Invisible, Super Stretchy Nanofibers Discovered In Natural Spider Silk

Long-time Slashdot reader yet-another-lobbyist writes: Phys.org has an article on the recent discovery of super stretchy nanofibers in natural spider silk! The thinnest natural spider silk nanofibrils ever seen are only a few molecular layers thin, about 5 nm. They are too thin to be seen even with a very powerful optical microscope. Researchers used atomic force microscopy (AFM) not only to visualize them, but also to probe their stretchiness and strength. 
Even the original article is available without a paywall. Mechanical tests of molecularly thin materials — pretty cool! 

The doctoral candidate's advisor thought it would be impossible to perform the measurements, according to the article, which quotes him as saying "It's actually kind of crazy to think that it's even possible.... We humans think we're so great and we can invent things, but if you just take a step outside, you find so many things that are more exciting." 
That advisor — long term spider-silk researcher of Hannes Schniepp (also a co-author on the paper) — adds that the tip of the needle was so sharp, its end was only a few atoms thick. "You would not see the end of it in the best optical microscope. It will just disappear because it's so small that you can't even see it. It's probably one of the highest developed technologies on the planet."


If humans find a way to replicate the structure of spider silk, it could be manufactured for use in practical applications. "You could make a super bungee cord from it," said Schniepp. "Or a shield around a structure where you have something incoming at high velocity and you need to absorb a lot of energy. Things like that."
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