Letter 35

Quote: Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. Author: Albert Einstein

Extra, Extra, read all about it - Biomimicry replaces all other scientific methodology.

The only thing we have that comes close to spider spun silk is polyaramid Kevlar, a fibre so tough it can stop bullets. But to make Kevlar, we pour petroleum-derived molecules into a pressurized vat of concentrated sulphuric acid and boil it at several hundred degrees Fahrenheit in order to force it into a liquid crystal form. We then subject it to high pressures to force the fibres into alignment as we draw them out. The energy input is extreme and the toxic by-products are odious. The spider manages to make an equally strong and much tougher fibre at body temperature, without high pressure, heat or corrosive acids." Best of all, spiders don't have to drill offshore to produce the silk. They take in flies and crickets at one end and produce a high-tech material at the other end.

If we can mimic the un-wasteful technology that nature has been practicing for millions of years, we can rid ourselves of many of the ills of industrialization while maintaining our modern lifestyle.

Researchers are looking into such matters as how mussels glue themselves to rocks and pilings with a water-resistant adhesive that far surpasses any that generations of industrial chemists have contrived; why the inner lining of the abalone shell is stronger than any man-made ceramic; and the possibility that certain monkeys not only know which plants can cure particular sicknesses, but also which ones, eaten by females, can determine the likely gender of their offspring.

One biomimicry story has been unfolding, largely in the financial pages, over the past 18 months.

In April, 1999, a Quebec firm, revealed it had produced the world's first cloned goats. Then, in December, the company announced it had licensed the University of Wyoming's spider-silk gene patents. And, last January, they introduced Webster and Peter, two goats, each carrying a spider silk gene. Next year, they will begin extracting BioSteel silk protein from the milk of the two goats' daughters, and spinning it into fibres for bulletproof clothing, artificial ligaments, suspension-bridge cables and other uses. Presumably they know how spiders convert liquid protein into strong fibre.

Aside from just coining the term Bi-sci, (remember you heard it here first), I am most pleased to acknowledge Albert's insightful quote and to plant the flag of hope for future sense. I do not like the cloning aspect but if the choice is another Chernobyl......

The Seattle spider silk researcher was Christopher Viney. He left Seattle in 1995. He did not write the book "Biomimicry" - but some of his research is described in it. The book was written by Janine Benyus.