Remember when you were a child and wanted to be a superhero? You’re not the only one, because children always want to become their favourite superhero, whether it be Batman, Superman, Iron Man, or Captain America. Since 1962, when the web-slinging, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man made his debut in Marvel Comics, he has been a favourite hero of children all over.
In late 2024, Marco Lo Presti of Silklab at Tufts University in the U.S. made his own version of the web fluid and web shooter of Spider-Man, which works like a charm. Getting the fluid to work was a test and fail process. Unlike the comic book version, spiders don’t shoot their webs. Instead, they spin the webs from their gland, which makes physical contact from one place to another. Then, they draw the fluid out to construct the line. The scientists made their fluid spider-like, then made it solidify once exposed to air, allowing it to stick and lift objects 80 times its weight. The scientists’ discovery is focused on a method by which to shoot a fibre from a device, then adhere to and pick up an object from a distance.
Scientists developed this fibre using the cocoons of the Bombyx Mori Silkworm, which are boiled in a special solution to extract the main component called silk fibroin. The fluid solidified over hours, but they had to find a way to make it solidify in an instant. They did this using an addition of dopamine, which is an important molecule for the brain and making adhesives. This accelerated the solidification process to a near instant by extracting water from the silk. They enhanced this fluid further with chitosan derived from insect exoskeletons. This enhanced the tensile strength up to 200 times. They added borate buffer, which increased the stickiness by 18-fold.
While not being able to support a man or stop a runaway train, the web-shooter can pick up smaller objects – such as a cocoon, a steel bolt, a lab tube floating on water, a scalpel partially buried in sand, and a 5g wood block from 12cm away. This is not the end. This is not a failure. It’s a necessary part of the path.
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