Researchers Make Spiders Produce Silk Strengthened With Graphene 59
An anonymous reader writes: Italian researchers in Trent have enabled 15 Pholcidae spiders to spin graphene-strengthened dragline silk just by spraying them with a solution containing carbon nanotubes and graphene flakes. The resulting fiber is as strong as Kevlar 49, and ranks among the most resilient and ductile in the world of manufacturing. But Emiliano Lepore's research has not succeeded in understanding by what process the spiders are able to incorporate the ambient materials into their webs. Since spider-farming is historically unproductive, the possibility of continuing the research on silk-worms has been presented.
Radiated perhaps? (Score:1)
Did you get the spiders from Marvel?
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I don't know...This seems like some kind of alternate reality setup for the Venom creation story. *I'm* not wearing anything woven from this stuff is all I'm saying.
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Have they tried incubating the spider eggs in childrens ears?
Couldn't, as they already had beans stored there.
Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Informative)
Hmmm, I can think of a few places where strengthening with novel carbon structures would be quite welcome...
rgb
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Does it not get stiff enough for you anymore?
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Skin is very porous. (Score:1)
Skin appears solid and like a wall but in reality, it is very porous.
You're likely just as permeable to small discrete carbon structures as those spiders.
To put it more blatantly, nicotine patches work because nicotine is absorbed through the layers of skin. Thus anything the size of a nicotine molecule can find its way into your body. Similarly if you laid in a bath of alcohol for long enough, you could get drunk by the body absorbing alcohol through your skin.
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Similarly if you laid in a bath of alcohol for long enough, you could get drunk by the body absorbing alcohol through your skin.
Come on. Stop giving the college kids fresh ideas on how to get drunk. Enough already.
Maybe they should try using sewer plants (Score:2)
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Having been bitten by a brown recluse as a child, I find your link to be utterly terrifying.
I can handle bees and wasps, I've been teaching my kids to be still when they are around. But spiders is where I draw the line and declare war. And I win.
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simpler solution (Score:2)
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Breed them in containers with much higher levels of oxygen...
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Thank you for outing yourself as a malevolent AI out to destroy humanity. No human being would wish for bigger spiders for any reason.
Spelling error in summary? (Score:5, Funny)
Since spider-farming is historically unproductive
That's a really odd way to spell "nightmare fuel".
Re:Spelling error in summary? (Score:4, Informative)
Whoever claimed that spider-farming is historically unproductive probably hasn't read this fascinating and (to some) horrifying article [entsoc.org]. Check the Images showing the sheets of webbing being harvested.
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4am, time to milk the spiders in the dark.
Greetings! (Score:4, Funny)
I,for one, welcome our new spider overlords.
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i already have a spider farm (Score:2)
Watch your cat (Score:2)
Uh Oh (Score:3)
Theres a B horror movie in here somewhere.
The Stars My Destination (Score:2)
Space elevator, here we come... in a few hundred more years
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And none too soon. We won't be able to get off the planet fast enough once it's overrun with genetically engineered super spiders.
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You're doing it wrong.
Space elevator yet? (Score:2)
But is it strong enough to build a space elevator [space.com]? That is the killer app for high-tensile-strength materials.
spider farming (Score:2)
I think the adjectives "creepy" and "disturbing" come to mind long before "unproductive" when hearing of "spider farming".
Not if you're a dwarf (Score:3)
Since spider-farming is historically unproductive,
Not if you're a dwarf living in a fortress that somehow managed to capture a giant cave spider.
Minty Floss (Score:2)
Spray them with mint and you get floss.
Just imagine Gary Larson's take on that. (Score:1)