The strength and robustness of spider silk have long fascinated scientists and engineers. Recent research indicates that synthetic spider silk could potentially outperform steel in a number of tests, ...

Jan. 31 -- It may be impossible to craft a silk purse from a sow's ear. But one day, it may be possible to fashion a silk bulletproof vest from, of all things, goat's milk. For decades, scientists ...

The number of times I have walked into a spider web is pretty comical. At first, I saw them as a nuisance during my forest adventures, but upon a closer look with my macro lens, I began to notice that ...

Tougher than steel, lighter than cotton, and stubbornly elusive to produce. For decades, spider silk has been the material science has long promised but never quite delivered at scale. Now, a Michigan ...

Take a walk through a forest, and you’re bound to come upon a spider web stretching from one tree branch to the next. The intricacy of the web can leave a person in awe, but what is even more ...

Spider silk, renowned for its strength, toughness, and fineness, is a natural protein fiber produced by specialized glands.

When they weave their webs, spiders pull their silk threads. New simulations show stretching during spinning causes the protein chains within the fibers to align and the number of hydrogen bonds ...

Scientists have officially brought genetic engineering to the spider's web. For the first time, researchers have created a gene-edited spider that spins red fluorescent silk. Led by a team at the ...

Stronger than steel and more eco-friendly than plastic, spider silk is an alluring substance for material scientists. 1 However, researchers know little about the proteins that comprise it and how ...

Understanding how the stretching process strengthens spider silk is a key part of helping design stronger, biodegradable, silk-inspired materials for various applications. When spiders spin their webs ...