Slashdot Mirror
For Super-Tough Spider Silk, Just Add Titanium
A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Germany has been experimenting with ways to infuse biopolymers with different kinds of metals. Finding some success with their tests on spider silk, the team was able to improve the tensile strength of the fibers, increasing the amount of energy required to break a strand as much as ten times. "Spider silk is not a practical engineering material, but materials scientists are trying to produce artificial fibers that mimic its properties. If they succeed, the result could be super-tough textiles. Knez thinks the technique has more immediate potential for toughening other biomaterials such as collagen. 'Mechanically improving collagen using our technique might open several new possible applications, like artificial tendons.'"
Just ask Peter Parker. He can get you a sample of Spideman's webbing, and problem solved.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
...does whatever a troller can. Spins a lie, any size, catches n00bs, just like flies, LOOK OUT! Here comes the troller man.
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
wait. isn't anything with the word "instant" in have alot of calories and salt.
Its not my fault, someone put a wall in my way.
titanium enriched bugs and stuffs.
They're using their grammar skills there.
How do I shot web?
The one with the vocal group theme song that goes, "Spiderman, Spiderman..." There was a scene where the Rhino charges, and Spiderman holds him back with a web across the street. He says something like, "It's a little special formula of mine...Concentrated Steel!"
But infusing collagen with titanium opens up the possibility of augmented super-soldiers like Nuke from Daredevil. "He's got a variety of plastics in his skin. Doesn't burn easy..." Collagen is a major component of skin. What color is titanium when you mix it with flesh? (Copper is green. Iron is red.) Maybe we'll have a bunch of special forces with skin this color?
For now, they're just coating existing webs with a thin film of titanium oxide. Soon, some bright scientist will have the wonderful idea of "hey, if we can just genetically modify the spiders to metabolize titanium and use it in building webs..."
Then the slashdot tags WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong and IForOneWelcomeOurNewInsectOverlords will be back in vogue.
[Yes, I know spiders are arachnids and not insects. Remember, I'm talking about a SLASHDOT tag, okay?]
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
How about using a coltan alloy instead?
--John Henry
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
It would most likely be bright white, like titanium dioxide. So the super-soldiers of the future will look like they've been doused in suntan lotion.
It's the special forces Ultra Goths!
Nexia Biotechnology used to breed genetically modified goats that produce Golden Orb spider silk proteins in their milk glands. They would milk the goats like normal, sift the proteins out, and then mechanically spin the threads. They wanted to use it for medical sutures, bullet-proof vests, and stuff like that. They eventually wanted to genetically modify plants they could just grind up to get the proteins out of their leaves.
Anyway, I lost $1000 investing in that company. Seems NANOTUBES could do everything the spider silk could do, only better, and possibly in even more applications.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
The movies really lost something when they changed the web goop from something Parker creates into something he excretes. eww.
I would have gone with some sort of military Japanese porn joke.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
I, for one, welcome our eventual titanium web building, eight-legged overlords.
The Ministry of Agriculture is not responsible for Titanium Spider Silk. Or is it....?
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
titanium enriched mulberry leaves and stuffs?
What will they think of next?
For kisses that last all night.
Also helpful for those folks that catch bullets in their mouth I suppose.
We can we get started on that space elevator?
Let me get this straight - they're infusing a super-strong metal into biological organisms. Why, oh why does this sound familiar???
Let's just hope they don't give the silkworms claws....
"Until quite recently, spider silk had the highest tensile strength of any substance known to man, and the name Silksteel pays homage to the arachnid for good reason." -- Commissioner Pravin Lal, U.N. Scientific Survey, on the discovery of Silksteel Alloys
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Imagine and even lighter weight shirt made of titanisilk. Frodo would be even safer from an orc blade.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
It would most likely be bright white, like titanium dioxide.
Star Wars makes so much more sense now.
or just add lithium and get over yourself.
Invisibly thin razor wire for guerrilla warfare. And plenty other applications for an ultra durable flexible material.
If only Alec Guinness could see this!
"The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." - Eugene Jarvis