Cheryl Hayashi uses a microscope to work on a spider in her lab at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Hayashi has collected spider silk glands of about 50 species, just a small dent ...

Whether you are a fan of spiders or terrified of them, you can’t help but admire their ability to make webs. These fascinating and unique structures are incredible feats of engineering that combine ...

The microfluidic device. Precursor spidroin solution is placed at one end and then pulled towards the other end by means of negative pressure. As the spidroins flow through the microfluidic channels, ...

The microfluidic device. Precursor spidroin solution is placed at one end and then pulled towards the other end by means of negative pressure. As the spidroins flow through the microfluidic channels, ...

Famous for its strength, flexibility, and light weight, spider silk has a tensile strength that is comparable to steel of the same diameter. In addition, it is biocompatible (meaning that it can be ...

The silk glands of the Western black widow Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935 are morphologically and functionally distinct. Studies of spider silk glands often show only high magnification ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--A team of MIT engineers has identified two key physical processes that lend spider silk its unrivaled strength and durability, bringing closer to reality the long-sought goal of ...

Spider silk—six times tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel—has now been produced by an unexpected source. Spider silk is a biological protein fiber spun by spiders. Many of these fibers have ...

SPIDERS HAVE WALKED this earth since before the dinosaurs, and have been a source of fear, fascination, and inspiration throughout human history. This has a lot to do with the wonderful webs they ...

We see silken spider webs in all kinds of places — in a corner of the garage that hasn’t seen a broom in months, in a window that was unoccupied yesterday, among some forked twigs as densely packed ...