Thursday, March 1, 2012

SPIDER GOATS


The science world has created a hybrid animal called the spider goat.  It looks just like a goat, but has been modified to contain the gene of a spider so it can create the protein responsible for dragline silk.


Dragline silk is the threading that spiders emit when falling.  It's stronger than kevlar and has endless possibilities as a fiber.  So, these re-engineered goats give off milk that contains the dragline silk protein.  When the fats and impurities are removed, the isolated protein can be spun into silk threads on a massive scale.  Much more dragline silk that a hundred spiders could spin.

Its applications are widespread.  The silk thread can be used in surgery.  The body does not reject it as a foreign body and it's strength makes it ideal for repairing ligaments.

Wow.

On the surface, this sounds great, but it's this kind of bio-fiddling that created Tomacco.



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