Gizmodo
A team at the Technical University of Munich in Germany has designed a glass chip pierced with micro-sized tubes that act the same way as spider silk glands, and can be used to replicate the initial stages of natural silk production. It's an interesting development since production of artificial spider silk has proven difficult in industrial quantities and qualities, and its tensile strength to density ratio is five times that of steel, making it potentially very useful as armor and in medical applications.
The device works by mixing two different artificial spider silk proteins and a phosphate salt, then squirting them out of the artificial glass spinneret. This produces long protein chains that form the artificial silk. It's the first device that accurately copies the chemistry and physical processes that are found in nature, as well as being the first to mix two silk proteins (specifically, ADF3 and ADF4 from the European garden spider).
For the time being the quality doesn't yet match real silk, since it appears too grainy. "The major breakthrough is that this is the first time one has produced fully synthetic silk threads and understood why," says team-leader Professor Bausch. The team believes that when they copy the drying and drawing-out stages real spiders use then its quality will be up to scratch. They're working to perfect the synthetic silk machine, but cannot reveal how as they're in the middle of patent applications.
Why the excitement? Well, light spider silk bullet-proof vests and strong medical suture thread is just the start. The material is also known to help in the re-growth of nerves, has been used to encapsulate drugs and make biodegradable fishing line. So large quantities of spider silk might be very useful, and "the best thing is to reproduce nature, instead of cutting open spiders," notes Prof Bausch. That's something that I'm sure will go down well with the horrible creepy-crawlies themselves. [New Scientist and The Telegraph]
Comments
Now if only they can make a wrist sized version with an activation button in your palm that you press with two fingers....
Man, Micromachines have come a long way since I was a kid.
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I am not excited by this.
@92BuickLeSabre: I had this bizarre fear as a kid of swallowing a micromachine.
The name Professor Bausch sounds like he has a huge mustache.
This whole field of science is called microfluidics, or "lab-on-a-chip" technology. Check out the wiki pages, or the primary journals (if you're at a university) such as the aptly named journal: "Lab on a Chip."
By the way, I'm pretty sure it's actually made of PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) on a glass slide (at least that's what it looks like).
I wonder if it has the adhesive properties that seems to exist with actual spider silk... or is that some kind of actual spider byproduct that allows that to happen?
@Kraftwerker:
[www.e22.physik.tu-muenchen.de] Nope, no mustache.
This is going to lead to exciting new ways to store food.
I'd like to place an order for computer spun, spidersilk body armor please, and yes I do have coupons.
@delithic:
My thoughts exaaaaactly.
@blackwand: Spiders which use their silk to trap prey (which is most of them) produce two different kinds of silk; one is sticky, to catch prey, and the other is non-sticky, which is what the spider uses to do stuff like hang from a tree branch, or (for web-building types) build the structural portions of its web.
ever since i saw arachnophobia as a kid.....spiders and me have not been on the best of terms
@N@tedog: You should be excited by this. What part of 5x stronger than steel do you not understand?
So would this have a high enough strength/weight reatio to finally build that space elevator?
germans inventing super armor??? red flags anyone?
One possible use: Beanstalk!
@delithic: STFO
Space elevator
@Discofunk: That's what I'm talkin' about!
@ackthbbft: What part of "For the time being the quality doesn't yet match real silk, since it appears too grainy" don't you understand. Fix the quality issue then I'll be excited.
I hate to burst bubbles, but a space elevator requires a substance with a tensile strength at least 30x that of the strongest steel. (According to ye olde wiki anyway)
@N@tedog: I never said we were there yet. The point is this is a big advancement, which should get everyone excited for what is down the road. If people like you were only interested in the end result and not the steps it takes to get there, all innovation would cease.
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