Preferred orientation or alignment of protein chains with respect to the fiber axis is extensively changed during this supercontraction process. Interaction with water causes shrinkage and significant changes in the structure of spider dragline silks, which has been referred to as supercontraction in the literature. (MagLab) Sponsoring Org.: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) National Science Foundation (NSF) Spain Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN) OSTI Identifier: 1623924 Grant/Contract Number: DMR 10052129 CTQ2010-19501 Resource Type: Accepted Manuscript Journal Name: Nature Communications Additional Journal Information: Journal Volume: 4 Journal Issue: 1 Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723 Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: United States Language: English Subject: 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE Science & Technology - Other = , Publication Date: Research Org.: Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States). Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, FL (United States) Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States).Institucio Catalana de Recerca I Estudis Avancats (ICREA), Barcelona (Spain).Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States).Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC)/CIBER-BBN, Bellaterra (Spain).Top image: A spider's web adorned with dew. Have a bright idea? Tell us about it in a HeroX challenge that you create. It makes us think there must be other ways of improving the clothing we wear, whether it be infusing it with electronics, biomimicry or coming up with a more creative way to manufacture it. This makes us curious to see how it could be improved. What makes this effort stands out is how strong it ended up being. And as Technology Review points out, there have been other efforts to improve spider silk. What's more, the team can't explain yet how the spiders did it they're guessing it has to do with how the spiders ingested the water. Spider silk can be used in garments, such as this cape that was exhibited at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in 2012. They found out that the fibres were extremely strong, even more so than substances such as Kepler49. Next, the spiders were sprayed with the water solution and the silk placed between cardboard holders. So what did they do? According to Technology Review, the researchers gathered 15 Pholcidae spiders from natural areas in Italy and gathered the silk they produced. "This new reinforcing procedure could also be applied to other animals and plants, leading to a new class of bionic materials for ultimate applications," they added. The researchers were a little vague as to application, but suggested that the process could be extended to other animals to improve material strength generally. "We observe a significant increment of the mechanical properties with respect to the pristine silk, in terms of fracture strength. "To the best of our knowledge, the incorporation of materials in the inner protein structure of spider silk has not been achieved to date," the researchers reported. How to make it stronger? Credit: Wikimedia Commons In a scene that sounds like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prequel, the water includes carbon nanotubes and graphene flakes. Essentially, the process involves a bit of water sprayed on to spiders. A recent non-peer-reviewed paper popped up on Arxiv, led by Italy's University of Trento. Here's a more modern twist - marrying the natural strength of spider silk with the artificial strength of nanotechnology. It required one million spiders, 70 people and four years to create, said Wired in an article about the project. The largest spider silk cloth in the world today (at least, as of 2009) is only 11 by 4 feet. If it weren't for the fact that spider silk is so time-consuming to produce, humans would likely use it in clothing more - or for other applications. Then the spider hangs out on the web or somewhere nearby and waits for a small insect to get snagged. The intricate design of the web makes it nearly invisible, which is a good thing as the spider needs it to catch its prey. A tiny creature uses it to spin a web or create a net that is often many, many times the spider's size. Spider silk is an awesome thing when you think about it carefully.
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