Gummy-9 or Responsive biomimetic networks from polyisocyanopeptide hydrogels

Been a long time since the staff at Boys Books, Armageddon Desk, have decided to post a new blog. Frankly we are still in our spider hole. If anybody up there in the real world is still there, how's it going with the Mayans as your new overlords? Is it hard to clean Quatzequatel poop off your windshield? Will Valentines day really rip your heart out?

The real reason to blog today is that a prediction we made has almost come true, Gummy-bear-9 9or gummy-worm-9 depending on your persuasion), a mythical gummy bear that when added to water water would turn it all to jelly.

According to a new paper, the evil substance is upon us. Even with Mayan over site, scientists have been busy creating new ways for the world to end.

Just 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) new material can turn an olympic-sized swimming pool into jelly. For grins and giggles (because being in a spider hole requires an extra attempt at humor) we looked up how much water is in an olympic sized swimming pool: 2,500,000 Liters or 550,000 imperial gallons or 660,000 USA gallons.

To jelly up Lake superior, it would take ten billion pounds of gummy polymer.

Oh the horror!

But wait, would it really take 10,000,000,000 pounds?  This new polymer works when the mixture is heated, so really the polymer would only form on the surface of the water in the summer. We don't need much to muck up the world, just a layer of scum that prevents oxygen and a little light from passing the surface barrier. Look at oil slicks, but stuff with just a little oil. So, let's try that again and say one inch of scum on Lake superior would only take 34 thousand pounds of the polymer and a summer's day. Much easier to imagine!

Now, imagine a few million pounds of the stuff being shipped anywhere in the world via ship on lakes, rivers, or ocean. Imagine the disaster! You might not even know the extent until a little global warming enters the picture. It would be bad! Very bad! Worse because there would be no flavoring, sugar, or cute little gummy bear shapes, just a fishy gummy scum as far as the eye could see.

The end result is fish and bird deaths. Plankton failures at sea. America's Cup racing will seem even more pointless. Beach combers will become Fish Gummy farmers. End of the world in three weeks because of the financial collapse triggered by Disney's losses of Disney Cruises.

Remember, you heard it here first. End of the world is around the corner.

On a side note, can someone email us if the Mayans are still taking revenge? We ran out of Cheetos last week and are ready to come out for at least a run to the Quicky Mart.