Introducing the next heavyweight material champion…SILK! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Plastic…it’s cheap, flexible, durable, colorful…. AND, a nightmare to recycle. Can something else be the new “plastics”? Enter Zongpu Xu from Zhejiang University, and team. They set out to make a SUPER sustainable
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Is SILK more than just stylish? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Is there anything more luxurious than a silk robe? Because of its smooth feeling, silk has been prized for centuries. And not only for clothing! Surgeons have used silk to stitch wounds shut
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My spidey senses are… silky? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. By weight, spider silk is stronger than steel! However, perfectly reproducing this versatile material has proven difficult. How do spiders successfully spin silk? Lucas Parent at Northwestern University and David Onofrei at San Diego
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Eat pencil lead, silkworms! Literally! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Silks are used in many things, from bedding to bike tires to kimonos. How could we make these better? Stronger fibers! But how can you get a silkworm to spin extra strong fibers? Yingying
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