What's stronger and tougher than steel, and more elastic than rubber, weight for weight? Spider silk is, and this incredibly versatile material could transform engineering, materials science and even medicine—if we could ...
Biochemistry
Oct 13, 2022
0
170
Spiders hold the market for the strongest silks but are too aggressive and territorial to be farmed. The next best alternative involves incorporating spider DNA into silkworms, an expensive and difficult-to-scale process. ...
Biochemistry
Oct 6, 2022
0
37
BGI Genomics, in collaboration with Southwest University, the State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, and other partners, has constructed a high-resolution pangenome dataset representing almost the entire genomic ...
Evolution
Sep 30, 2022
0
60
Researchers at Tufts University have developed a method to make silk-based materials that refuse to stick to water, or almost anything else containing water for that matter. In fact, the modified silk, which can be molded ...
Biochemistry
Sep 23, 2022
0
54
Researchers at KI and SLU have discovered that spider silk proteins can be fused to biologically active proteins and be converted into a gel at body temperature. One of the goals is to develop an injectable protein solution ...
Biochemistry
Aug 15, 2022
0
45
Researchers have harnessed the light-guiding properties of spider silk to develop a sensor that can detect and measure small changes in the refractive index of a biological solution, including glucose and other types of sugar ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 2, 2022
0
103
Silk has been cultivated for centuries by domesticated silkworms, but it has been difficult to commercially produce spider silk in bulk due to their cannibalistic tendencies. However, spider silk fibers are attracting attention ...
Materials Science
Jun 21, 2022
0
364
Recent developments such as the explosion of online pharmacies and supply chain issues have made it easier for counterfeiters to profit from fake or adulterated medications. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science ...
Materials Science
Apr 13, 2022
0
139
Cancer is simultaneously one of the most common and devastating diseases in our society. So working out new ways to treat it is an enduring scientific challenge.
Biochemistry
Mar 17, 2022
0
57
The p53 protein protects our cells from cancer and is an interesting target for cancer treatments. The problem is, however, that it breaks down rapidly in the cell. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now ...
Biochemistry
Mar 14, 2022
0
348
