Library of spider silk could hold secrets for new materials

 

August 14, 2019



NEW YORK (AP) — With two pairs of fine-tipped tweezers and the hands of a surgeon, Cheryl Hayashi began dissecting the body of a silver garden spider under her microscope.

In just a few minutes she found what she was seeking: hundreds of silk glands, the organs spiders use to make their webs. Some looked like mashed potatoes, others like green worms or air-filled rubber gloves. Each lets the spider produce a different type of silk.

Some silk types can be stretchy, others stiff. Some dissolve in water, others repel it.

"They make so many kinds of silk!" Hayashi said. "That's just what bogg...



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