Genetically Engineered Silkworms Spin Spider Silk

disco_tracy writes "Silkworms have been modified to produce spider silk, creating a fabric that could be used in everything from bulletproof clothing to artificial tendons." For some reason, this is far less revolting to me than the idea of spider silk being milked out of goats.

Almost there

[Entropy98]

"Compared to normal spider silk, it's not as strong," said Malcolm Fraser, a scientist from the University of Notre Dame. "But we are confident that, this being our first attempt, that we will be able to tweak the system to bring the system closer to the strength of true spider silk."
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windows media codec pack [softpedia.com]

Re:Cool

[PinkyGigglebrain]

FYI, the Monarch butterfly report showing harm was discredited due to the concentrations of pollen placed on the milkweed. It was way more than would normally by found in the wild.

And thank your for for the support.

That said, here are some links you might find informative;

Monsanto [sourcewatch.org]
more Monsanto [naturalnews.com]
Yet more Monsanto (busy aren't they) [vanityfair.com]
intersting site [gmwatch.org]
Canola [npr.org]
GM canola in the wild [scientificamerican.com]
Possible wipe out of terrestrial plant life [purefood.org]
another one [biotech-info.net]

Have fun reading.

_

Re:Cool

[amorsen]

Danish studies have shown clear correlation between how well informed people are about GMO and how positive their attitude is towards it. The correlation is negative.

Re:FEH

[Sir_Lewk]

Another good example of this is aluminium or titanium bike frames vs steel bike frames. Because rigidity is rather important in bikes, steel frames hold their own extremely well against the more exotic materials. The weight benefits of aluminium and titanium are offset by the fact that they have to make the tubes far thicker.

Re:Cool

[Jarik C-Bol]

you must have missed the article we had a few months ago about the farmer that finally won his case against Monstanto. It included links to some *VERY* compelling evidence that GP's stance on Monstanto is not hot air and scare mongering.

Re:Cool

[imamac]

Of course not. And a few fibers of kevlar won't either. Put together tightly makes a bit of difference, though.

Re:Cool

[SatanicPuppy]

Common silk is reasonably bullet resistant. You can shoot a low caliber bullet at a silk hanky (held by the top) and the bullet will push the silk aside rather than penetrate it. Spider silk is much stronger, ergo, better for this sort of thing.

Kevlar body armor is generally formed of kevlar cloth sewn in layers, backed by hard metal or ceramic plates. The bullet will absolutely penetrate, but (generally) won't go all the way through.

A material with a higher tensile strength will offer better protection because the bullet will dissipate more energy punching through the layers. Ideally you could cut weight as well (which is the biggest problem with body armor).

Re:Cool

[mcgrew]

Gram for gram, spider webs are stronger than steel (or at least have more tensils strength).

Re:Opening cocoons

[RancidPeanutOil]

fwiw, silk is actually harvested before the worms break out of their cocoons by boiling the whole thing to melt the worm inside and loosen up the silk. But the actual process of breaking out of the cocoon isn't a strength issue, it's a chemical process where they secrete an enzyme to break down the thread. If the thread is chemically similar, then it wouldn't be a problem.

If the enzyme does still work, they should manufacture that stuff in spray cans - it would make cleaning the corners of my room a hell of a lot easier.

Re:Opening cocoons

[excelsior_gr]

The cocoons need to be intact in order for silk of any kind to be produced. The silk moths are not supposed to open their cocoons in the first place. Usually the silkworm pupae are killed while still inside the intact cocoon by heating them.

Re:FEH

[IndustrialComplex]

I'm still trying to figure out why steel scuba tanks cost *more* than aluminum ones, though, looking at the spot prices for each of those metals.

Aluminum is easier to work with. Lower melting point, it's less demanding for machining, and a few other factors.

Re:Cool

[Bigjeff5]

Mmmmmmm... Daaaaanishhh....

Re:FEH

[Bigjeff5]

That's odd, according to Wikipedia steel tops out around 2700 MPa (similar to what you claim), but spider silk tops out around 27,000 MPa, or 10 times that of steel, though your run-of-the-mill spider will only produce around 1,000 MPa silk. Kevlar is about the same as the strongest steel (around 2,700 MPa), UHMDWPE fibers (Spectra) are a bit stronger. Piano wire only hits about 2500 MPa (pretty good for steel, but not the best).

Titanium is as strong as low-grade steel (430-ish MPa), but is 45% lighter. In other words, you need a much higher grade steel (at least 800 MPa) to match the characteristics of titanium, and as you said titanium is cheep. High grade steel is not. That's why steel scuba tanks are more expensive. The bonus is as you mentioned though - they are about half as thick, though not any lighter (unless you go for even higher grade steel), so tanks can be a little smaller and still hold the same volume of air at the same pressure, or be the same size and hold the same volume of air at slightly lower pressure. Not a bad deal, but it's going to cost you some extra cash.

Carbon fiber tops out at 6,370 MPa, more than twice that of steel. Pure silica glass fiber tops out at 4,000 MPa, but mono-crystalline silicon hits up to 7,000 MPa.

The strongest material yet measured is multi-walled carbon nanotubes, with a tensile strength of 63 GPa, though theoretically they should be able to hit 300 GPa.

In other words, I think you need to hit the books again man, your figures are way, way off.

Why the hell would we use exotic materials if they were weaker and heavier than steel? Steel can only do so much, and it has been far, far surpassed by new materials.