Researchers at Northwestern University and San Diego State University (SDSU) have better unraveled the complex process of how black widow spiders transform proteins into steel-strength fibers. This knowledge promises to aid ...
Materials Science
Oct 22, 2018
3
334
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has succeeded in using a gene editing technique to get silkworms to produce spider silk. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy ...
Spiders' silk is already tough stuff—just ask your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.
Nanomaterials
Aug 14, 2017
0
185
A team of architects and chemists from the University of Cambridge has designed super-stretchy and strong fibres which are almost entirely composed of water, and could be used to make textiles, sensors and other materials. ...
Materials Science
Jul 10, 2017
1
515
Spider silks, the stuff of spider webs, are a materials engineer's dream: they can be stronger than steel at a mere fraction of weight, and also can be tougher and more flexible. Spider silks also tend not to provoke the ...
Biotechnology
May 1, 2017
1
261
A chance meeting between a spider expert and a chemist has led to the development of antibiotic synthetic spider silk.
Materials Science
Jan 4, 2017
0
399
Spider silk has long been noted for its graceful structure, as well as its advanced material properties: Ounce for ounce, it is stronger than steel.
Materials Science
May 15, 2015
0
5770
A spider commonly found in garden centres in Britain is giving fresh insights into how to spin incredibly long and strong fibres just a few nanometres thick.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2015
0
753
(Phys.org) —Perhaps the worst fate to be had in the sea is to be slimed by the hagfish. The proteinaceous goo they secrete has gotten many a hagfish out of bind by gumming up the gills and suffocating a would be attacker. ...
(Phys.org) —Scientists in Japan have genetically engineered silkworms to create red, green or orange silks that glow under fluorescent lights.
