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Apparently making smaller volumes of the stuff than they had hoped.

Nexia

The three-month period ended February 29, 2004 ...Nexia outlined a significant change in focus for BioSteel® towards nano-application and biopolymer sales.

Of course you know about the company using goats to make spiders silk...

Actually it's not, diamonds are.

Here is a quote from THIS article on artificial spider silk made from goats.

"...spider silk is five times stronger than steel and about three times tougher than man-made fibers such as Kevlar"

Now, if you meant your 'strongest' comment in the context of something that can be woven, and is elastic, I can't disagree with you at this time. You can read THIS article which speaks about the reasons why spider silk is so strong from an elasticity perspective. It's a pretty good explanation if you ask me.

Of course it's possible!!

What gives you the idea that spider silk is non-stretching? Au contraire, spider silk is very stretchy. University of Wyoming researchers found the gene for capture silk which, while also very sticky, can stretch up to 3 times its original length. That's a bit too far, and it would be REALLY tough to handle (how would you let go?).

Dragline silk, though (which is what I imagine we'd want for climbing) is what Nexia is producing. It's only 1/5th as stretchy as capture silk (see first link, above), which means it'll stretch to 1.4 times its original length -- plenty of "shock absorption" to keep you from getting cut in two.

And although Nexia doesn't say anything about abrasion resistance, they do say they're hoping to create fibers with specific properties for specific applications. I do agree that the fibers may need to be sheathed in something else (maybe even dragline silk would be too sticky -- who knows?), but I still think it'd be a vast improvement over what we carry today.

Here's a quick summary of who came up with what, and where things are going on. Morality, ethics, "Our world is crumbling around us", etc. are left to the professionals (and gifted amateurs) elsewhere in this discussion.

The spider silk gene is intellectual property of the University of Wyoming and is licensed by Nexia Biotechnologies. The spider silk genome information was patented through the work of Dr. Randy Lewis.

Nexia Biotechnologies is a company from St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec (on the western edge of Montreal). St. Anne is home to MacDonald College, the agricultural school of McGill University. Nexia's Corporate offices and R&D facilities are located in St. Anne. Nexia's CEO Jeffrey D. Turner is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Animal Science at McGill University.

Nexia's knowledge is not really in the spiders, but in the goats. Their press releases give an overview of what they're into. Specifically, they've got what they call BELE (Breed Early, Lacate Early) goats which can be used as a sort of biological factory. The spider silk becomes their first biologically manufactured product.

Nexia's breeding farm is the decomissioned base in Plattsburgh, New York. Their research farm is in Canada.

Nexia completed an IPO in December and apparantly has agreements with the US and Canadian military for the use of BioSteel.

Here's a quick summary of who came up with what, and where things are going on. Morality, ethics, "Our world is crumbling around us", etc. are left to the professionals (and gifted amateurs) elsewhere in this discussion.

The spider silk gene is intellectual property of the University of Wyoming and is licensed by Nexia Biotechnologies. The spider silk genome information was patented through the work of Dr. Randy Lewis.

Nexia Biotechnologies is a company from St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec (on the western edge of Montreal). St. Anne is home to MacDonald College, the agricultural school of McGill University. Nexia's Corporate offices and R&D facilities are located in St. Anne. Nexia's CEO Jeffrey D. Turner is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Animal Science at McGill University.

Nexia's knowledge is not really in the spiders, but in the goats. Their press releases give an overview of what they're into. Specifically, they've got what they call BELE (Breed Early, Lacate Early) goats which can be used as a sort of biological factory. The spider silk becomes their first biologically manufactured product.

Nexia's breeding farm is the decomissioned base in Plattsburgh, New York. Their research farm is in Canada.

Nexia completed an IPO in December and apparantly has agreements with the US and Canadian military for the use of BioSteel.

Here's a quick summary of who came up with what, and where things are going on. Morality, ethics, "Our world is crumbling around us", etc. are left to the professionals (and gifted amateurs) elsewhere in this discussion.

The spider silk gene is intellectual property of the University of Wyoming and is licensed by Nexia Biotechnologies. The spider silk genome information was patented through the work of Dr. Randy Lewis.

Nexia Biotechnologies is a company from St. Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec (on the western edge of Montreal). St. Anne is home to MacDonald College, the agricultural school of McGill University. Nexia's Corporate offices and R&D facilities are located in St. Anne. Nexia's CEO Jeffrey D. Turner is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Animal Science at McGill University.

Nexia's knowledge is not really in the spiders, but in the goats. Their press releases give an overview of what they're into. Specifically, they've got what they call BELE (Breed Early, Lacate Early) goats which can be used as a sort of biological factory. The spider silk becomes their first biologically manufactured product.

Nexia's breeding farm is the decomissioned base in Plattsburgh, New York. Their research farm is in Canada.

Nexia completed an IPO in December and apparantly has agreements with the US and Canadian military for the use of BioSteel.

Presumably protective coatings will be applied as needed.

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The company: Nexia Biotechnology
The product: BioSteel

The company: Nexia Biotechnology
The product: BioSteel