Sticky or slippery? Snails can change their slime to meet the moment

Snails are slimy. But there's more to that goo of theirs than meets the eye. It's a fact that may help inspire the creation of new materials.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1239x929+0+0/resize/1239x929!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5e%2Fbd%2Fe09fb420434bb6de4f10f2967bd7%2Fsnail-cropped-flipped.jpg' alt='A new study finds that snails can modulate the properties of their slime.'/><p>Snails are slimy. But there's more to that goo of theirs than meets the eye. It's a fact that may help inspire the creation of new materials.</p><p>(Image credit: Franziska Jehle/Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces<br>)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5920383' />