Fleas use it to perform leaps that would make Olympic high jumpers green with envy. Bees use it to flap their wings without tiring. Now Australian scientists have achieved a world first by copying resilin, the "rubber" insects employ to accomplish such athletic feats. Future versions of the material could be used to make resilient spare parts, including spinal discs and artificial arteries. Chris Elvin, from CSIRO Livestock Industries in Brisbane, spent four years reproducing nature's "near perfect rubber". Dr Elvin said yesterday: "Nature had a couple of hundred million years of evolution do it. All insects have it. It...
