The Amazing Spider Silk

Researchers in the UK and China are a step closer to understanding how spiders spin their silk. Spider silk is envied by scientists for its strength and elasticity, and over the past decade advances in biotechnology have led to the synthesis of artificial versions.

It is lighter than cotton, yet ounce for ounce it is stronger than steel. For decades scientists have studied the silk produced by orb-weaving spiders. Drag line silk—the strongest of the seven silks these spiders can spin—has attracted the most attention. It is tougher and more waterproof than silkworm strands, which are commonly used in clothing.

Consider: The manufacture of industrial fibers such as Kevlar requires high temperatures and the use of organic solvents. In contrast, spiders produce silk at room temperature, using water as a solvent. Furthermore, dragline silk is tougher than Kevlar. If enlarged to the size of a football field, a web of dragline silk could stop a jumbo jet in flight!

Not surprisingly, researchers are intrigued by the toughness of dragline silk. “Scientists would like to exploit that property in items ranging from bulletproof vests to suspension cables for bridges,” writes Aimee Cunningham in Science News magazine.

However, replicating dragline silk is not easy, for the material is made inside the spider’s body, and the process is not yet fully understood. “It’s humbling to realize that a lot of very smart people are trying to replicate what the spiders in our basements can do naturally,” says biologist Cheryl Y. Hayashi, quoted in Chemical & Engineering News magazine.

What do you think? Did the spider and its strong-as-steel silk come about by chance, or is this the work of an intelligent Creator?