We Finally Made Synthetic Spider Silk

The ability to produce synthetic spider silk would give us bulletproof vests better than Kevlar, biocompatible sutures and wound dressings, and even space elevators. The problem is being able to make it in large amounts. One group may have solved that problem, and changed the definition of "toughness" in the process.
Hosted by: Stefan Chin
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: / scishow
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Ash, Benjamin Carleski, Bryan Cloer, charles george, Chris Mackey, Chris Peters, Christoph Schwanke, Christopher R Boucher, DrakoEsper, Eric Jensen, Friso, Garrett Galloway, Harrison Mills, J. Copen, Jaap Westera, Jason A Saslow, Jeffrey Mckishen, Jeremy Mattern, Kenny Wilson, Kevin Bealer, Kevin Knupp, Lyndsay Brown, Matt Curls, Michelle Dove, Piya Shedden, Rizwan Kassim, Sam Lutfi
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/
TikTok: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
Facebook: / scishow
#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly
----------
Sources:
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
link.springer.com/article/10....
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.eurekalert.org/news-relea...
cell.com/matter/fulltext/S259...
www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/documen...
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021...
Image Sources:
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/il...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
tinyurl.com/5ybxwcuk
tinyurl.com/y3znm7v3
tinyurl.com/ytkebasa
tinyurl.com/dkstzp6s
tinyurl.com/3bnhyd26
tinyurl.com/5efczjnp
tinyurl.com/5fkyurzb
tinyurl.com/2je8ezxm
tinyurl.com/4xkr6acn
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
tinyurl.com/5n7yms4n
tinyurl.com/2yns4y5z
tinyurl.com/3j4c2ccx
tinyurl.com/3k6wzyze
tinyurl.com/mrx83kmr
tinyurl.com/bdfhpp3f

[@xDynaBlade]

I love how genetically engineering silk worms to produce spider silk is easier than just farming spiders

[@andrewsuryali8540]

Well, to be fair silkworms are pretty chill around other silkworms.

[@NicholasHay1982]

It's not entirely for lack of trying, as I understand it. Most spiders are highly territorial and frequently cannibalistic.

[@batmeme9349]

​@@NicholasHay1982Like a terrorist?

[@Deathranger999]

@@batmeme9349Are you somehow under the impression that terrorists are cannibals?

[@devinnall2284]

It was either that or breed cow sized super spiders

[@ktak2811]

Thanks Peter Parker.

[@CYellowan]

*Peter Sharter

[@royg2840]

I thought of Peter Parker as soon as I saw the thumbnail

[@whimsicalstray]

He finally made the secret recipe public.

[@ernest9868]

Now I'm wondering why Spiderman didn't patent and sell it. Instant money

[@johnp5250]

Parker Industries

[@thespencerowen]

“Halting the process” is a very round about way of explaining worm murder 😅

[@spacecat8511]

And this is why I avoid silk like the plague. Something about it freaks me out faaar more than, say, leather. Despite both being dead animals. (But at least one isn’t a dead bug…)

[@BB_Sebring]

​@@spacecat8511I'm kinda surprised since most would probably be the opposite since more people emotionally attach to cows and other mammals than to arthropods and fish

[@rockets4kids]

Not really much different than breeding humans to work in a factory or mine for 40 years.

[@Solemn_Kaizoku]

I assumed they just plucked the worm out of the pre-cocoon while they snagged the silk.

[@ratvomit874]

The cruel irony I can imagine is that if we didn't kill the modified silkworms and let them mature into silkmoths normally they may find themselves imprisoned to death in their own cocoons because their supersilk is now too strong for them to cut open and get out

[@SimuLord]

Impressive. Silksteel is four levels down the tech tree in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and we've got it long before "mission year 2100".

[@Faesharlyn]

How about that transparent aluminum?

[@mangokraken]

Oh man, you just dug up memories I forgot existed.

[@AnkhAnanku]

The South African just debuted his nerve staples

[@Peichen01]

@@Faesharlyn Transparent aluminum was done like 5 years ago

[@Faesharlyn]

@@Peichen01 that's what I'm saying, we are in the future and don't even realize it

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

*Looks over to my Spider-Man Costume* Soon. Just a few more advancements.

[@GIRGHGH]

Turns out web shooters are just silk worms in a box.

[@mrjoe332]

Unrelated questions. Are you very emotionally attached to your uncle? And what does he look like?

[@KSL042]

😂 hell yeah

[@jhawkingsgrey]

@@GIRGHGHi’ve been saying this to my friends for years. we all were big fans of those videos of people trying to develop web shooters on youtube

[@dirusrex611]

Time to get my hands on this Crspr cas 9 thing, hehe

[@rolivaw2000]

As a tire textile scientist, spider silk has been the "Holy Grail" material for years.

[@feedbackzaloop]

A professional question then: wouldn't the sliding between strands, responsible for toughness, induce greater rolling resistance compared to cotton or kevlar carcass?

[@woopygoman]

When will airless tires go mainstream?

[@chillerstones]

@@woopygomanwhen the current infrastructure becomes obsolete, which will probably be never

[@thejackbox]

@@woopygomanphysics makes that very difficult. Rotating inertia is difficult to overcome.

[@skumleren]

As a sleight science watcher, synthetic spidersilk has been discovered every 2 years. I think I remember the first one coming from goat milk 25 years ago. None of the discoveries were useful though.

[@think2086]

I don't think people realize yet how we are in the very very very early ages of material science. This breakthrough is one of the first in ushering us into the Super Materials Age. We really don't have long fibers yet. If we can keep tweaking this until we can make extremely long single-strand fibers. That will enable new kinds of technology and infrastructure we can hardly imagine right now, including space tethers.

[@jimmylin7233]

As a materials scientist, I whole-heartedly agree with this statement. I remember talking to one of my professors in the 90's about his breakthrough accomplishment in the 1960's, which was a new way to process aluminum. He likened his innovation to "churning it like ice cream." In the early 2000s, 40 years later after his innovation, I was working on nanolayer technology - bioactive layers that were only a few molecules thick (ideally only one). I can't imagine what we'll have in another 40 years.

[@anna-flora999]

Modern material science is modern, yes, but material science is basically the oldest field of science overall in human history, or at least one of them. Metallurgy is a material science.

[@MindForgedManacle]

@anna-flora999 That feels besides the point. By that logic, Cosmology is even older, but I wouldn't take that to dismiss the factual statement that "Cosmology is in its infancy". We understand far more now and it's a much more general field, there's a significant distinction in the breadth and depth of our understanding of materials science compared to metallurgical practice of any era whatsoever.

[@ratvomit874]

Don't forget *high entropy alloys* - yet another development that seems to also promise materials that are both strong and tough, plus the metallic advantage of usability at high temperatures

[@NightmareRex6]

i bet the elite scumbags allready have this tech.

[@alexslanski4902]

Probably more efficient than spider-goats too

[@Thoran666]

A goat with 8 eyes

[@eliljeho]

@@Thoran666 Shub-Niggurath?

[@Tacticslion]

I was looking for a similar comment!

[@Falcodrin]

but what about my spider beer?

[@craigtevis1241]

I remember hearing about goats making spider silk protein in their milk. Hope this works better.

[@lachiem]

This is why I always trap the Huntsman spiders I find in my home rather than bust out the spray. Also they're vengeful bastards and I don't want to tick them off.

[@Envy_May]

huntsmans are vengeful ?????

[@knucklesskinner253]

@@Envy_Maythey will come back to their nests if you let them outside, like mice

[@knucklesskinner253]

@@Envy_Mayjust kidding i made that up

[@GuiSmith]

@@knucklesskinner253That’s HORRIBLE, I was about to flip tables

[@MotoCat91]

Alternatively - keep them around, feed them bugs and they'll keep your house clean Huntsmans don't leave a mess or any webs behind and can push other, messier spiders out of your house's territory.. plus they're fuzzy and cute, the perfect roommate!

[@atigerclaw]

Stefan: "So instead of farming spiders, a job you'd have to pay me a LOT of money to take..." Cranberry Farmers: "First time?"

[@mantha6912]

my friend doesn't get it

[@ikkylovesbass]

​@mantha6912 cranberry farmers have to contend with a lot of bog spiders!

[@mantha6912]

ahhh@@ikkylovesbass

[@clipsdaily101]

its crazy how often we look at nature for innovation

[@arukiojake97]

Evolution has made some crazy complex stuff

[@Etrancical]

Ya, with billions of years of evolution, there's bound to be some hyper specialized creatures that do what they do pretty well

[@clipsdaily101]

@@arukiojake97 evolution created our complex brain which is trying to figure out evolution. so its like its trying to understand itself

[@omnicideoscopy]

Bruh everything is based on what we can learn from nature and we're a part of nature as well. A little more sofisticated ants id say

[@rolivaw2000]

Not strange but common and normal.

[@justzach253]

We're making a new critter that isn't a cannibal but also makes spider silk

[@justzach253]

@@animalbird9436 one day we will make something that uses its new man made evolution to breed its way into our extinction.

[@Alsry1]

​​@@justzach253one day? Thats already happened a very long time ago. There's a reason why homosapiens is the only human species left. The others were literally bred into extinction.

[@Hurricayne92]

@@justzach253 Thats literally just how evolution works the fitter and better adapted organism will win out, whether the genetic changes ar 'natural' or man-made makes no difference. I mean over 90% of species that have ever existed on Earth have gone extinct.

[@FLPhotoCatcher]

If the silk is made so much stronger, would someone have to be hired to cut cocoons open so that the next generation can emerge?

[@robertmcauslan6191]

@@FLPhotoCatchermost that are raised to breed are cut free from their cocoons because we bred that trait out of them. Most of them would also starve if not placed directly on a food source.

[@FossilF]

cant wait to have a shirt made of spider silk

[@H8erfisternator]

The softest shirt that will also save you from being stabbed, and maybe even make a fatal bullet not fatal, who knows. Not excited to see the price though

[@NicholasMarshall]

That's easy, just befriend the colony of spiders, and invite them to live on your chest. /⁠╲⁠/⁠\⁠╭⁠(⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)⁠╮⁠/⁠\⁠╱⁠\

[@udtheaesir]

Silk bras here we come~!

[@drdca8263]

@@udtheaesirIs the reason these don’t already exist, because ordinary silk isn’t strong enough? Actually, first: is it the case that those don’t already exist? I don’t exactly have any significant firsthand experience with, ah, the purpose that bras serve, nor do I have much experience with silk, so maybe for someone who had experience with those two things, it would be obvious why there isn’t such a thing already? But, it isn’t obvious to me.

[@VoltCruelerz]

​@@drdca8263silk wrinkles something fierce when it gets wet

[@rediculousman]

Yield strength is the measure of how much potential force it can take without yielding (like a spring). Ultimate tensile strength is the measure of how much force it can take before it fails. Toughness is the amount of energy it can absorb until it fails (the integral of Ultimate tensile strength, or the "area under the curve"). They are the same but different properties.

[@Ikbeneengeit]

Yeah his explanation of this was very confusing

[@pr0cr4st1na7or]

Thanks for breaking it out like that. I've taken a few materials science courses, but it's been several years and I don't use the information regularly, so I felt like something was off in his explanation, but I just couldn't verbalize it.

[@tristen9736]

To be more precise, UTS is the max stress reached before necking starts occurring, not failure

[@rediculousman]

@@tristen9736 yeah, it's the maximum recorded stress that it can withstand. Once it begins to neck, the cross sectional area normal to the load path begins to decrease, causing a runaway condition of stress concentration until it fails. It's kind of hard to describe the tensiometer testing procedure in a KZbin comment! haha.

[@pauloazuela8488]

​@@rediculousmanAll I understand is Strength measures how much it takes before something curves/bends and toughness is how much it takes before it breaks or snaps

[@Baby_boodle]

I am one of the rejoicing goths. I really hope this gets implemented in a variety of wonderful ways that I can't even fathom!

[@pseudotasuki]

In Michael Crichton's book "Sphere" they're investigating a crashed spaceship and are surprised to discover that its structural members are both strong and deformable. Someone points out that our association of strength and rigidity is due to the relatively primitive state of materials science.

[@DemPilafian]

Such technologically advanced super materials are key to building spaceships that can zip around the galaxy, but unfortunately the materials also cause aliens to be bad drivers and crash their spaceships.

[@pseudotasuki]

@@DemPilafian To avoid spoilers, all I'm gonna say is that I can tell you haven't read it (or seen the movie).

[@amorencinteroph3428]

​@@pseudotasukiThat author had a very pessimistic estimate for the Drake Equation, lol.

[@pseudotasuki]

@@amorencinteroph3428 Well… that depends on what the sphere is.

[@feedbackzaloop]

Last time I checked, - strength was "ability to withstand applied load...", while resistance to the _change_ _of_ _shape_ is stiffness - toughness is an "abbility to absorb energy... without fracturing", so yeah, kinda same but different

[@thekaxmax]

spider silk can be extremely stretchy, sorta tretchy, or not stretchy. And it's super tough--it resists sudden stretches really well, and manages this whether it's stretchy or only a bit stretchy. And that's where it's special.

[@feedbackzaloop]

@@thekaxmaxyes, so as pretty much any fiber, including aramids (Kevlar being only one specific patented formulation), but also resins, metals, etc... Not really much ceramics though,. It's all in the production. And definition: the way SciShow did it, many relatively tough and/or strong materials are rejected their ratings.

[@thekaxmax]

@@feedbackzaloop nope. the whole point is that spider silk is special cos it beats all of those.

[@Sutwang]

🤓

[@feedbackzaloop]

@@thekaxmax well, first of all, in absolute values it doesn't, only in relation to its weight. Second, even if, it still doesn't excuse the incorrect definition set in the video. I know, spiders and silk and even more so spider silk are bedazzling, but you gotta read and think first before saying something.

[@trstmeimadctr]

There was someone who managed to farm enough golden orbweaver silk to make a blanket and that is both terrifying is awesome

[@Manj_J]

I just looked it up and they had a whole ass operation for *milking spiders* to extract the silk from them, and the silk came out golden (I mean they are golden orb weavers after all) and it's *such* a beautiful colour BUT ALSO they had a rig set up and had to milk like 40 000 spiders in total to make it or something? With 24 being milked per batch on each machine?? Like wtf. Literally wtf. That's amazing and terrifying all at once, I'm glad I don't have to have anything to do with spiders like they do (O.o)

[@_droid]

I'll believe it when I see it. People have been working on this technique, specifically using silkworms, for at least 12 years, possibly much longer.

[@05Matz]

I remember hearing that silkworms produced roughly-triangular threads, rather than the more-circular thread cross-sections spiders produced, that may negatively affect strength-to-weight ratio; but it's good to see improvements to silk-derived materials continuing to proceed.

[@beastamer1990s]

Great. Just *_GREAT!_* What am I supposed to do with all of these spiders now?

[@e.v.k.3632]

I love gene editing and am always hyped for news Plus there is a huge difference in spidersilk over different spiders So there is a great potential

[@Delightedly]

Not to mention that there’s many types of silk each spider can produce! They use different silks for all sorts of things, from ballooning to sperm webs.

[@ikebeckman1074]

Were the scientists rearing these worms working at Oscorp or some ish??

[@bendershome4discountorphan859]

One again crispr what a monumental idea those too lady's had

[@EyesOfByes]

Still waiting for the *Spider-Pig*

[@Totalinternalreflection]

Spider pig, Spider pig...

[@paulburgess8909]

Peter Porker

[@tiki_trash]

It does whatever a spider-pig does.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Spider-Ham...

[@mailleweaver]

Those sneaky pigs. People always thought pigs needed wings to be able to fly. They never thought of ballooning, did they?

[@TheStickCollector]

About time. Science finds a way

[@malachite072]

I hope I can predict where this stuff is going in 30 years

[@TrinityCore60]

@@malachite072I just hope people will find a way around the climate change problem in that time.

[@malachite072]

@@TrinityCore60 I think that will be fixed by nuclear fusion

[@octoflex]

Great to see you cover this! Feel like it should be pointed out that this has been around for a while. The Thought Emporium even made spider silk and made the method he used public.

[@lanfranco82]

Agree with your comment Thomas Scheibel patented the spider silk fiber production with E.Coli in 2007 with, but there was no mention on that, unfortunately

[@magnumhocus1362]

Glad to see you're doing better.

[@OneBigBug]

The definitions given here for "strength" is either very misleading, or (I would argue) downright wrong taken in context, which becomes kinda grating as it's used throughout the entire video. In the video, strength is defined as "being difficult to change shape", and then examples are given (pencil vs rubber band) as though that definition is true. But strength (or at least "yield strength" which is generally the default implication of "strength") is about being difficult to change shape *permanently*--the amount of stress that can be applied before reaching plastic deformation. Plastic deformation is the deformation that occurs after elastic deformation. A rubber band is very elastic (hence "elastic bands") so it's a very confusing example for highlighting that difference in this way. A rubber band may be very strong, perhaps sometimes stronger than a pencil. It will droop when the weight is applied, but as long it snaps back into shape when a weight is applied that would snap the pencil, it'll still be 'stronger'. What a rubber band is not is "stiff". Stiffness is the property of a material that resists deformation of any type, elastic or plastic. A pencil is much stiffer than a rubber band.

[@douglasyoung927]

I don't think people fully appreciate how incredible this is. It will be revolutionary in utterly profound ways to textile, composit, and material sciences.

[@richardrhodes9664]

Another explanation for the toughness and strength.. there are crystalline and elastic portions of the polymer chain.. and while stopped the crystalline portions interlock, like a crystal. But each individual section is bridged by an elastic bit.

[@kraigbiocraftlaboratories2270]

Really interesting video and overview of the unique attributes of spider silk. Most people don't understand the difference between tough and strong. That said, this isn't the first time recombinant spider silk was created, and certainly not the first time it's been done using nature's best protein factory, the silkworm. In 2012, twelve years before this video, the PNAS published a paper titled "Silkworms transformed with chimeric silkworm / spider silk genes spin composite silk fibers with improved mechanical properties". Here at Kraig Labs, we've been producing spider silk using silkworms for years. We're taking the excitement and potential of spider silk and leveraging our silkworm-based production system to turn that into a reality today.

[@user-qk1gl8fw5m]

Thanks for responding. I've been following the progress of KBLB for years and you're correct, this is nowhere near the first time that this process has been tried. Keep up the great work at Kraig Biocraft guys.

[@nikkyk4839]

the research has developed quite nicely in the past 5 years. I did a research paper about spider silk and I'm happy about this development.

[@2MeterLP]

Does spider silk have downsides? As a protein material, does it rot? Does it need specific hydration levels to work properly?

[@InsolentHalo]

Think about how a place not touched in 100 yrs could ha e cobwebs.

[@ewanlee6337]

The downside is how hard it’s been to make

[@vaelophisnyx9873]

@@InsolentHalo cobwebs are dust formations mostly, not spider webs

[@InsolentHalo]

@vaelophisnyx9873 if you threw flour on an ice statue would you call it a flour formation? Or an ice statue covered in flour? Cobwebs are webs that have caught dust. They are webs.

[@tiffanymarie9750]

Complexley produces almost all of my favorite channels, so thank you !!

[@jacewhite8540]

Reminds me of The Thought Eporium's videos on spider silk from yeast.

[@richardrhodes9664]

The Thought emporium on KZbin produced spider silk using yeast via a similar method.

[@zlcoolboy]

Crispr is amazing

[@nariu7times328]

Completely fascinating. Thanks Sci Show

[@craigswanson8026]

Well-presented, Stefan. Interesting stuff.

[@DanielSolis]

Man, I've been seeing this promise for over 30 years. Not believing it til I can buy a spider silk jacket.

[@DeltaNovum]

Finally!! Hopefully this can be economically scaled so far, it'll become even cheap enough to make clothes. So we can finally have some spidersilk spandex wearing super heroes, to clean up this ball of dirt. Let's begin with creating Captain Planet. Does anyone have access to radioactive animals or gamma rays perhaps? Edit: for real though, this is absolutely great news! I wonder what possible usages we haven't thought of yet 🤔.

[@Faesharlyn]

I for one can't wait for supportive compression and artificial tendons

[@feedbackzaloop]

Has the production of unaltered natural silk been scaled up enough though? Spider silk will most likely just take a part of that market rather then expand on its own in parallel... Also, we kinda already have spider silk socks now and had the very first ones presented to the king of France Louis XIV. If you want to dress up some celebrity, there is no need for mass scale production.

[@Faesharlyn]

@@feedbackzaloop there is when everyone wants to "be like Mike ", then there will be money to be made and the counterfeiting will be in full swing before the official spidersilktm is even close to production. Then people will find new uses for it in construction, spidersilk suspension cables, then we will have bridges made with it and tires to drive across them while we wear our spidersilk clothes and sip on spidersilk protein drinks

[@RisqueBisquet]

I think even the most optimistic of us would put it a good few years away before it's sold in retail and reasonably priced. There's actually already been one designer item of clothing made of spider silk (a golden robe with amazing embroidery) but that was made... the hard way. it took MANY years to make just one.

[@Muskar2]

As a layman I wouldn't expect it to be cheaper than silk, since they're essentially using a similar method but with a few more steps (and probably complications). I don't expect it to be cheap enough to make everyday clothes.

[@FiddlerOnTheRoof2024]

This video was really fantastic, thank you!

[@lauriescott8364]

Many thanks for this Excellent explanation and presentation!! Kudos to you guys! Keep up the great work!!

[@josephherrington1062]

here's the crazy idea that I have for the 2 complementary processes. An applied voltage across an object. When you look at muscle tissue up close you'll notice that it's very similar to the process that he's discussing. Instead of magnets, you'll see little hair like structures that bond and pull when a signal passes through.

[@iwanttwoscoops]

the applied voltage is an action potential- a neuron firing. It induces a protein signaling cascade removes inhibitory (tropomysin/tropomodulin) proteins from molecular motor proteins which pull on those “hairs.” It has nothing at all to do with the voltage itself; it’s just how neurons communicate, and wouldn’t do anything to spider silk man

[@AgarioGameplays]

FINALLYYYYYY I’ve been checking out every day for new developments for the past 3 years

[@chrishimes5656]

Great topic. Thanks for sharing this!

[@YoungGandalf2325]

4:29 "Average Single-Molecule Intermolecular Non-Covalent Bond Energy Density" Well, duh! I've been saying that for years! 🙄

[@niceguy191]

Same, but only because that's how long it took me to say

[@johnbennett1465]

Since they now have the modified silk worms, all that is needed is contract with a silk farm to breed up a large number of the worms. In a few years there should be enough to produce useful quantities. A few more years should be enough to produce a significant fraction of current silk production. Bugs reproduce quickly.

[@psiah9889]

Mmm... Might be unforseen challenges, though, that make them not do so unassisted. For instance, if this new silk is too strong for them to escape on their own, they couldn't just be left unattended in a shelter with enough food to get there.

[@rashidisw]

If Monsanto purchase the patent, the following generation of G.M. worms will not reproduce, you must purchase new breed from the corpo each time.

[@johnbennett1465]

@@psiah9889 possible, but the silk farms already manage the complete life cycle. So it might add a little more work, but it should still be doable.

[@johnbennett1465]

@@rashidisw except the main work of a silk farm is to manage the growth of successive generations of worms. Licensing is likely, but it is not practical to prevent breeding.

[@ElectricAlien577]

​@@johnbennett1465 I think they were making a joke about Monsanto being a terrible company, and not so much the properties of silk worms.

[@hermanmunster8655]

Nice show 👍😁 Thanks

[@lucasfc4587]

Well... the Thougth Emporium did that some time ago...

[@FinaISpartan]

Worth noting that some materials like HMPE are both strong and tough, hence why they're slowly replacing steel cables, and are the material of choice for climbing rope.

[@marilynlucero9363]

What makes the strongest material? A collective society known to be the most innovative technological species within nature, having mastered global colonization, flight, and with the tools to completely destroy the entire planet with the press of a few buttons! -or- One spidey butt.

[@TrinityCore60]

Don’t forget a few keys; permissive action links are a vital part in the launch permission of nuclear missiles for reasons I don’t think I need to spell out.

[@luminyam6145]

I love your channel.

[@victoryfirst2878]

This is about time this is finally made. This material is just impressive.

[@joeldeslo854]

Aaand now we have flying spider-moths. This will solve nighttime light pollution as a byproduct.

[@patrickday4206]

Until some get loose and it changes the entire wild population

[@Muskar2]

Assuming they can hatch in a spider silk cocoon

[@Snowshill]

if we can get space elevators rolling we can start seting up solar pannel bands around the earth dealing with energy issues, then we can get onto setting up bases on the moon and move into hearding asteroids and eliminateing resorce issues for rare earth metals, we would be creating multiple big aeras for emplyment and many other issues like evnergy would more or less auto solve as those are held back by resorce issues

[@aureyd2515]

"The Fountains of Paradise" Arthur C. Clarke.

[@percivallavoie4415]

For anyone who's interested in another video of creating synthetic spider silk, The Thought Emporium has a couple videos outlining their entire process in genetically engineering yeast to grow it

[@constantinethecataphract5949]

Low quantities and not scaleable.

[@808Mark]

This is so cool!!

[@hamentaschen]

Shalom everybody!

[@tiki_trash]

Aloha!

[@omnitoad2187]

Though, we gotta call it something other than "Spider Silk" since spiders aren't even part of the process. I suggest "Sylk" for the cool sci-fi synthetic silk branding. But it's a good opportunity for all kinds of stupid names, "Super Silk," "Worm Fiber," "Butt Thread." The possibilities are endless.

[@sandwichqueen]

Honestly, super silk would probably be the name of it. It's simple, while also describing the big deal of it.

[@MikefromTexas1]

Everyone knows Strong and Tough are two different things. Can't wait to see this practically applied everywhere!

[@fezii9043]

Can't wait for this new silk material!

[@lindaward3156]

I never understood fear of spiders. Sure, they can temporarily startle a person when they scurry out from an unexpected place but dang, a person is so very much larger than them, easily dispatched if needed. I think they're kinda cool with what they can do, like in this recording. But again, w/o their own PR, they have a majority of people scared of them, even tho most aren't at all dangerous!

[@GabrielPettier]

Microbes are so small to be kind of invisible, but can still kill you, some spiders can kill you, too, and at least they are visible, so i'm not surprised we have some innate fear of them, and it's a lot stronger in some people than in others, it must certainly have been useful at some point, i'm not particularly afraid of them, but some level of caution is not a bad idea. I like the small jumpy ones though, very cute.

[@FirebladesSong]

That's why it's called a phobia, or an irrational fear. (signed, an arachnophobe who also thinks spiders are pretty neat... at a distance.)

[@Faesharlyn]

You've never been bitten by a brown recluse, I'm guessing?

[@cancan-wq9un]

Something being called a fobia does not mean it is not dangerous.

[@maximfedorov263]

1 like = 1 pushup

[@2MeterLP]

How many can I get for a comment? I wanna see a brother get huge!

[@maximfedorov263]

@@2MeterLP I'll do 10 more in your name 🫡

[@zach0000]

What if I dislike?

[@tomcat5151]

My dream outfit is a catsuit (al la Eartha Kitt) made of spider silk, [somehow] painted vanta black. I'm beyond ecstatic to hear this news.

[@jaredkhan8743]

It’s seriously amazing what scientists r able to do with crispr. Can’t wait for more incredible breakthroughs with it

[@Orinatl]

This is awesome, I have always told people about this and thought about how it would change society. I feel like it will have more uses then we’ve really considered.

[@rayrocher6887]

Thanks for saving the silk worms and spiders, great job

[@user-lh5jp2bp5q]

Very nice to see progress on this. Utah State University did this years ago when CRISPR CAS9 was young. And yes to those mentioning transgenic goats, they were a thing done through USU, University of Wyoming, and Nexia. I am a member of the lab that worked on it. The goats were great because we could relatively easily get the protein as a powder to use in many non-fiber applications. The spider worms were fantastic at making silk so we didn’t have to go through the process of spinning the thread ourselves. For those worried about flying spider moths, the silkworm is so domesticated that it can’t fly anymore.

[@CymruLlewes]

I'm more concerned that the silkworms won't pass along the trait OR they get free of the lab and we all have to deal with them in the wild.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

If they get out of the lab / factory, they'll do ... what harmful thing, exactly!?

[@rytan4516]

@@CymruLlewes It might be concerning before you realize that they can't survive without humans constantly feeding them the correct leaves, and once they've metamorphosed into moths, they can't fly.

[@slayersentience666]

Insane, I remember reading about it as a kid thats awesome

[@irlshrek]

Wow! That was riveting

[@tadhgbarker4050]

I'm working on worldbuilding for a book I want to write, and I actually have a civilization that farms specially bred spiders, giving them relatively large prey so that the spiders wrap them in their silk. The farmers leave some prey for the spiders to eat, and take others, essentially treating the collected bundles the same way we actually treat silk worm cocoons. They use the fibres for durable yet fine clothing, strong ropes, medical practices (primarily sutures, but also as, say, packing material to stop deeper wounds from bleeding as much), and those sorts of things. The selective breeding over time turned out spiders that were less aggressive to each other and the farmers, with large abdomens and spinnerets to produce more silk faster. Over time, the farmers also bred larger prey so that the spiders could sustain a larger size, as well as produce more silk per bundle. Obviously all in my head, and I'm not sure if that kind of thing is even remotely possible in real life, given enough time and patience, but hey, we still want to use spider silk, so I'm happy with my description.

[@Tortferngatr]

A Worm making spider silk costumes. I think I’ve read this before, but I get a weird Skitter-ing feeling whenever I think about it.

[@johngz3413]

I'm so excited for when we can have spider silk clothes... Damn that will be one nice stab proof vest

[@Termini_Man]

Oh god, I hope this allows us to make space elevators. Space elevators are awesome. by steeling a small bit of energy from the earth's spin, we can put things into orbit without an ascent stage, which is by incredibly far the part that uses the most fuel. So it could be incredibly practical to put things into orbit. I hope i get to see one in my life time.

[@eointolster]

i have been waiting for this for 20 plus years and ill be waiting 20 more before i see it in production :(

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Spider silk truly is an engineering marvel. Looking forward to the further development and application of this newfound advancement in material science.

[@kbahrt]

I know it's a bit late, but when I'm discussing the difference of material deflection properties to people who haven't taken a class, I prefer to use the term 'stiff' where you used 'strong'. Strong is the amount of pressure needed to achieve *permanent* deflection. It's a bit more complex, (assuming things haven't changed since my classes earlier this millennium) but close enough and helps to picture them to different properties that are related.

[@jeffreymoffitt4070]

Im ready for the first spider silk composite car!

[@renchesandsords]

I have gripes to pick with the definition of strength and toughness provided. I've always learned that strength (UTS) is the amount of constant force required break a material (pulling a test sample apart slowly), whereas toughness is a function of how much energy a material can absorb before breaking (dropping a swinging hammer and seeing how much lower it swings up after breaking the material)

[@zanedobler]

I can’t wait for spider silk yarn to become a thing so that way I can finally crochet a beanie with a sufficiently stretchy headband.

[@AM-hf9kk]

Pretty sure I read about this exact process in Popular Science or a Tom Clancy novel 20 years ago.

[@nateb4543]

That whole goatmilk thing didn't seem scalable

[@CygnusLaboratorys2056]

it's nice to know that that CRISPR is actually being used now instead of it being, whatever it was when I learned about it from Kurzgesagt

[@FiddleSticks800]

Most of our synthetics are stronger than steel by weight. And spider silk is just slightly tougher than Kevlar but distends much more. In other words, it may stop the bullet, but it will be half way through you by the time it does. And water plasticizes spider silk such that it looses its yield point and most of its toughness. Synthetic spider silk will only ever be a novelty.

[@fishyerik]

A lot of species of spiders can live relatively peacefully close together, especially if there's enough other food. There are other issues involved that makes farming spiders for silk production much more problematic than silk worm farming. It could be hugely beneficial to make better silk by gene editing silk moths, still it would be even much better to figure out how to produce as good fibers synthetically.

[@sbennett2435]

I love spiders. They are so interesting and varied.

[@isabutchers5591]

@thethoughtemporium already made synthetic spiderwebs with yeast

[@r.j.bedore9884]

This is a pretty cool discovery. I remember seeing an article a couple years ago where scientists also genetically modified goats to produce the same proteins in their milk that spider silk is made from in a similar attempt to mass produce it. If I remember correctly, their approach while capable of producing large quantities of the spider silk proteins had trouble turning those loose proteins that were dispersed through the goat's milk into actual threads with the same kind of properties as actual spider silk. One bit of feedback I would like to offer on this story is that you seem to conflate toughness with ductility quite often. Typically when a material has higher tensile strength, it is also harder and more brittle. Similarly, something that is very ductile usually doesn't have much tensile strength. Toughness is a measure of both a material's tensile strength and ductility, and is usually plotted on a graph of tensile strength versus ductility as a series of points. The further up you move on the strength axis, the further down the ductility axis you will typically find a material. Materials that are strong, but not ductile, tend to be prone to fracturing and cracking when stressed, resulting in what is called brittle failure, which is often sudden and happens without warning. Picture trying to bend a piece of chalk in your hands. It will typically handle a fair bit of force until you reach its yield strength and it suddenly snaps. This kind of failure is very bad in things like buildings and bridges as there is no warning before sudden catastrophic failure. Materials that are more ductile tend to undergo what is called plastic deformation when they are stressed beyond their yield strength, which is where the material permanently stretches under load, but will continue to stretch gradually before eventually breaking rather than suddenly snapping. For this, picture pulling down on a piece of taffy. If you pull with only a small force the taffy won't move, but once you reach its yield strength it will start to stretch and deform plasticly until it finally breaks. A tough material is one that will support a lot of force before yielding, but still has high enough ductility to undergo plastic failure rather than brittle failure. There are very few truly tough materials, and spider silk is one of the toughest we know of, which is why finding a way to mass produce it is kind of an engineering holy grail.

[@hin_hale]

I love the thought of two molecules having a formal electron swapping ceremony. With great fanfare of course.

[@robertfindley921]

Very neat!

[@koljaleffek7290]

reminded me of the thought emporium video where he engineered his spider silk yeast. would be fun if he finds a way to harvest it.

[@shelbyhiromi]

THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!!!

[@MikkoRantalainen]

It will be interesting to see if you could combine this process with even more synthetic fibers. A Finnish company called Spinnova already produces fibers out of wood without first dissolving the wood with aggressive chemicals and using mostly mechanical process instead. However, I think they have patented the process left and right so it might be that it cannot be used in a decade or so by competition.

[@craigswanson8026]

Bullet-proof spider silk pajamas!

[@LockandLoad79]

and then, escaped silk worm pupated into Spiders with wings.

[@paulkinzer7661]

Wow, I'm having trouble trying to imagine how many worms it would take to make a space elevator. Many, many worms.

[@tomhorsley6566]

As a kid I would walk around the woods in North Carolina, and if I didn't pay close attention, I'd sometimes bounce off the (orbweaver?) webs.

[@alecsyogacorner]

Sorry everyone, pardon my volume, I just have to yell it... THIS IS THE SINGLE HYPEST VIDEO SCI SHOW HAS EVER MADE.