Resilin

Resilin is a special kind of protein found in the bodies of some insects, like grasshoppers and fleas. It is a type of elastic substance that helps these critters to jump higher and farther than they would be able to otherwise.

Think of it like a rubber band - when you stretch a rubber band, it has the potential to snap back into its original shape once you let go. Similarly, when insects with resilin jump, the protein springs back into its original shape, helping the insect to jump again and again.

Resilin is made up of special building blocks called amino acids, which are strung together like beads on a necklace. These amino acids have a special arrangement that make the protein stretchy - kind of like a slinky!

Scientists are very interested in studying resilin because it has some really cool properties - it can withstand a lot of wear and tear, it can stretch 10 times its original length, and it's really strong for its size. They think that by studying how resilin works, they might be able to develop new materials for all sorts of things, like clothing, car tires and even biomedical devices!