MIT Labs Moves Ahead In Synthesizing Spider Silk

icepick72 writes in with a link to an ExtremeTech article on new methods for creating synthetic spider silk. This material, like lycra in many ways, has a number of unique properties. The MIT lab that created it is being monitored by military elements, keenly interested in applications of this material to front-line technologies. From the article: "The secret of spider silk's combined strength and flexibility, according to scientists, has to do with the arrangement of the nano-crystalline reinforcement of the silk as it is being produced--in other words, the way these tiny crystals are oriented towards (and adhere to) the stretchy protein. Emulating this process in a synthetic polymer, the MIT team focused on reinforcing solutions of commercial rubbery substance known as polyurethane elastomer with nano-sized clay platelets instead of simply heating and mixing the molten plastics with reinforcing agents."

Comments

I love these kinds of statements

[peektwice]

Scientists have previously suggested that a mere pencil-thick strand of silk could actually stop a Boeing 747 in mid flight. Sounds like "It can transmit the entire library of congress in less than a minute."
If the author of TFA needs to dumb it down for him/herself, fine. But I wish they wouldn't assume that we all have a G.W.Bush I.Q.

Re:I love these kinds of statements

[iminplaya]

Many of us are too smart to graduate from an Ivy League University and be elected President, twice.

Yeah, and we all know how to hack into school records and voting machines, too. Daddy, I wanna be president :-Q~

Re:I love these kinds of statements

[Divebus]

...a mere pencil-thick strand of silk could actually stop a Boeing 747 in mid flight

Ohhh... this stuff would make fabulous condoms. They could recover the entire R&D budget in three weekends.

Re:I love these kinds of statements

[davester666]

But less friction is involved with stopping a 747...

Re:I love these kinds of statements

[91degrees]

It does depend. Something like "The size of a football pitch" is fine for indicating area. We all know roughly what that looks like. But all too often we see silly examples. Like that 747 example. Is that good? I've never tried stopping a 747 in mid flight. What sort of thickness would you need to lift a person or tow a car? I've seen climbing ropes and towing ropes so I have a frame of reference. And It's bad when there are too many. I've never seen 4200 garbage trucks.

I remember reading that a particular hangar was "As tall as an olympic swimming pool on its end". This irritated me for two reasons.

• I've never seen an olympic swimming pool on its end.
• If you did that, the water would pour out.

Re:I love these kinds of statements

[Anonymous Coward]

"Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!"

Be careful, MIT

[Anonymous Coward]

With great power comes great responsibility. Remember that, MIT. Remember that.

Re:Back to spiders...

[Anonymous Coward]

> Seriously though, I want to know why it's so difficult for us to make it, but a spider just kind of shits it out. How'd this happen?

It's funnier than spiders shitting it out, it's all about the goats shooting it out of their tits.

And in memory of the first AC to make me spew coffee not just all over the keyboard and the monitor, but into the adjacent cube, the following comment didn't quite make it into the archives some six years ago:

"In case you don't read the article, silk does not just come shooting out of their tits. It's like this..."

someday, man, someday.

If it's any consolation, the goats probably do shoot it outa their tits by now.

Re:A third useful property of spider silk

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I guess that would limit it to indoor applications..... :*S

Re:A many-splendoured thing

[sarahbau]

Wait. So, is it like lycra, or mostly unique? Like Lycra, only stickier?

That be one of those 'scii-eence' thingamabobs

[kalpaha]

I love the fact that no one understands the summary so everyone just tags the article as 'science'.

Re:GW Bush is not that dumb.

[fredrated]

So in your world there is a correlation between political achievement and intelligence?

My god, which world is this you are from? If this is true it must be a paradise on Earth! If we could but all live there.

Spider-Man VS Bear-Man

[SilentOneNCW]

Wow, looks like the U.S. Military will be faced with two options for next generation armour -- this and Troy Hurtubise's Anti-Grizzly Suit. I wonder who would win in a fight to the death?