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Spider Silk Cape Goes On Display
fangmcgee writes "Before anyone asks, no, it's not bulletproof. But that doesn't mean that the glistening yellow cape—the world's largest garment made entirely from spider silk—isn't a massive feat of engineering to be marveled. Now on public display for the first time at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the textile gets its unearthly gleam from the undyed filaments of the golden orb spider, a species of arachnid commonly found in Madagascar."
http://theinfosphere.org/Spiderians
Sure, bulletproof would be nice, but what I really want to know is whether it'll let me block creatures with flying.
Aluminium was once phenomenally rare and expensive. Napoleon had a set of highly valued plates made of the stuff. Breakthroughs in manufacturing made it a cheap, common material. I suspect this will go the same way, with synthetic versions becoming a utilitarian material among others. The cape will become an amusing historical footnote.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
when the Hallâ"Héroult process was discovered.
Gezundheit.
Many different kinds of spider silk. One spider will typically produce several kinds depending on need (tensile strength, stickyness, elasticity). But the strongest kinds will typically blow even carbon fiber out of the water when it comes to tensile strength. Lots of difficulties to overcome still, but it is a fascinating field of research
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then