The secrets of spider silk

Each time a spider draws silk from its spin­neret to create a new web, it also draws on more than 400 mil­lion years of evo­lu­tion. Spi­ders have evolved to pro­duce a library of silks, each using a dif­ferent com­bi­na­tion of amino acids to address a par­tic­ular func­tional need. Some silks are sticky, making them per­fect for catching prey. Others are soft and duc­tile, good for mothers to use in cre­ating nests for their off­spring. Most are pro­por­tion­ally stronger than steel and even tougher than Kevlar.

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