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Surprising Science —

We’re On The Silk Road

Scientists are slowly unraveling the marvels and potential of silk, which is a liquid inside the organism so exquisitely producing it yet becomes a solid upon leaving it.
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Silk has been around for 5,000 years and long used in sutures, yet its incredible potential for medical and other fields lies largely untapped territory. We are struggling to match the spider, silkworm and other insects in the biology of silk-making but among promising applications is “the idea of using silk as the basis for metamaterials, which can manipulate light or other electromagnetic radiation in ways that nature ordinarily cannot. By producing intricate structures in the films and depositing metal on them, metamaterial antennas may be produced that could be used inside the body as a means of monitoring health.”

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