June 19, 2004
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Strands
Connections
James Burke had a program that appeared on the Science Channel that he called "Connections". In it, he would go from one scientific or historical point to another by way of a chain of coincidences or chance relationships. There were two versions of the show, one taking half an hour and the other a full hour, each leading from the chosen initial point to a related point that, without the chain he presented, would seem otherwise to be completely independent. Along the way, much amusing historical and scientific trivia was explored.
I intend to do something similar, a short exploration of threads. I can't promise to be as amusing as Mr. Burke, but I don't have as big a budget to work with as he did.
An Unpigmented Strand
It was two inches long, or perhaps slightly longer. It seems strange that such a small thing could produce the panic and disgust that Cathy was demonstrating. We all produce thousands of new hairs each year. In slightly under 29 years, Cathy has produced only this one that was colorless. But it assumed a symbolic magnitude greatly exceeding its physical stature.
Her first gray (or grey) hair!
Making Body Armor
At one time, Chinese warriors used body armor made partly from silk, a strong fiber produced by the larval stage of a moth as it enters into its transformation to the adult stage. Silk is still pretty good for making protective fabrics, but some other fibers, natural and artificial, are stronger. The strongest is the fiber produced by spiders.
Harvesting fibers from spiders is not a productive process. Each spider has to be handled individually and kept apart from others of her kind, who would either eat or be eaten by her. The quantity of fiber produced by each spider is small. Producing the fiber directly from spiders is expensive.
Modern science has taken the gene by which spiders produce their web material and implanted it in the fertilized eggs of goats, producing nanny goats whose milk contains large amounts of spider web protein. This protein is easily and cheaply extracted from the milk in the form of a white powder. This protein powder is then spun into fibers by machines, mechanical spiders that operate in much the same way live spiders do.
Bulletproof vests are being made from spider web fiber produced from goat milk.
Comments (4)
My condolences to Cathy.
So, if it weren't for our overwhelming need to slaughter one another the goat could have been left alone?
I liked your comment on Nance1's blog. I am not quite of the same mindset but close.
I went to Bursa in Turkey once, as I was interested in silk professionally. They had huge cauldrons in the processing area. This was where they fried the larva for a tasty snack
(Not for me!)
Spider protein from goats for bullet proof vests! Amazing.
I liked your comment on my Middle East war blog too. I know it is a very complicated situation and that I do not understand it all that well. It just worries me that our government does not seem to understand it either. It seems to me that they should have taken the trouble to do that before they decided to make war.
In reference to the people in our government who decided to make war: their agenda didn't include understanding the situation, only in controlling an increasingly scarce and valuable commodity, petroleum, although there was also a revenge factor. These are not such terribly bright people that they were concerned about the situation before they screwed it about, they just knew what they wanted and figured that using a combination of deceit and force would get it for them, consequences deferred to the next generation.
I predicted, before we waded in and started flailing about, that it would take centuries to calm the area again once it got stirred up. So far, the disturbance has been relatively minor. The really big mess has yet to begin, but there are signs that it is coming.