The Tangled History of Weaving with Spider Silk

Spider silk is a protein fiber spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. Spider silk is incredibly tough and is stronger by weight than steel. Quantitatively, spider silk is five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. Scientists have found that each strand, which is 1000 times thinner than a human hair, is actually made up of thousands of nanostrands, only 20 millionths of a millimeter in diameter.

Useful, yes...but how do you get the spider to give it to you?

This week, a look at the tangled history of weaving with spider silk.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The world belongs to the energetic." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (US essayist and poet, 1803 - 1882)

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