Nature’s High Tech Factories
“Natural organisms have managed to do everything we want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting the planet or mortgaging the future.”
–Janine Benyus, “Biomimcry” (1997)
In her 1997 book, biologist Janine Benyus speculated about a world where human manufacturers would unlock the secrets of spider silk and abalone shells to make building materials that were infinitely stronger, lighter, and more flexible than even the most advanced man-made composites.
All for a fraction of the energy cost — and leaving behind zero waste.
Now, scientists are getting closer to realizing that dream:
“It was already known that spiders store silk proteins, called spidroins, in their glands. But how they converted these soluble, gel-like proteins into a solid state has been a mystery.
“Researchers from Sweden report that the change to solid is brought about by a change in pH that occurs as the proteins travel through the glands. Now that we know how the spider does it, we can hopefully also make a mimic.”
–“Untangling the Mystery of Spider Silk”; The NYT (8/11/2014).
Ahh, the silver lining to spam, instant messaging, and other dubious technological “advances” . . .
