The University of Notre Dame and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories (Lansing, MI) made a major announcement in the past hour. Tiny, genetically altered silkworms in a laboratory at the University of Notre Dame are spinning a novel thread of artificially created spider silk. The resulting thread is twice as strong as natural silkworm silk and 10 times as strong as steel. The thread has a host of possible commercial applications in surgery, healing bandages, ligament repair, bulletproof vests, athletic clothing, improved automobile airbags, etc. "We've succeeded in genetically engineering silkworms so they produce spider webs," boasted Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a University of Notre Dame Biological Sciences Professor -- who led the research on this project along with researchers from Kraig Biocraft Laboratories and the University of Wyoming. Here's a link to Notre Dame's news release along with a video of Professor Fraser talking about their discovery. I must admit I never thought I would be writing about "silk worms" on my blog -- but it's pretty exciting news coming out of Notre Dame today! Maybe we'll see a GOLD HELMET, manufactured from this material, on our football team some day!
LINK: NOTRE DAME'S "SUPERMAN" SILK WORMS
