eye is.
