It already exists in the natural world. Now, thanks to breakthroughs in genetic engineering, scientists have created ...

Move over, mycelium. The new year is kicking off with a new next-gen material in mind: the queen of fibers. Silk is one of the oldest fibers, first emerging in China around 2600 BCE, according to the ...

By uncovering the molecular interactions that give spider silk its remarkable properties, researchers have revealed principles that could inspire advanced materials and shed light on biological ...

Spider silk is often touted as some of the strongest material on Earth: According to some calculations, it can be up to five times stronger than steel cable of similar weight—though that comparison is ...

Scientists have cracked a key mystery behind spider silk’s legendary strength and flexibility. They discovered that tiny molecular interactions act like natural glue, holding silk proteins together as ...

A research team in Japan reported that they succeeded in producing the spider silk -- ultra-lightweight, though, biodegradable and biocompatible material -- using photosynthetic bacteria. This study ...

Individual silk protein molecules, or “silk fibroins” (blue), are deposited on a graphene surface surrounded by water (green and red spheres) and grow into an atomically precise two-dimensional (2D) ...