Studies revealing how the protein elastin – found in heart tissue and blood vessels – responds electrically to glucose could offer new clues to problems that arise as we get older, including loss of elasticity in major blood vessels and arteriosclerosis. The research might ultimately point to a way of slowing or even reversing the damage.Elastin is an extracellular protein found in the connective tissues of vertebrates. As its name suggests, it can stretch and return to its original shape and size. Recently, however, biological ferroelectricity was observed in elastin present in the heart's major artery, the aorta. Ferroelectricity...