ScienceAugust 22, 2026
resilin
REZ-uh-lin
Definition
A highly elastic, rubber-like protein found in insects that is capable of storing and releasing energy with extreme efficiency.
Etymology
The word was coined in 1960 from the Latin 'resilire' (to jump back or recoil), referring to the material's high level of natural resilience.
In the news
The article describes how C. edulis larvae use rings of resilin in their air sacs to control buoyancy, acting as a biological accordion that withstands high water pressure.
The textbook reason insects never colonised the deep ocean is that water pressure would crush their airways — but a larvae living in Lake Malawi dives deeper than 200 metres every single day, protected by air sacs built from a near-perfect biological rubber
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