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jlf1961 -> RE: Who else thinks (9/3/2017 6:41:46 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: HaveRopeWillBind
Clearly there is a need for this sort of thing. After all we know that current ropes are inadequate, and parachutes always fail because nylon used in them is just not up to the job, even though it has only worked for 40 years or so.
IMO this seems like one of those research projects designed to look good on paper, but with the real intent being to suck up a whole lot of research funding and thereby make the lives of a small group of researchers much more comfortable.
Actually, spider silk is the strongest natural filament, but cannot be synthesized in a lab, or utilized by humans in its natural state.
Over the years, they have tried to add a gene to lab goats so that their milk could be used to make spider silk, to limited success, among other things.
The next strongest natural filament is silk, which is gained by boiling un opened silkworm cocoons, which we duplicated with nylon that has a nasty tendency to be highly flammable,unlike natural silk.
However, I do remember a lecture I attended on genetic engineering and species modification that was humorous'
Theoretically, there are two ways to to get spider silk in both quantity and size we need.
The first is to cross breed large spiders to get bigger spiders and keep this up until we have spiders the size of cows which would spin silk in a size we could use to make other products.
Or we could just throw genes into the code until we get what we want for the same result.
The problem is that we would also have to create insects that spiders eat of a similar size.
And I have not addressed the problems that such creatures would have on those afraid of spiders.
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