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Vendaval -> Super-spider silk + metal (4/23/2009 2:24:02 PM)
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This is a really cool experiment that has great application potential for medicine.
*Arachniphobes, don't click on the link below.
"Scientists make super-strong metallic spider silk"
By Ben Hirschler Ben Hirschler
April 23, 2009
"LONDON (Reuters) – Spider silk is already tougher and lighter than steel, and now scientists have made it three times stronger by adding small amounts of metal.
The technique may be useful for manufacturing super-tough textiles and high-tech medical materials, including artificial bones and tendons.
"It could make very strong thread for surgical operations," researcher Seung-Mo Lee of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle, Germany, said in a telephone interview.
Lee and colleagues, who published their findings in the journal Science, found that adding zinc, titanium or aluminum to a length of spider silk made it more resistant to breaking or deforming.
They used a process called atomic layer deposition, which not only coated spider dragline silks with metal but also caused some metal ions to penetrate the fibers and react with their protein structure.
Lee said he next wanted to try adding other materials, including artificial polymers like Teflon."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090423/sc_nm/us_spider_silk
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