Tarantula silk

Spiders can produce seven different types of silk.  Not every spider has every kind, but every male has at least three and every female has at least four, the extra one being for egg sacs.  Here are the types.
     *swathing silk (wrapping prey)
     *web silk (elastic and sticky for catching prey)
     *draglines (connects spider to web as a safety line - strongest silk)
     *parachuting (dispersal of young or to find a new area for food - silk is released and caught by wind)
     *shelters (burrows or nests)
     *egg sacs
     *mating (male spiders weave sperm webs on which they deposit sperm and subsequently transfer it to their front palps, ready for placing on a females genital organs.  Spiders usually have two palps. They are located on the front and look like tiny claws or thick antennae.  They are a sensory organ.)

Not every spider spins a web. Those who do spin webs know where to walk to avoid the sticky parts.  Webs are made from protein, which costs much for the body to produce.  In anticipation of spinning a new web, a spider will eat the old one and recycle that protein.  Very efficient in terms of energy.

Now there is another type of silk that has been found..  The researchers, led by Stanislav Gorb of the Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, coaxed zebra tarantulas to walk up a piece of vertical glass.  When the spider began to slip, it would send out strands of silk from nozzles at the ends of all eight

legs.  These strands stopped the spider's descent, leaving visible silk that allowed it to adhere to the glass for more than twenty minutes.

The story is detailed in the Sept. 28, 2006 issue of the journal Nature.

Now scientists want to know more about this newly-found silk.  How is it related to the other known types? Did all spiders once have this ability in their feet?
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Nexia Biotechnologies scientists in Canada took a spider gene that is used for silk production, injected it into a single cell of a goat egg, and produced a goat named Willow.  Then they made a whole herd of goats with this spider silk gene.  The milk that Willow and the other goats produced had the same proteins that spider silk has.  Using that protein, they produced a material they call BioSteel.  It could be used in medical and micro-electronic applications.  Bullet-proof vests are also a possibility. BioSteel has been demonstrated to be stronger and lighter than steel or Kevlar. But Nexia Biotechnologies has failed as a company.  In 2006 they were left with a herd of  40 "franken-goats", some patents, and some cash.  You can go here to read the publication.

Now you have heard something interesting.