Spider Silk: The New Kevlar?
Imitating nature's innovations is not a new strategy, but the exact nature of MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Cheryl Hayashi's research is both startling and -- aside from the predictable, and potentially creepy, military use angle -- pretty fascinating. The UC Riverside biology professor has been looking into ways to replicate spider silk and develop some unusual uses for the stuff.
Imitating nature’s innovations is not a new strategy, but the exact nature of MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Cheryl Hayashi’s research is both startling and — aside from the predictable, and potentially creepy, military use angle — pretty fascinating. The UC Riverside biology professor has been looking into ways to replicate spider silk and develop some unusual uses for the stuff. –KA
Your support is crucial…Wired.com:
Wired.com: What potential uses are there for spider silk and what’s the advantage to using it over other materials?
Hayashi: The kinds of products that are possible are bulletproof vests or other kinds of body armor or equipment armor. Another one would be new varieties of high-performance ropes, where you could have a rope that’s thinner but might be just as strong as ones we have today…. You could use them for sutures, implants — anywhere where this kind of toughness and flexibility could be an advantage.
Other materials might be very strong, but … tend to be very stiff. Spider silks turn out to be very strong but … they have a fair amount of stretch to them. Spider silk also is biodegradable. Many orb-web spinning spiders actually recycle their silk. They eat it. So silk could make for a very green product. Spider silk is also spun under benign ambient room-temperature conditions. That’s really different from something like nylon, which is a petroleum-based product that’s produced under high temperature, high-pressure conditions. Also, Kevlar has great attributes but it’s essentially inert — so if you want to dispose of it you pretty much have to incinerate it.
With an uncertain future and a new administration casting doubt on press freedoms, the danger is clear: The truth is at risk.
Now is the time to give. Your tax-deductible support allows us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes what’s really happening — without compromise.
Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and unearth untold stories.
Opinion
As the warring ruling classes seem to push for nuclear brinkmanship, let us not be distracted on this election night.
Politics
The little elves of Capitol Hill have funneled $25 billion to contractors as part of the DoD budget for 2024.
World
A new report details the scope of spending on drug war programs that undermine other US foreign aid goals.
Opinion
Historical ties to militaristic nationalism pose a serious challenge to current Russian feminist struggles.
Opinion
Reviving the 2010 reform process could be key to resolving Pakistan’s continued crises, but reforms must target the military's massive business empire.
Military
Despite a 2016 law requiring transparency, the Defense Department is limiting public access to court records in the military justice system.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.