The story behind one of the most common household products goes like this. Swiss inventor George de Mestral was an avid hiker who grew tired of the plant burrs that stuck to his wool pants and to his shaggy dog's coat. One day in 1948, after a hike through France's Jura Mountains, he decided to examine the tiny tormentors further. He noticed that the burrs contained hundreds of tiny hooks that grabbed clothing fibers or anything else they touched. It gave de Mestral an idea and in 1951, he patented his new invention: Velcro. A similar story of discovery goes like this. A colleague of Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Robert Shadwick stumbled across sea snail egg capsules on a walk along a Delaware beach with his young son. The friend, a biochemist named Herb Waite, noticed how peculiarly elastic the capsules were when his son stretched them. He suggested that Shadwick figure out what made them so elastic yet so strong.
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机译：最常见的家用产品之一背后的故事就是这样。瑞士发明家乔治·德·梅斯特拉（George de Mestral）是一个狂热的徒步旅行者，他厌倦了附着在他的羊毛裤和蓬松的狗的外套上的植物毛刺。 1948年的一天，在穿越法国汝拉山脉徒步旅行之后，他决定进一步研究这些微小的折磨者。他注意到毛刺中包含数百个细小的钩子，这些钩子抓住衣服的纤维或其他任何触到的东西。它给了德梅斯特拉（De Mestral）一个想法，并在1951年为他的新发明专利：维可牢（Velcro）。类似的发现故事就是这样。斯克里普斯海洋学研究所研究员罗伯特·沙德威克（Robert Shadwick）的一位同事和他的小儿子在特拉华海滩上漫步时，偶然发现了海蜗牛蛋胶囊。这位朋友是一位名叫赫伯·怀特（Herb Waite）的生物化学家，他注意到当儿子将胶囊拉伸时，它们的弹性特别大。他建议沙德威克弄清楚是什么使它们如此有弹性而又如此结实。
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