Natures wonders: repairing broken bird feathers (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, May 31, 2018, 18:52 (2366 days ago) @ David Turell

Just get them wet:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2170553-bent-bird-feathers-repair-themselves-when-...

"Splashing around in water doesn’t just get a bird clean – it can also repair broken feathers from the inside.

"Marc Meyers at the University of California, San Diego and his colleagues repeatedly bent vulture feathers nearly in half, soaked them in water, and let them dry out again to test how much a bath can repair a feather, and how that process works.

"They tested two different parts of the feather’s spine: the calamus, which is the hollow base that sits under the skin, and the rachis, which is the rest of the feather’s central shaft. The walls of the feather’s shaft are made of fibres of keratin, the same type of dead tissue that makes up human hair and nails.

"Sandwiched between these fibres are layers of a spongy matrix also made of keratin. The researchers found that when they soaked the feathers in water, it was absorbed by this spongy material. The spongy part expanded, but the fibres did not absorb any water and remained the same length.

"Because the fibres bend elastically, they “remember” their previous straight shape – once the matrix was softened by water, internal pressure from the swollen matrix encouraged the bent fibres to spring taut again.

"Meyers compares it to a long, thin balloon. “If you have an empty balloon, it’s floppy, but when you fill it with air it becomes straight,” he says. In feathers, the water fills the keratin matrix like air in a balloon.

"After two cycles of soaking and drying, the rachis recovered about 82 per cent of its original strength, and the calamus recovered about 78 per cent. After three more cycles, the calamus maintained the same 78 per cent strength, while the rachis degraded to 56 per cent.

"These differences are likely because the centre of the rachis is filled with more of the keratin matrix, while the calamus is hollow. At first, the extra spongy material gives the rachis an extra boost, but as it breaks down after being bent many times, it gets so damaged that it prevents further recovery.

"Meyer says that artificial materials engineered to mimic feathers could be used for self-healing structures, like antennae that repair themselves in the rain."

Comment: A logical need is available. Once again, unless the mechanism was available from the beginning of bird speciation, would birds have survived? Feathers are very fragile. More evidence God controls the appearance of new species.