Understanding how the stretching process strengthens spider silk is a key part of helping design stronger, biodegradable, silk-inspired materials for various applications. When spiders spin their webs ...

Spider silk is one of the most fascinating natural materials known to humans. It is more flexible than rubber yet tougher than bulletproof Kevlar and five times stronger than steel on a weight per ...

When they weave their webs, spiders pull their silk threads. New simulations show stretching during spinning causes the protein chains within the fibers to align and the number of hydrogen bonds ...