Why Can't We Make Spider Silk?

Written by Date:


People have been using silkworm silk to make stuff for thousands of years, but spider silk could potentially be even more useful. It's stronger than steel, super stretchy, and could be made into anything from bridge cables to biodegradable water bottles... if only we could figure out how to cultivate it. Hosted by: Hank Green SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Alex Schuerch, Alex Hackman, Andrew Finley Brenan, Sam Lutfi, D.A. Noe, الخليفي سلطان, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Patrick D. Ashmore, charles george, Kevin Bealer, Chris Peters ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: https://www.wired.com/2015/06/bolt-threads-spider-silk/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/314-necktie-made-spider-silk-201500116.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2018/08/14/clothes-from-a-petri-dish-700-million-bolt-threads-may-have-cracked-the-code-on-spider-silk/#4ad46bc8bda1 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/new-artificial-spider-silk-stronger-steel-and-98-percent-water-180964176/ http://www.kraiglabs.com/spider-silk/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/541361/spinning-synthetic-spider-silk/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/420070/making-spider-strength-materials/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21685308 https://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i9/Spider-Silk-Poised-Commercial-Entry.html https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.3894/tables/1 https://texeresilk.com/article/silk_making_how_to_make_silk https://phys.org/news/2018-07-genetic-silkworm-unravel-history-domestication.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5000687/ https://www.britannica.com/animal/silkworm-moth https://phys.org/news/2012-07-future-biomaterial-spider-silk-production.html https://labiotech.eu/industrial/adidas-amsilk-biodegradable-sneakers/ https://phys.org/news/2018-04-spider-silk-key-bone-fixing-composite.html https://www.wired.com/story/bolt-threads-synthetic-spider-silk-hat/ https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-16554357/the-goats-with-spider-genes-and-silk-in-their-milk
Watch video on YouTube.