This is scientific American 60 second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute.

Medical devices like implanted arteries or external dialysis machines keep people alive, but persistent problems exist. Blood flowing

through the tubes can form dangerous clots and bacteria that stick to surfaces

could start infections. Treatment for patients using such devices thus often includes anti-clotting agent such as heparin.

But such substances have their own risk.

By interfering with clotting, they can cause potentially deadly bleeding.

Recently, researchers at the Vise Institute for

Biologically inspired engineering at Harvard University

look to the carnivorous pitcher plant for guidance.

The plant structure includes wells with surfaces too slippery for insects to crawl out of.

Those surfaces inspired the development of a coating so slippery that it prevents blood and bacteria from sticking.

The team tested the coating on the interiors of tubes and catheters attached to pigs.

They demonstrated that the coating did not degrade and that blood kept flowing without clotting

for eight hours.

Blood usually starts to clot in tubes in an hour,

the studies in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The researchers also tested whether a gecko

could latch onto the coding with its notoriously sticky foot pads,

but not even the gecko could get a grip.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American 60 Second Science, I'm Cynthia Graber.