Comments on: silk, a miracle of nature http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/ people swatching Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:09:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Elaine Enochs http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-401 Elaine Enochs Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:18:32 +0000 http://www.yarntasting.com/?p=103#comment-401 Thanks, Rox! Really interesting! Thanks, Rox! Really interesting!

]]> By: Jane http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Jane Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:48:50 +0000 http://www.yarntasting.com/?p=103#comment-11 Someone actually did come up with a spider-silk scarf--for only $500,000! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/arts/design/23spiders.html?_r=1&hp Someone actually did come up with a spider-silk scarf–for only $500,000!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/arts/design/23spiders.html?_r=1&hp

]]> By: nyle http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-7 nyle Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:11:18 +0000 http://www.yarntasting.com/?p=103#comment-7 Jane: Spider web silk is being harvested by research labs worldwide, mostly for secretive projects involving military funding. Since silk is a glandular secretion, productivity of the harvest is somewhat to be gauged on a "glands per square foot basis", which can be a little dodgy. Currently tarantulas, as the largest silk-producing arachnids, are receiving a lot of research funding. In this context, I have to think about the herpetologist in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (played by Jim Carrey). His experience with the moray eel should be a cautionary tale told to all who would reach into a barrel of tarantulas. Natural silk is being eclipsed as the ultimate strong fiber by synthetic carbon nanotubes. Cambridge University recently developed a way to precipitate these fibers from smoke, which is certainly easier, if less interesting, than raising tarantulas. Start with smoke, add a few mirrors, and we are in territory eminently familiar to any politician, so streams of research funding should be forthcoming. Although silk and nanotubes are radically different at the molecular level, they both have issues with weak zones leading to fracture -- a primary research focus. Also, both silk and nanotubes can be embedded with special additives, a process that made semiconductors and thus our modern world possible. A combination of the two might permit branching structures that carry signals -- thinking fabric! Jane: Spider web silk is being harvested by research labs worldwide, mostly for secretive projects involving military funding. Since silk is a glandular secretion, productivity of the harvest is somewhat to be gauged on a “glands per square foot basis”, which can be a little dodgy. Currently tarantulas, as the largest silk-producing arachnids, are receiving a lot of research funding. In this context, I have to think about the herpetologist in “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (played by Jim Carrey). His experience with the moray eel should be a cautionary tale told to all who would reach into a barrel of tarantulas.

Natural silk is being eclipsed as the ultimate strong fiber by synthetic carbon nanotubes. Cambridge University recently developed a way to precipitate these fibers from smoke, which is certainly easier, if less interesting, than raising tarantulas. Start with smoke, add a few mirrors, and we are in territory eminently familiar to any politician, so streams of research funding should be forthcoming.

Although silk and nanotubes are radically different at the molecular level, they both have issues with weak zones leading to fracture — a primary research focus. Also, both silk and nanotubes can be embedded with special additives, a process that made semiconductors and thus our modern world possible. A combination of the two might permit branching structures that carry signals — thinking fabric!

]]> By: Jane http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Jane Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:02:34 +0000 http://www.yarntasting.com/?p=103#comment-6 Nyle: So if spider web filament is even stronger than silk, is anyone looking at harvesting and spinning it? Nyle: So if spider web filament is even stronger than silk, is anyone looking at harvesting and spinning it?

]]> By: Roxanne Seabright http://www.yarntasting.com/2009/08/silk-a-miracle-of-nature/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Roxanne Seabright Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:19:46 +0000 http://www.yarntasting.com/?p=103#comment-4 Its so exciting to finally get this blog up and running! I can't wait to start hearing back from readers! Rox Its so exciting to finally get this blog up and running! I can’t wait to start hearing back from readers!
Rox

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