{"id":247003,"date":"2026-11-10T06:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T12:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/water-may-play-critical-role-in-how-our-tissues-stretch-and-spring-back"},"modified":"2026-11-10T06:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T12:46:19","slug":"water-may-play-critical-role-in-how-our-tissues-stretch-and-spring-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/water-may-play-critical-role-in-how-our-tissues-stretch-and-spring-back","title":{"rendered":"Water may play critical role in how our tissues stretch and spring back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Every time your heart beats, your lungs expand, or your skin stretches, a remarkable protein called elastin helps your body return to its original shape. But what exactly gives this protein its elasticity? For more than 50 years, scientists have debated whether elastin\u2019s ability to stretch and recoil comes primarily from the protein\u2019s own flexibility or from its interactions with surrounding water molecules.<\/p>\n<p>Now, researchers at the University of Connecticut College of Engineering have uncovered new evidence suggesting that water plays a much larger role than previously understood. In a study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-78799-w\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> November 9 in <i>Nature Communications<\/i>, Anna Tarakanova, associate professor in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Metehan \u00c7am used advanced computer simulations to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind elastin\u2019s remarkable elasticity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElastin is the body\u2019s natural spring,\u201d said Tarakanova. \u201cIt helps arteries expand and recoil with each heartbeat, allows the lungs to stretch and relax during breathing, and gives skin some of its ability to return to shape.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every time your heart beats, your lungs expand, or your skin stretches, a remarkable protein called elastin helps your body return to its original shape. But what exactly gives this protein its elasticity? For more than 50 years, scientists have debated whether elastin\u2019s ability to stretch and recoil comes primarily from the protein\u2019s own flexibility [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1523,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}