The caterpillars that spin commercial silk can make much tougher or more elastic threads, depending on how fast they’re forced to spin. If this research finding is translated into a marketable process ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Silk is a fabulous fabric, but it’s also a material that can do so ...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Watch out, Spider-Man: Your webbing is about to be used for more than fighting crime. University of Wyoming professor Don Jarvis, along with collaborators in Indiana, Utah and ...

Spider silk—six times tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel—has now been produced by an unexpected source. Spider silk is a biological protein fiber spun by spiders. Many of these fibers have ...

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford. Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in ...

Chinese scientists have developed a method to manually spin silk from silkworms that can make it 70 percent tougher compared to the silk spun by spiders, according to South China Morning Post. This ...

Those precious silk garments in your closet were made by the caterpillar of a fuzzy, white moth — thousands of them. Silkworms spin a cocoon with a single strand of silk up to 10 city blocks long.

Silkworm thread has been turned into superstrong material that surpasses the strength of natural spider silks, according to research. Scientists have made it 70 percent stronger than a spider's silk ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

Spiders hold the market for the strongest silks but are too aggressive and territorial to be farmed. The next best alternative involves incorporating spider DNA into silkworms, an expensive and ...

Current methods for repairing injured nerves can be hit-and-miss and are restricted to repair over short distances. For the first time, researchers have combined two kinds of silk to create a ...

Spider silk is a bit of a dream material, stronger than steel by some measures yet incredibly light and flexible. Obtaining spider silk, however, is a bit of a nightmare, as most spider species are ...