WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 2>Oh hey, it's that bottle of mustard you don't even

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<v Speaker 2>remember buying, but you've moved with twice now Ali ward

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<v Speaker 2>back with another episode homologies. Okay, I just want to say,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're listening you're not a huge fan of spiders,

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<v Speaker 2>I want to tell you that you're brave. I'm proud

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<v Speaker 2>of you. And spoiler alert, this is not scary at all.

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<v Speaker 2>We barely even talk about spiders themselves, but rather we

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<v Speaker 2>just kind of focus on things that come out of

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<v Speaker 2>their rears. So for anyone in your life who's a spiderfobe,

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<v Speaker 2>just gently maybe send them this episode, tell them it's

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<v Speaker 2>a great way to admire the gritters and there are

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<v Speaker 2>very few goosebumps in the road ahead. So one day

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<v Speaker 2>we're going to work up to arachnology. We're going to

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<v Speaker 2>talk about the animals themselves one day. But today is

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<v Speaker 2>not that day, my friends. So today we're just walking

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<v Speaker 2>into spiderwebs. But before that, a quick detour into thank

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<v Speaker 2>You Shyer. So thank you to everyone supporting the show

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<v Speaker 2>on Patreon. You submit questions for the ologists each week.

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<v Speaker 2>A dollar a month gets you in that club. Just

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<v Speaker 2>go to patreon dot com slash ologies and it lets

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<v Speaker 2>me pay my editors well and donate to four or

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<v Speaker 2>five charities each month while still getting to be choosy

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<v Speaker 2>about who sponsors a show. So thanks to everyone also

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<v Speaker 2>wearing ologies merch from Ologiesmarch dot com. Thanks to everyone

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<v Speaker 2>who has made sure that you're subscribed, especially with the

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<v Speaker 2>recent iOS updates, so check and make sure that you're

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<v Speaker 2>subscribed and it's auto downloading the fresh ones. And thank

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<v Speaker 2>you to everyone who rates the podcast to keep it

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<v Speaker 2>up in the charts, and of course those of you

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<v Speaker 2>who reviews for me to creep with teary eyes such as,

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<v Speaker 2>for example mstan ninety six, who is applying to grad

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<v Speaker 2>school and says, thanks, Dad, that's me for combating imposter

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<v Speaker 2>syndrome by sharing the human side of science, and for

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<v Speaker 2>always supporting all of your blood children's dreams. Well, thank you,

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<v Speaker 2>mstan ninety six. I look forward to calling you doctor,

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<v Speaker 2>mstan ninety six. Okay, spidronology, What in the dark, shadowy

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<v Speaker 2>night is that? So, unless you are a spider doctor,

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<v Speaker 2>you probably did not know that there is a word

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<v Speaker 2>for spider webs, and it's spid droins. Well, spiddrowins are

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<v Speaker 2>the main proteins in spider silk, and they're as strong

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<v Speaker 2>as steel, but they're more flexible and they're similar to

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<v Speaker 2>collagen or carrotin. We're gonna get into it, So, yes, kiddos,

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<v Speaker 2>this is a whole episode unraveling the mysteries and looking

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<v Speaker 2>into the future of spider silk. What it is, how

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<v Speaker 2>it works, how it may change all of our lives.

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<v Speaker 2>So I met this ologist when I went to Utah

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<v Speaker 2>State University to film a segment in his lab for

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<v Speaker 2>Innovation Nation, which is my wonderful dream job slash day

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<v Speaker 2>job as a correspondent for CBS for them Saturday mornings.

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<v Speaker 2>Check your local listings, along with my other own show

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<v Speaker 2>on the CWO did I Mention Invention? Did I mention

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<v Speaker 2>that I have a show called did I Mention Invention? Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>so you can find those on weekends CWCBS. Anyway, it

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<v Speaker 2>was a very beautiful April afternoon, and after we finished

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<v Speaker 2>filming his segment, I coerced him into sitting down for

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<v Speaker 2>a podcast chat. And he is a world famous pioneer

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<v Speaker 2>in spider silk, So stick around to get a lifetime's

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<v Speaker 2>worth of appreciation and context about what a spider web is,

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<v Speaker 2>what is made of, how strong a single thread can be,

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<v Speaker 2>how it's synthesized, and labs future medical uses, some superhero flimplam,

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<v Speaker 2>transgenic goats, gene splicing bow ties, the most beautiful thing

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<v Speaker 2>I have ever seen, and what too much coffee does

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<v Speaker 2>to spider brains with Utah State Biology Professor and your

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<v Speaker 2>new favorite spidronologist, doctor Randy Lewis. Cool beans, So if

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<v Speaker 2>you could tell me your first and last name and

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<v Speaker 2>how you pronounce it, Randy Lewis, doctor Randy Lewis, doctor

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<v Speaker 2>Randy Lewis, And if you are an ologist of any sort,

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<v Speaker 2>what do you think you would be.

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<v Speaker 3>Probably a biomterial ologist, okay.

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<v Speaker 2>Or you deal with spirous.

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<v Speaker 3>Spidern It could be a spidern ologist, but most people

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<v Speaker 3>would know what that was, So biomterials might be a

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<v Speaker 3>broader thing for people to know what I really am.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, they're about to know what a spidronologist is. True enough,

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<v Speaker 2>true enough of the people in the world who work

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<v Speaker 2>with spider silk, is it a small group? It's a

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<v Speaker 2>relatively small group.

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<v Speaker 3>Would say that the entire publication record probably involves no

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<v Speaker 3>more than thirty labs. There might be a few more

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<v Speaker 3>than that, and of those probably only twenty of them

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<v Speaker 3>have ever published more than one paper.

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<v Speaker 2>How many papers have you published?

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<v Speaker 3>My total is like one hundred and fifty, and on

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<v Speaker 3>spider silk we're probably talking seventy.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh. What about patents?

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<v Speaker 3>So we have eleven patents right now and we have

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<v Speaker 3>three that are pending.

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<v Speaker 2>Or so, how long have you been in the spider

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<v Speaker 2>silk spidery on game?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, just cause spider silk works because nobody uses uses

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<v Speaker 3>the spidron term that we came up with to describe

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<v Speaker 3>the proteins.

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<v Speaker 2>I keep wanting to say spidreon, but it's spiddrowing like

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<v Speaker 2>it rhymes with groin, which is I guess where the

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<v Speaker 2>silk comes from on your body if you're a spider.

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<v Speaker 3>I believe I should be considered the father of spider silk,

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<v Speaker 3>at least at the molecular level, although I've now passed

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<v Speaker 3>enough generations that some are calling me the grandfather of it.

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<v Speaker 2>My grandfa.

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<v Speaker 3>But we cloned the first spider silk Jeane, thirty years ago,

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<v Speaker 3>this coming.

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<v Speaker 2>Summer thirty years ago, this coming summer thirty years Can

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<v Speaker 2>you remember the date? No, I don't. You gotta have

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<v Speaker 2>a cake or something. Get a sheet cake from Costco.

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<v Speaker 2>That's probably true.

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<v Speaker 3>We probably got to celebrate somehow, at least, so ice

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<v Speaker 3>cream cake from the ice cream store probably better for

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<v Speaker 3>my group anyway.

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<v Speaker 2>So get a carvel, you deserve it. Sorry, we don't

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<v Speaker 2>have them around here for so. Now, tell me a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit about your backstory before we go into how

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<v Speaker 2>you started cloning the proteins of spider silk. What was

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<v Speaker 2>your backstory?

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<v Speaker 3>So? I was born and raised in northern Wyoming. I

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<v Speaker 3>went to cal Tech as an undergrad. I'm a two

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<v Speaker 3>time inductee into the Caltech Athletic Hall of Fame really

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<v Speaker 3>because I was the captain of the first wrestling team

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<v Speaker 3>ever to win a conference championship, and we actually won

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<v Speaker 3>three in a row.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't even know that they had a wrestling team.

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<v Speaker 3>Well they don't anymore, Okay, they did then. Okay, so

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<v Speaker 3>there are no academic marks for my history at Caltech, but.

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<v Speaker 2>There are wrestling marks.

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<v Speaker 3>So so you know, go to a brain school and

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<v Speaker 3>be a non brain is the way to go. I

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<v Speaker 3>then went to grad school at UC San Diego, did

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<v Speaker 3>a postdoc at the Rosia Institute.

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<v Speaker 2>So Randy did his undergrad in chemistry and his master's

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<v Speaker 2>and PhD in biokem then did postdoc in molecular biology.

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<v Speaker 2>So notice zero of those degrees were in entomology or arachnology.

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<v Speaker 2>So how did he get all tangled up in these

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<v Speaker 2>spider webs?

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<v Speaker 3>Got started on the spider silk sort of of as

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<v Speaker 3>a as a side light, and they became the dominant

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<v Speaker 3>thing that we did in the lab.

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<v Speaker 2>Your side hustle took over.

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<v Speaker 3>It's true, absolutely true.

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<v Speaker 2>Did you have a thing for spiders before that? Or

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think that I had a thing for him.

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<v Speaker 3>I think that I recognized spiders as being interesting organized,

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<v Speaker 3>and knew some about them, but clearly not nearly as

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<v Speaker 3>much as I've learned since then, you know, to appreciate

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<v Speaker 3>just what an amazing organism they are.

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<v Speaker 2>And so where did you start in the field. What

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<v Speaker 2>was your first intro into spider silk?

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<v Speaker 3>So I was I was working with a company out

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<v Speaker 3>in California, a small biotech company, and they had developed

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<v Speaker 3>technique for a vaccine, so what they were wanting to

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<v Speaker 3>do was to make silkworm silk, and it became clear

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<v Speaker 3>that economically that never made any sense, so they asked

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<v Speaker 3>me to look at spider silk and I did, and

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<v Speaker 3>at the time there was a lot of known about

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<v Speaker 3>the biology, but absolutely nothing about the actual fibers themselves,

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<v Speaker 3>except that they were made out of protein, and proteins

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<v Speaker 3>were what my lab was good at. So they decided

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<v Speaker 3>that it was too long term a project, which turns

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<v Speaker 3>out to be true, obviously, because thirty years later we

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<v Speaker 3>still really don't have any products out there. So as

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<v Speaker 3>a biotech company, you know, you'd got belly up a

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<v Speaker 3>long time ago. So I was able to talk to

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<v Speaker 3>the office in Naval Research, which they had contacted about

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<v Speaker 3>their vaccine stuff and produced a fairly small little proposal

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<v Speaker 3>to them to see if we couldn't clone the gene

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<v Speaker 3>for protein that made up one of the spider silks,

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<v Speaker 3>and I ended up getting the grant. But it's interesting

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<v Speaker 3>because it got two reviews from the outside, one of

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<v Speaker 3>which said this was the best thing they could could be,

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<v Speaker 3>the best thing since slice bread. The other one said,

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<v Speaker 3>this is the stupidest idea I ever heard of. And

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<v Speaker 3>fortunately the program officer chose to take the first one

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<v Speaker 3>and give me money. Fortunately, when in the first year

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<v Speaker 3>we were able to clone and sequence the very first

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<v Speaker 3>spider silk gene in the first year. First year, we

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<v Speaker 3>got it done before a year was up.

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<v Speaker 2>So man, I've been meaning to reorganize my kitchen cabinets

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<v Speaker 2>for at least two years, and you cloned a gene

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<v Speaker 2>in a year. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, at a certain stage, it's the people. It's the

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<v Speaker 3>people you have. It's not you that accomplished something. And

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<v Speaker 3>I'm at the stage where, you know, I know how

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<v Speaker 3>to solve problems, but I don't know how to do

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<v Speaker 3>most of the things in the lab anymore.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, before we get to into how how this golden

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<v Speaker 2>fleece unicorn hair, heavn tinsel unobtainium is obtained. Let's get

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<v Speaker 2>down to some brassy tacks. Walk me through a little

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<v Speaker 2>bit about what is spider silk, because I know enough

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<v Speaker 2>about a spider butt to know that different things comes

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<v Speaker 2>out of their silk glands. Yes, what's going on?

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<v Speaker 3>So the spiders that we work with make six different

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<v Speaker 3>kinds of silk and a gloom. They're the ones that

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<v Speaker 3>make the typical round web. It's called an orb web

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<v Speaker 3>that most people think about that spiders make.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, side note, if you're wondering what invisible force has

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<v Speaker 2>captured your face, what gossamer thready creation has veiled you

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<v Speaker 2>at night? Those are likely the work of orb weaver spiders.

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<v Speaker 2>They are architects and artisans. They are craft spiders. Their

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<v Speaker 2>talent is innate, and their spiral spider webs are just iconic. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>some like the Nephela golden orb weavers spin this brilliant

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<v Speaker 2>yellow silk. It just it's like threads of gold. So

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<v Speaker 2>what's up with cobwebs? Well, spider web tends to mean

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<v Speaker 2>one that is still inhabited, and cobwebs refer to old,

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<v Speaker 2>abandoned ones. So once they get dusty, they tend to

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<v Speaker 2>lose their tack. But a cobweb is also a type

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<v Speaker 2>of web, one that's less of a two planed spiral

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<v Speaker 2>net more of a three dimensional maze. We'll get into

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<v Speaker 2>that in a bit.

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<v Speaker 3>And they use the silks for very different purposes and

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<v Speaker 3>they have very different mechanical properties. So you know, evolutionarily,

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<v Speaker 3>you sort of have a lot of evolutionary tinkering that

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<v Speaker 3>went on before we ever got to take a look

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<v Speaker 3>at it. So basically, in most of the glands, there's

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<v Speaker 3>a couple of them that they don't produce silk all

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<v Speaker 3>the time, but generally they produce silk, put it in

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<v Speaker 3>a gland. They have it in a form that's still

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<v Speaker 3>not completely identified, but we think they're sort of very

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<v Speaker 3>small little balls of protein that are present in there.

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<v Speaker 3>And my cells, but protein my cells as opposed to

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<v Speaker 3>membring my cells, which is what most people think about.

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<v Speaker 2>When he says my cells, he's not talking about his

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<v Speaker 2>own cells, but rather little gatherings of proteins hanging out

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<v Speaker 2>in a huddle that are called my cells.

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<v Speaker 3>Then when they pull the silk out, so they pull

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<v Speaker 3>it out like flaws. They don't squeeze it out like toothpaste. Okay,

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<v Speaker 3>so all of the silks have.

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<v Speaker 2>To be pulled out.

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<v Speaker 3>And when they pull that the silk at the very

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<v Speaker 3>end of a tube going down from the gland that

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<v Speaker 3>they make it to the outside, all the silk then

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<v Speaker 3>behind it starts to get pulled out because it's very viscous.

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<v Speaker 3>On the trip down that tube, the sheer forces cause

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<v Speaker 3>the protein molecules to basically line up, like you can

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<v Speaker 3>imagine if you were to take spaghetti start getting it

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<v Speaker 3>down through a funnel, all the spaghetti molecule the spaghetti

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<v Speaker 3>has to line up where it doesn't go down. So

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<v Speaker 3>that's what's happening in this trip down there. When they

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<v Speaker 3>do that, they actually protein molecules lock together and become

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<v Speaker 3>in soluble and that's how the fiber forms. Amazingly enough,

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00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.639
<v Speaker 3>it can happen in as little as ten milliseconds. So

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<v Speaker 3>if you see a spider fall, that silk is solidifying

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<v Speaker 3>in milliseconds as it comes out of the spider.

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<v Speaker 2>And do they use a combination of their spinnerets or

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<v Speaker 2>their legs or gravity what gives it that force?

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<v Speaker 3>All of the above, so they can't squeeze it out,

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<v Speaker 3>so they either have to pull it out with their leg.

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<v Speaker 3>The other thing they can do is attach it to

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<v Speaker 3>something and walk away from it. Okay, So the silk

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<v Speaker 3>that most people are interested in called dragline silk, and

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<v Speaker 3>it's dragline because when they walk away, they drag it

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<v Speaker 3>behind them. So if you see a spider crawling across

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<v Speaker 3>the ceiling, for instance, if you watch it, it'll crawl

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<v Speaker 3>for a little ways and then it'll start wiggling its butt.

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<v Speaker 2>We can't stop talking about it when it does that.

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<v Speaker 3>It's using another silk to attach the major silk to

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<v Speaker 3>some kind of a protrusion on the wall.

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<v Speaker 2>So just like a climber.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, if a climber climbs so far and they

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<v Speaker 3>put a piton or a hook or something in there,

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<v Speaker 3>it's exactly what spiders have been doing for four hundred

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<v Speaker 3>million years. So rock climbers are a little behind on

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00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.440
<v Speaker 3>the death. And in addition, they can stick the silk

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<v Speaker 3>to almost anything. Now they have trouble with something like teflon,

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<v Speaker 3>but they can stick it to glass wonderfully. So you know,

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<v Speaker 3>you put them in a glass aquarium, for instance, or

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<v Speaker 3>a plexiglass aquarium, and you can see them. You can

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<v Speaker 3>see the little attachments where they put all their silk down.

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<v Speaker 3>That is how they produce the silk and have to

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<v Speaker 3>pull it out.

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<v Speaker 2>And what are some other types of silk because you

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<v Speaker 2>said six, so that's the.

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<v Speaker 3>So they have dragline silk that's the framework of the

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<v Speaker 3>web and they use.

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<v Speaker 2>It for their protective line.

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<v Speaker 3>There's a minor ampulet silk that they use that's mostly

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<v Speaker 3>for reinforcing of the web. There is a tubuliform silk

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<v Speaker 3>and that's almost crystalline, so that the silk is relatively strong,

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00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:48.759
<v Speaker 3>but if you try to bend it, it'll break easily.

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00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.000
<v Speaker 3>They use it for an outer coating when they lay

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00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.360
<v Speaker 3>their eggs. Oh, there's aciniform silk that they used to

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00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.279
<v Speaker 3>both wrap their prey and wrap their eggs, so that's

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00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:01.600
<v Speaker 3>the inside case of an egg layer. They have aggregate silk,

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00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.000
<v Speaker 3>which is the silk and is the glue in there.

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<v Speaker 3>Puriform is the attachment, so they use that to attach

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00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:12.000
<v Speaker 3>their silks down. And then there's flagelli form silk critically

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<v Speaker 3>important because that's most of the spiral in the web

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<v Speaker 3>and that's what they use to catch their prey with.

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00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:22.000
<v Speaker 3>So it's very stretchy, so basically insect hits It just

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00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:25.960
<v Speaker 3>stretches the silk out until all the energy is absorbed

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00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:27.360
<v Speaker 3>and then it gets stuck in the glue.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's a silk well not so much. Yeah, I

299
00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:34.240
<v Speaker 2>was not right about that. So the key is you

300
00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:35.960
<v Speaker 2>don't want to trampoline. Okay.

301
00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.759
<v Speaker 3>So what happens is it absorbs that energy and then

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00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:42.080
<v Speaker 3>radiates it back of heat. So if you look at it, it

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00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.279
<v Speaker 3>hits the web. So the web doing this, the web

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00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.919
<v Speaker 3>comes back very slowly and loses like seventy five percent

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00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:52.200
<v Speaker 3>of all that energy as heat on that retraction back

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00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:53.120
<v Speaker 3>up very slowly.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow. So it doesn't just take the prey and then

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00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:58.600
<v Speaker 2>shoot the prey. That would not be very efficient.

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00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:01.200
<v Speaker 3>You know, it looked, but it would not do the

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00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.759
<v Speaker 3>spy you know, for the spider's lifetime. Would not be

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00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.000
<v Speaker 3>very efficient. So you'd lose a lot of your prey.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so real quick, they've got major ambulate or dragline

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00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:13.240
<v Speaker 2>silk one that is just super strong. It's as strong

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00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:16.360
<v Speaker 2>as steel, but it's tougher and it acts as those

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00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:21.279
<v Speaker 2>webs spokes and the non sticky outer rim. And then

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00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.639
<v Speaker 2>there's minor ampulate, which is temporary kind of like a

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00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:28.080
<v Speaker 2>sketch while they're building the web. Then they have flagelliform

318
00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.240
<v Speaker 2>sticky silk for the inside spiral of the web, that

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00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:35.080
<v Speaker 2>little bullseye super sticky, and then to biliform silk is

320
00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:40.440
<v Speaker 2>stiff eggsac business. There's acidiform, which is the saran wrappie

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00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:43.440
<v Speaker 2>sheet that they mummy their prey with. It's two to

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00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.159
<v Speaker 2>three times as strong as that first dragline silk. And

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00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:51.159
<v Speaker 2>then there's also aggregate, which is hardcore glue silk. And

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00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.000
<v Speaker 2>they're produced by four to six hairy nubbins on their

325
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:58.919
<v Speaker 2>undercarriage called spinnerets, and those each have a bunch of

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00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:02.919
<v Speaker 2>nozzles kind of like froio dispensers, and then they're stretched

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00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.119
<v Speaker 2>out and it's extruded from the glands from the spinnerets.

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00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:09.079
<v Speaker 2>Does it look like a glove slowly waving at you

329
00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:12.519
<v Speaker 2>palpating some goo. Yes, it does. But let's get back

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00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:16.559
<v Speaker 2>to the silk itself, and how different from a molecular

331
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.359
<v Speaker 2>structure are these six different types of silk.

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00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:23.160
<v Speaker 3>So they all of them have what I call a

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00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:27.200
<v Speaker 3>lego sequence. So those are sequences that naturally when they

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00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:31.240
<v Speaker 3>make a fiber interdigitate, so they literally have holes and

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00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:34.960
<v Speaker 3>pins just like legos do. So most of the silks

336
00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:37.839
<v Speaker 3>have some form of lego. Now it turns out some

337
00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:40.480
<v Speaker 3>of them have longer pins, some of them have bigger holes,

338
00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:43.160
<v Speaker 3>some of them have you know, some variations, but all

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00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:45.720
<v Speaker 3>of them have something that allows them to stick together

340
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.359
<v Speaker 3>to make a fiber. Then the ones that have stretch

341
00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:54.440
<v Speaker 3>have in there something looks like a slinky, you know,

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00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:58.240
<v Speaker 3>at a nanoscale. And so when it stretches and you

343
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:01.480
<v Speaker 3>let go, it retracts. As we said, the difference is

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00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.079
<v Speaker 3>that it doesn't retract as fast as you stretched it.

345
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:09.160
<v Speaker 3>So in that retraction that loses heat, and so you know,

346
00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:13.279
<v Speaker 3>it keeps from basically serving as a trampoline. It's what's

347
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:17.519
<v Speaker 3>unique is that there are not variations but in those

348
00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:21.119
<v Speaker 3>proteins between different species of spiders. So if you look

349
00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.799
<v Speaker 3>at all of the orb weavers, the individual six proteins

350
00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:30.960
<v Speaker 3>and the glue protein all look very very similar in

351
00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:33.920
<v Speaker 3>each species compared to each other species. Now they look

352
00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.160
<v Speaker 3>very different from each other, but not from the same

353
00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.400
<v Speaker 3>silk in a different species. They can be separated for

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00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.960
<v Speaker 3>as much as one hundred and fifty million years, and

355
00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:46.519
<v Speaker 3>still the silks you would recognize it. I mean somebody

356
00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:50.000
<v Speaker 3>who's in the field would recognize instantly looking at that

357
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.440
<v Speaker 3>sequence which silk it was from any of those.

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00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:55.400
<v Speaker 2>I mean, there's probably a handful of you on Earth

359
00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.279
<v Speaker 2>that could probably look at that and say, oh, I know,

360
00:18:57.319 --> 00:18:58.000
<v Speaker 2>I thought I.

361
00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:00.240
<v Speaker 3>Would hope there's more than that. Now at least, you know,

362
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.240
<v Speaker 3>my students should all know that. But yeah, I mean

363
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.559
<v Speaker 3>it's certainly a limited one. But it's they're really easily recognizable.

364
00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:12.200
<v Speaker 2>And how are the spiders determining? Okay, I know I

365
00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:15.160
<v Speaker 2>need a drag line here to make the framework of

366
00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:16.960
<v Speaker 2>my net. I know I need somethings to get.

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00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.359
<v Speaker 3>It's all genetically programmed. It's absolutely clear. I mean, they

368
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.799
<v Speaker 3>have no brain in the sense of being able to

369
00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.839
<v Speaker 3>make that decision, and so you know.

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00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:26.039
<v Speaker 2>They are hardwired.

371
00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.599
<v Speaker 3>This silk does this, This silk does this, this silk

372
00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.160
<v Speaker 3>does this. So you know, in some cases we can

373
00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:36.039
<v Speaker 3>collect the silks from the spider directly, but most of

374
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.119
<v Speaker 3>the time it's difficult. For instance, they know that they

375
00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:43.039
<v Speaker 3>want to use the prey wrapping silk when they have prey.

376
00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:45.480
<v Speaker 3>So it turns out if you can find just the

377
00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:51.440
<v Speaker 3>right frequency on the spider, then they'll believe that they

378
00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:54.599
<v Speaker 3>have something to wrap, and I'll start putting that silk

379
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:56.720
<v Speaker 3>out so you can catch that. But most of them,

380
00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:59.240
<v Speaker 3>you know, major and minor relatively easy. The rest of

381
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:03.319
<v Speaker 3>them are almost impossible to collect because you can't provide

382
00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:06.680
<v Speaker 3>the right stimulus to get the right major. You just

383
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.200
<v Speaker 3>don't have the right trigger to tell it to do it.

384
00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:13.039
<v Speaker 2>It's true a web can act like a harp. And

385
00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.799
<v Speaker 2>spiders here with tiny slits in their feet totally normal

386
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.680
<v Speaker 2>and threw little hairs all over their body. And I

387
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:24.440
<v Speaker 2>got ensnared reading a paper titled micro and Nanostructural details

388
00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.920
<v Speaker 2>of a spider's filter for substrate vibrations relevance for low

389
00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:31.519
<v Speaker 2>frequency signal transmission. But again back to the web. You

390
00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:35.119
<v Speaker 2>can buy a tiny spool of the golden silk on

391
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:39.400
<v Speaker 2>Etsy for two hundred dollars a gram, and I googled

392
00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.160
<v Speaker 2>it and that was way more expensive than street drugs.

393
00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:46.200
<v Speaker 2>So with this markesboard of silks, some have to be

394
00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:49.079
<v Speaker 2>stronger and cooler than others, right, like, some have to

395
00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:53.039
<v Speaker 2>be better. And now, which spider has the best silk?

396
00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.440
<v Speaker 2>You know, I think that's a tough question.

397
00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.319
<v Speaker 3>There There is a mark spider from South America is

398
00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.599
<v Speaker 3>argued to have the strongest silk. Now, it's strongest in

399
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:10.279
<v Speaker 3>the combination of stretch and strength because it stretches lots

400
00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:14.480
<v Speaker 3>more than most spider silks do, not because it's necessarily strong.

401
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.240
<v Speaker 3>The variations in the silk, even with an individual spider,

402
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.079
<v Speaker 3>are fairly large because they don't do a good job

403
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.519
<v Speaker 3>of controlling the diameter. Really, and whenever you measure strength,

404
00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:28.279
<v Speaker 3>you measure it based on cross sectional area. So obviously,

405
00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:30.920
<v Speaker 3>if something's fatter, then it's going to be stronger than

406
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:31.920
<v Speaker 3>something that's thinner.

407
00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:34.920
<v Speaker 2>Just side note, think of a braid versus a hare,

408
00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:38.400
<v Speaker 2>or a rope versus a thread, or one string of

409
00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:42.279
<v Speaker 2>the cheese versus the whole string cheese. I'm so hungry.

410
00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:45.400
<v Speaker 3>So you know, when you say what spider has the best,

411
00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.559
<v Speaker 3>I think it's which silk is the best, And that's

412
00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:51.519
<v Speaker 3>clearly dragline. It's got the best combination of strength and

413
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.839
<v Speaker 3>elasticity to give you the you know, that unique combination

414
00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.759
<v Speaker 3>that no man made material beat is dragline silk.

415
00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:04.000
<v Speaker 2>Where you're walking into the backyard at night and you

416
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.519
<v Speaker 2>get a web on your face and you feel like

417
00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:07.599
<v Speaker 2>you're going to die.

418
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.480
<v Speaker 3>Well, I don't know about the last part of that steam,

419
00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:14.200
<v Speaker 3>But certainly it's it's actually the combination of all of them,

420
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:16.839
<v Speaker 3>because the web has four different silks in it, Okay,

421
00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:19.400
<v Speaker 3>so it has major, minor, it has the glue, and

422
00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:23.480
<v Speaker 3>it has the crapture spilled. So when you hit that, yeah,

423
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.440
<v Speaker 3>I think it's it's it's probably more the fact that

424
00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.559
<v Speaker 3>it adheres to your face because of the glue. It

425
00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:31.799
<v Speaker 3>also stretches enough so you know you can sort of

426
00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:33.960
<v Speaker 3>feel that your face is going into it. When it

427
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.440
<v Speaker 3>finally breaks, it's already now, you know, sort of attached

428
00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:39.079
<v Speaker 3>all over there and stretch tight.

429
00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:41.680
<v Speaker 2>Does that ever happen to you and you go, oh,

430
00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:42.720
<v Speaker 2>good one, guys.

431
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.359
<v Speaker 3>Not very often, especially because you know, in the Rocky

432
00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:51.079
<v Speaker 3>Mountains most of the webs are relatively well concealed, whereas

433
00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:53.839
<v Speaker 3>you know in places like down south and you know,

434
00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:56.279
<v Speaker 3>they stick them out anywhere because they have a much

435
00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:59.480
<v Speaker 3>higher opportunity here and the Rockies most of them are

436
00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:02.039
<v Speaker 3>where they're so light shining or something like that, or

437
00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.000
<v Speaker 3>in a dark place at a barn. So it has happened

438
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.519
<v Speaker 3>occasionally in a barn where you know you just can't

439
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:07.720
<v Speaker 3>see him ntil it's too late.

440
00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:11.400
<v Speaker 2>The ones that feel like very fine fishing line where

441
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.680
<v Speaker 2>you're you can almost feel it snappy. That was stronger

442
00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.160
<v Speaker 2>than I expected it. Yeah, and who did I just

443
00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:17.640
<v Speaker 2>wake up?

444
00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:18.079
<v Speaker 4>Right?

445
00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:22.319
<v Speaker 2>Even though I love spiders, I'm like, yeah, I definitely

446
00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.119
<v Speaker 2>don't want to ruin your home. I want to be

447
00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.359
<v Speaker 2>like Hurricane Alley. Yeah, just coming through ps. One of

448
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.680
<v Speaker 2>the most beautiful things I have ever laid my actual

449
00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:33.599
<v Speaker 2>eyes on is this eleven by four foot tapestry woven

450
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.400
<v Speaker 2>from golden or weaver silk. It was on display at

451
00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:38.559
<v Speaker 2>the American Museum of Natural History of New York in

452
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.400
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and nine, and it was the first stop

453
00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:43.880
<v Speaker 2>I made in New York when I went then. And

454
00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.200
<v Speaker 2>it looks kind of like a table runner but made

455
00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.480
<v Speaker 2>out of sunlight, or like a bedspread woven from an

456
00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.759
<v Speaker 2>angel's laugh. It also looked expensive and took several years

457
00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:00.759
<v Speaker 2>of milking wild malagassy spiders to make. It was casual.

458
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.599
<v Speaker 2>And now, what are some applications of spider silk? I know.

459
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.920
<v Speaker 2>The only thing that I'm familiar with that I think

460
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:09.759
<v Speaker 2>of that comes to mind is this tapestry that was

461
00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:13.799
<v Speaker 2>woven on golden or weaver silk that's been on display,

462
00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.599
<v Speaker 2>and I mentioned it to you earlier and you said

463
00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:18.039
<v Speaker 2>that it makes you kind of sad.

464
00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:22.200
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, because clearly, you know it was done by hand

465
00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:27.960
<v Speaker 3>by women in Madagascar, and it's obviously they were not

466
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.559
<v Speaker 3>paid a lot of money for the amount of work

467
00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:33.200
<v Speaker 3>they had to do, so you know it, I think

468
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:36.160
<v Speaker 3>it's an amazing accomplishment. Clearly, it is, without a doubt,

469
00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:40.839
<v Speaker 3>the largest amount of spider silk that's ever been used

470
00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:44.000
<v Speaker 3>for any purpose whatsoever. And you know, the women had

471
00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.599
<v Speaker 3>to collect the silk from the spider and then they

472
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.680
<v Speaker 3>had to weave it into the tapestry and that kind

473
00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:50.079
<v Speaker 3>of stuff, so it's amazing.

474
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:54.160
<v Speaker 2>It's just, you know, I feel like the people over.

475
00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:55.480
<v Speaker 3>There may have been I mean, maybe they had no

476
00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:57.680
<v Speaker 3>jobs in a dollar day or whatever they got paid

477
00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:00.480
<v Speaker 3>was still better than nothing, and maybe it was, but

478
00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:05.559
<v Speaker 3>it's a huge amount of manpower for something that's wonderful

479
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:09.440
<v Speaker 3>to look at an art object. But beyond that, I'm

480
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.119
<v Speaker 3>not sure you couldn't have made something, you know what,

481
00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:15.960
<v Speaker 3>tenth that size and still been an impressive accomplishment in

482
00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:16.599
<v Speaker 3>terms of that.

483
00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:20.279
<v Speaker 2>So I hadn't considered this, and it's a great point.

484
00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.160
<v Speaker 2>The two men who made the tapestry were from Europe.

485
00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.720
<v Speaker 2>In America and they were hiring locals and with three

486
00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:30.640
<v Speaker 2>thousand giant spiders harvested, milked, and returned to the wild

487
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.960
<v Speaker 2>daily over a course of four years. A budget of

488
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.079
<v Speaker 2>a half a million dollars is pretty low for that

489
00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:39.519
<v Speaker 2>amount of toil, and it rightfully dims the glow of

490
00:25:39.559 --> 00:25:41.720
<v Speaker 2>the original work for me, But it also shines a

491
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.519
<v Speaker 2>light on why Randy's work understanding and figuring out more

492
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.839
<v Speaker 2>affordable ways to harvest this material is so important. He's

493
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.319
<v Speaker 2>not looking to fabricate a cape so that an alabaster

494
00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:54.759
<v Speaker 2>supermodel can strut in it for a few minutes before

495
00:25:54.759 --> 00:25:57.200
<v Speaker 2>it's returned to a lock box. And the work that

496
00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:02.000
<v Speaker 2>you're doing with spider tech, what types of materials do

497
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:05.119
<v Speaker 2>you think that you'll be getting to fabricate and how

498
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.400
<v Speaker 2>will that kind of change the way that we live

499
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.599
<v Speaker 2>potentially hopefully fingers crossed, all arms crossed. Yeah, right.

500
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:15.359
<v Speaker 3>So I think that what most people are not very

501
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:19.319
<v Speaker 3>aware of is is that we've been able to develop

502
00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:22.039
<v Speaker 3>uses other than just fibers. And I think everybody when

503
00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.680
<v Speaker 3>you think about spider silk, you think about clothing, you

504
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.640
<v Speaker 3>think about bulletproof vests, you think about climbing ropes, think

505
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.960
<v Speaker 3>about lots of things along those lines, but on the fiber.

506
00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.400
<v Speaker 3>And in addition, we think there's a real opportunity for

507
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.880
<v Speaker 3>composite materials, especially something like epoxy based composite materials that

508
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.640
<v Speaker 3>comes from two reasons. One is unique combination of stretch

509
00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:46.279
<v Speaker 3>and strength, and there's no other materials out there that

510
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.400
<v Speaker 3>you could use for reinforcing to do that.

511
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:52.440
<v Speaker 2>So a composite epoxy material is usually made of say

512
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.759
<v Speaker 2>glass strands or carbon fibers embedded in a glue or

513
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.240
<v Speaker 2>a resin. So picture something made out of fiberglass and

514
00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:03.640
<v Speaker 2>then imagine an upgrade to spidrone.

515
00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:08.599
<v Speaker 3>The second is that we've found that spider silk can

516
00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.559
<v Speaker 3>be made into an amazing adhesive. Well, we know ours

517
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:15.240
<v Speaker 3>adheres to plastic, it is here, adheres to metilate, ad

518
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:15.839
<v Speaker 3>here's to.

519
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:17.839
<v Speaker 2>Would.

520
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.000
<v Speaker 3>I mean, there's almost nothing that we can't cote. Using

521
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:25.480
<v Speaker 3>it as thin films, using it for coatings, there's almost

522
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:29.279
<v Speaker 3>nothing we can't cote. And part of the coding idea

523
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:32.039
<v Speaker 3>is that we can put additives in there. So, for instance,

524
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:37.279
<v Speaker 3>coating catheters, we can put antimicrobials and anti fouling factors

525
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.400
<v Speaker 3>so that you don't get infections when you implant a

526
00:27:39.400 --> 00:27:41.720
<v Speaker 3>catheter and they don't plug up at the end, which

527
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.279
<v Speaker 3>which happens to a pretty amazingly high percentage of catheters

528
00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:49.240
<v Speaker 3>that get implanted in hospitals. I think everything for medical,

529
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:53.680
<v Speaker 3>there's clearly interest in the defense department and lots of

530
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:54.519
<v Speaker 3>things in between.

531
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:58.880
<v Speaker 2>It seems absolutely unreal that it can be as strong

532
00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:00.880
<v Speaker 2>as steel a lot lighter.

533
00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:04.680
<v Speaker 3>Sure, it's because it's got a combination of strength and stretch,

534
00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:06.799
<v Speaker 3>and that's really what makes it unique.

535
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:09.839
<v Speaker 2>I think. Side note, if you've never had a catheter

536
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.240
<v Speaker 2>but just googled one to get an idea of how

537
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:16.680
<v Speaker 2>they work, Wow, who boy, howdy hot damn. I would

538
00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:20.079
<v Speaker 2>like that to not get infected please, So thanks spiders.

539
00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.920
<v Speaker 2>And also, like we heard in the Bones episode of Osteology,

540
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.079
<v Speaker 2>strength and flexibility is what make things work the best.

541
00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:32.160
<v Speaker 2>So let spiders inspire you it's okay to stand up

542
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.880
<v Speaker 2>for yourself and be strong, but maybe have some wiggle

543
00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:38.559
<v Speaker 2>room or compromise when called for. So we might have

544
00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.599
<v Speaker 2>cars that have a chassis made out of spider silk

545
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:44.720
<v Speaker 2>and panels that are made out of spider silk.

546
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:47.960
<v Speaker 3>Right, and again, they'll become positive materials but you can

547
00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:50.759
<v Speaker 3>imagine if you design it right, then maybe you don't

548
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.279
<v Speaker 3>get a ding the next time somebody taps your bumper

549
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.519
<v Speaker 3>because you've got something that flexes and comes back again. Right,

550
00:28:56.519 --> 00:28:58.480
<v Speaker 3>They're just going to bend and pop right back out again.

551
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:03.799
<v Speaker 3>Thanks spiders, exactly what is your relationship to spiders?

552
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:05.200
<v Speaker 2>I don't et spiders.

553
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:09.000
<v Speaker 3>I love them, you know, I guess I've always had

554
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:12.400
<v Speaker 3>some admiration, but certainly, you know, since we started this work,

555
00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:20.359
<v Speaker 3>it's it's hard not to be incredibly admiring about their success.

556
00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:23.440
<v Speaker 3>I mean recognizing that, you know, you find them in

557
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:25.799
<v Speaker 3>the dead of the rainforest, you find them in the

558
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:29.359
<v Speaker 3>middle of the desert every place but Antarctica, and they

559
00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:31.440
<v Speaker 3>were there before it got too cold for.

560
00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:32.279
<v Speaker 2>Anything to survive.

561
00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:35.839
<v Speaker 3>The fact that they have such a wide variation in prey,

562
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.279
<v Speaker 3>they have such a wide variation and capture strategies, it's

563
00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:42.799
<v Speaker 3>pretty impressive to realize just how successful they are as

564
00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:43.480
<v Speaker 3>an organism.

565
00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:45.680
<v Speaker 2>Do you get a lot of spider gifts? I see

566
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:46.799
<v Speaker 2>that you have some knick knacks.

567
00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:48.920
<v Speaker 3>I got I got quite a few in my office,

568
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:50.920
<v Speaker 3>and I've gathered most of them here. Some of them

569
00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:53.440
<v Speaker 3>I've I've actually gotten some of them been given to me, so,

570
00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:55.920
<v Speaker 3>but it's.

571
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.640
<v Speaker 2>Hard not to. So It's true he had a fair

572
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:01.880
<v Speaker 2>amount of tasteful spider nick knackery on the windowsill, and

573
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:04.599
<v Speaker 2>we took a picture each holding a woven spider. They

574
00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:06.559
<v Speaker 2>were not in a glass case, nor did they break

575
00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:09.039
<v Speaker 2>anyone's bank. They were just made out of wire, probably

576
00:30:09.079 --> 00:30:13.160
<v Speaker 2>cotton threads. When it comes to well, when it comes

577
00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:17.720
<v Speaker 2>to the future of spider silk, how far off is it?

578
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:20.240
<v Speaker 2>I mean, are we talking like in maybe twenty years

579
00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:23.279
<v Speaker 2>I'll get to wear a spider vest.

580
00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:25.720
<v Speaker 3>I think the answer is no, And I think the

581
00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.599
<v Speaker 3>fiber in is going to come faster than we initially

582
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.720
<v Speaker 3>thought because we can use the transient silkworms to make fibers.

583
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.920
<v Speaker 3>Now that our best fibers from the transient silkworms are

584
00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:40.599
<v Speaker 3>as good as spider silk, and in some ways you

585
00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:43.119
<v Speaker 3>might even argue a little better, but certainly as good

586
00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:47.039
<v Speaker 3>as native dragline silk. So that means that we have

587
00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:50.559
<v Speaker 3>a relatively easy manufacturing process to be able to make

588
00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:52.279
<v Speaker 3>large amounts of of that.

589
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:56.359
<v Speaker 2>And walk me through how you have managed to take

590
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:01.279
<v Speaker 2>spider silk and have it made in the lab and

591
00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:05.480
<v Speaker 2>made through other organisms instead of having to hand spool

592
00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:10.079
<v Speaker 2>anefhela spider and Madagascar. Sure, how are you doing it right?

593
00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:13.160
<v Speaker 3>So you know, as part of the first week, we

594
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.519
<v Speaker 3>did identified the genes that the spiders used to make

595
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.319
<v Speaker 3>spider silk protein. Then what we do is take that

596
00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:24.160
<v Speaker 3>gene and usually we make a synthetic copy because the

597
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:29.119
<v Speaker 3>use of certain codons in the DNA is species dependent.

598
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:32.960
<v Speaker 3>So for instance, the spiders use certain ones and he

599
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:36.400
<v Speaker 3>Colli bacteria uses different ones. So we try to do

600
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:39.119
<v Speaker 3>is match up. We make the same protein sequence, we

601
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:42.440
<v Speaker 3>just make it with different sequence of DNA so that

602
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:46.200
<v Speaker 3>it matches better with what the organism uses. Then we

603
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:49.119
<v Speaker 3>just take that gene and pop it into the organism

604
00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:50.279
<v Speaker 3>we're looking at.

605
00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:53.400
<v Speaker 2>Okay, sit the hell down, because this is bananas and

606
00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:57.039
<v Speaker 2>it may inspire this year's Halloween costume. Okay, so, almost

607
00:31:57.079 --> 00:31:59.400
<v Speaker 2>a decade ago, Randy and a research team we're able

608
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:04.680
<v Speaker 2>to splice spider silk making jeans into goats, and the

609
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:09.359
<v Speaker 2>goats then produced liquid spider silk in their milk, and

610
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.079
<v Speaker 2>Randy was able to filter out the silk and then

611
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:15.519
<v Speaker 2>stretch it to the right consistency using machinery. So while

612
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:17.519
<v Speaker 2>he got to hold a lot of baby goats and

613
00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.440
<v Speaker 2>pet baby goats on the head and essentially be a

614
00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:24.000
<v Speaker 2>wizardy science shepherd of transgenic spider goats. There was a

615
00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:26.839
<v Speaker 2>lot of milk being tossed, so then they spliced the

616
00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:31.000
<v Speaker 2>spider silk Jean into the DNA of silkworm moths, and

617
00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:35.119
<v Speaker 2>rather than standard silk, those caterpillars now spun this highly

618
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:39.359
<v Speaker 2>durable and really prized spider silk with much less waste.

619
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:41.599
<v Speaker 2>And when I visited his lab, there were trays of

620
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:46.759
<v Speaker 2>chonky caterpillars, just macha mancha manchin on ground mullberry pellets,

621
00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:50.480
<v Speaker 2>and there were also other trays filled with soft egg

622
00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:55.759
<v Speaker 2>looking cocoons that would be boiled and spooled with the silkworms.

623
00:32:55.799 --> 00:33:00.400
<v Speaker 3>We were one because technology advanced significantly further. We were

624
00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:03.839
<v Speaker 3>able to actually cut and splice an our gene in

625
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.960
<v Speaker 3>exactly the same spot as the gene was for the

626
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:13.279
<v Speaker 3>silkworm silk protein. So now everything there is exactly the

627
00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:16.519
<v Speaker 3>same as it was, except there's a different protein being made.

628
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:20.400
<v Speaker 3>Instead of the silkworm protein is making the spider silk protein,

629
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.880
<v Speaker 3>and it proceeds to just put it right into the

630
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:24.839
<v Speaker 3>cocoon as if it were its own silk.

631
00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:28.160
<v Speaker 2>And when you're saying you just pop the code in,

632
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:30.319
<v Speaker 2>I have a feeling it's a little bit more complicated

633
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:36.160
<v Speaker 2>than that. How does one do transgenic like recoding?

634
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:37.079
<v Speaker 4>Right?

635
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:39.680
<v Speaker 3>So in the random ones, you know, there are lots

636
00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:44.319
<v Speaker 3>of DNA out there that allows you to randomly insert

637
00:33:44.599 --> 00:33:47.759
<v Speaker 3>something into a chromosome, and so it just randomly goes in.

638
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:51.000
<v Speaker 3>The new Crisper CAST nine system allows you to very

639
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:56.359
<v Speaker 3>precisely make two cuts and then you now have a

640
00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:00.920
<v Speaker 3>gap in the DNA and the cells used two methods,

641
00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:07.119
<v Speaker 3>one of which is very precise but very low frequency

642
00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:12.559
<v Speaker 3>it does another one that's very imprecise but much higher frequency,

643
00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:15.239
<v Speaker 3>and we went with both and the only one that

644
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:17.679
<v Speaker 3>worked was imprecise in large amounts.

645
00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:20.159
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So it meant that we could put it in.

646
00:34:20.440 --> 00:34:21.800
<v Speaker 2>We didn't have to be exact.

647
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:23.840
<v Speaker 3>If you do the other way, you got to be

648
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:26.400
<v Speaker 3>exact because it's going to fit it right where it's

649
00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:28.880
<v Speaker 3>supposed to be. This one, you got some slop in

650
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.639
<v Speaker 3>exactly where it goes, but it still goes in the

651
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.599
<v Speaker 3>same site that we cut out, which was in this

652
00:34:34.679 --> 00:34:36.960
<v Speaker 3>case the silkworm silk protein gene.

653
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:39.360
<v Speaker 2>And what did you start with? Did you start by

654
00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:42.159
<v Speaker 2>putting these genes into E coli, and then did you

655
00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:44.840
<v Speaker 2>move up to goats and then alfalfa and then.

656
00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:49.400
<v Speaker 3>Yes, So we started with back here just because they're easy.

657
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:51.440
<v Speaker 3>You know, we can put come up with a new gene,

658
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:53.440
<v Speaker 3>we can pop it in E. Coli and get protein

659
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.559
<v Speaker 3>in three to four months. We then went to the goats,

660
00:34:57.480 --> 00:34:59.400
<v Speaker 3>and we worked with a company in Canada who had

661
00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:01.679
<v Speaker 3>already deve up to technology to get it into the

662
00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:04.519
<v Speaker 3>goat's milk, so that we you know, we were able

663
00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:07.280
<v Speaker 3>to take their technology and our technology, put them together

664
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:09.599
<v Speaker 3>and and in it with the spider goats.

665
00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:12.960
<v Speaker 2>Peanut butter and chocolate. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, these

666
00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:16.400
<v Speaker 2>pairings have nothing on spider goats. Now, what if you're

667
00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:21.679
<v Speaker 2>too vegan for all? This business is outsourcing spiderin limited

668
00:35:21.719 --> 00:35:25.800
<v Speaker 2>to goats and caterpillars. Nope, they're also working on cramming

669
00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:29.480
<v Speaker 2>the gene into and harvesting silk frum alf alfa.

670
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:34.119
<v Speaker 3>We then sort we started on alfalfa, and then you know,

671
00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:36.800
<v Speaker 3>more recently, in the last couple of years, we've moved

672
00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:40.400
<v Speaker 3>on to the silkworm particular precision. But the silkworm's before

673
00:35:41.239 --> 00:35:44.800
<v Speaker 3>what now almost eight or nine years ago we did,

674
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:47.719
<v Speaker 3>but we did it very precisely. And so the problem

675
00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:50.360
<v Speaker 3>was is that when you bread those worms, a lot

676
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:53.639
<v Speaker 3>of times they'd lose that gene because it wasn't in

677
00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:57.559
<v Speaker 3>the identical place that they expected it to be. So

678
00:35:57.679 --> 00:35:59.320
<v Speaker 3>now we've got it in right where it should be

679
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.880
<v Speaker 3>and we're through. We've done five generator, four generations, and

680
00:36:03.079 --> 00:36:06.679
<v Speaker 3>it behaves just exactly like it's expected to be. I mean,

681
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:09.079
<v Speaker 3>it gets carried on to the next generation at a

682
00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:12.079
<v Speaker 3>certain frequency, which is exactly what you'd expect to have happen.

683
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:12.480
<v Speaker 5>M h.

684
00:36:13.159 --> 00:36:18.559
<v Speaker 2>And let's say you're working with E. Coli. You are

685
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:22.760
<v Speaker 2>getting the protein in a liquid form and then extruding

686
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.800
<v Speaker 2>that or can you walk me through really briefly, like

687
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.760
<v Speaker 2>with each of those different organisms, how you're harvesting it.

688
00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:33.719
<v Speaker 3>Right, So with both with alfalfa, with the goats, with

689
00:36:33.800 --> 00:36:36.280
<v Speaker 3>the bacteria, process is the same. We have to isolate

690
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:39.760
<v Speaker 3>the spider soil protein and although it's slightly different technology

691
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:42.000
<v Speaker 3>that you use, bottom line is you have to end

692
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:46.199
<v Speaker 3>up with pure protein protein. Once you have the pure protein,

693
00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:50.400
<v Speaker 3>then we've developed the technology allows it to dissolve it

694
00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:53.360
<v Speaker 3>in water and that's a huge advance because previous to

695
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:56.159
<v Speaker 3>that and still a large number of people working in

696
00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.320
<v Speaker 3>the field dissolve it and some pretty nasty materials. And

697
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:03.400
<v Speaker 3>the other thing is that they're all costly, so you

698
00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:07.119
<v Speaker 3>can't imagine that as a real step forward in manufacturing process.

699
00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:09.480
<v Speaker 3>So being able to dissolve it in water is a

700
00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:11.760
<v Speaker 3>big step forward. Then we you know, we can spin

701
00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:13.920
<v Speaker 3>fibers out of that, we can use it for coatings,

702
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:16.159
<v Speaker 3>we can use it as an adhesive. All of those

703
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:19.199
<v Speaker 3>things fall out of having it in water. The silkworm

704
00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:22.119
<v Speaker 3>makes fibers for us, and so you know, literally we

705
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:27.400
<v Speaker 3>use the standard, the standard technology for unwrapping cocoons, washing

706
00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:29.159
<v Speaker 3>the silk and wrapping it onto a spool.

707
00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:32.880
<v Speaker 2>Ps. How is silk spun? Well? I watched a video

708
00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:35.159
<v Speaker 2>put out by how It's made and they had this

709
00:37:35.239 --> 00:37:35.960
<v Speaker 2>to say.

710
00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:39.719
<v Speaker 4>It's hard to believe this beautiful fabric comes from worms.

711
00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:44.039
<v Speaker 4>The female silkworm lays up to four hundred eggs in

712
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:46.159
<v Speaker 4>one shot, then promptly dies.

713
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:49.039
<v Speaker 2>Okay, how it's made, it's not really a worm. And

714
00:37:49.079 --> 00:37:52.320
<v Speaker 2>also a lady's silk moth has like a tragic flightless

715
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:54.360
<v Speaker 2>life and then her babies are boiled, so that the

716
00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:57.199
<v Speaker 2>cocoon doesn't break, and the threads, which can be nearly

717
00:37:57.239 --> 00:38:01.679
<v Speaker 2>a kilometer long, stay in one continue for so fifty

718
00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:04.880
<v Speaker 2>or so cocoons are unraveled, they're spun into one thread.

719
00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.480
<v Speaker 2>It's labor intensive. So if you see a guy who

720
00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:11.119
<v Speaker 2>has ever tossed his tie over his shoulder because he's

721
00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:13.679
<v Speaker 2>eating chili, you can be like, I get it. A

722
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.599
<v Speaker 2>lot of non worms lost their lives for that tie.

723
00:38:16.760 --> 00:38:19.760
<v Speaker 2>When you think about ramping it up to a more

724
00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:23.239
<v Speaker 2>say a commercial level, what do you think is going

725
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:25.519
<v Speaker 2>to be the avenue that you're going to go down.

726
00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:27.079
<v Speaker 2>Do you think it's going to be the pure fiber

727
00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:29.719
<v Speaker 2>from silkworms, or do you think the alfalfa has the

728
00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:30.639
<v Speaker 2>best yield.

729
00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:34.719
<v Speaker 3>So I think I certainly believe ultimately alfalfa is going

730
00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:37.920
<v Speaker 3>to be the way to go to make protein. The

731
00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:40.800
<v Speaker 3>problem with the if silkworms is the only thing you're

732
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:43.880
<v Speaker 3>going to do is get fibers. Trying to dissolve that

733
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.920
<v Speaker 3>silk is an incredible losing proposition, you know it, Just

734
00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:50.880
<v Speaker 3>it's not the way to get spider silk protein. So

735
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.639
<v Speaker 3>spider silk protein's either going to be you know, from

736
00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:56.800
<v Speaker 3>one of the other three and hopefully, you know, we're

737
00:38:56.840 --> 00:38:59.239
<v Speaker 3>going to advance the technology, so alfalf will be the

738
00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:04.159
<v Speaker 3>because certainly by all stretches, it looks like it's going

739
00:39:04.199 --> 00:39:06.199
<v Speaker 3>to be the least expensive process to goatee.

740
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:11.159
<v Speaker 2>And then with byproduct you were mentioned earlier, but that

741
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:14.920
<v Speaker 2>when you put this into goats and goat milk, that's great,

742
00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:17.559
<v Speaker 2>but then you have some excess goat milk that you

743
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:19.559
<v Speaker 2>can't do much with. You can't necessarily take that to

744
00:39:19.599 --> 00:39:23.239
<v Speaker 2>the farmer's market on a Sunday spider goat milk. Yeah, yeah,

745
00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:24.960
<v Speaker 2>not going to happen. Not going to happen.

746
00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:28.960
<v Speaker 3>That's one of the big advantages of alfalfa is that

747
00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:31.480
<v Speaker 3>you know, we'll take out two percent of the protein.

748
00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:34.760
<v Speaker 3>The other ninety eight percent we can use for animal feed,

749
00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:38.519
<v Speaker 3>use it as a protein supplement. Turns out that things

750
00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:42.320
<v Speaker 3>like fish farms are struggling to get enough protein to expand,

751
00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:44.960
<v Speaker 3>so we'd have protein that we'd be able to use there.

752
00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:48.079
<v Speaker 3>You can also convert all of that waste into ethanol

753
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:50.159
<v Speaker 3>if you want to use that. So I think there

754
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:52.199
<v Speaker 3>are a number of roots that you could use for

755
00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:55.000
<v Speaker 3>your waste from alfalfa that I actually will probably pay

756
00:39:55.039 --> 00:39:55.880
<v Speaker 3>for the processing.

757
00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:01.159
<v Speaker 2>So spiderwebs not just terrifying midnight face veils. They could

758
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:05.719
<v Speaker 2>also feed fish and keep lethal catheter funk away and

759
00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:08.800
<v Speaker 2>make your car lighter and more efficient, and maybe be

760
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:12.719
<v Speaker 2>transplanted into your own body. And what is something that

761
00:40:12.920 --> 00:40:16.159
<v Speaker 2>in your career isolating this for the last thirty years

762
00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:18.960
<v Speaker 2>and working with it that you were really looking forward

763
00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:21.559
<v Speaker 2>to as a goal or as kind of a goal post.

764
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:24.559
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, I think it's still there. And I

765
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:28.639
<v Speaker 3>think all of you know, for the last at least

766
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:30.920
<v Speaker 3>ten to fifteen years. I think all of the people

767
00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:32.840
<v Speaker 3>that have been working in my lab want to see

768
00:40:32.840 --> 00:40:35.679
<v Speaker 3>a product come out. And I think that's sort of

769
00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:38.199
<v Speaker 3>at least a major goal is to say, you know,

770
00:40:38.480 --> 00:40:40.360
<v Speaker 3>all the work that we've done has led to something

771
00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:41.360
<v Speaker 3>that somebody can buy.

772
00:40:41.639 --> 00:40:44.880
<v Speaker 2>I feel like you are at the forefront of it.

773
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:47.679
<v Speaker 2>If there's an expert in this, it's you in the world.

774
00:40:48.119 --> 00:40:50.239
<v Speaker 3>Well, we've certainly been at it longer than anybody else,

775
00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:53.599
<v Speaker 3>and I think we've done more basic I would say,

776
00:40:53.639 --> 00:40:56.599
<v Speaker 3>without a doubt we've done more basic science in terms

777
00:40:56.599 --> 00:40:59.320
<v Speaker 3>of not only the proteins, but how the fibers are made,

778
00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:02.920
<v Speaker 3>the three dimensional structure in the fibers and things like that.

779
00:41:03.119 --> 00:41:05.400
<v Speaker 3>I think we've done more than anybody else. You know,

780
00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:07.920
<v Speaker 3>there are people have niches, but I think we've covered

781
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:08.880
<v Speaker 3>the whole waterfront.

782
00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:11.880
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever thought about just getting a silk time

783
00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:14.079
<v Speaker 2>made a bow tie for a special occasion.

784
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:18.079
<v Speaker 3>You know, it's not my style, so you know, if

785
00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:19.840
<v Speaker 3>it's going to be something, you'd be a golf shirt.

786
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:23.320
<v Speaker 3>So you know that's the direction I'd go as a

787
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:23.920
<v Speaker 3>golf shirt.

788
00:41:23.960 --> 00:41:26.639
<v Speaker 2>So a spider silk golf shirt. Spider silk golf shirt.

789
00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:27.320
<v Speaker 2>I got no idea.

790
00:41:27.360 --> 00:41:30.079
<v Speaker 3>There's no obvious reason why it would be an advantage,

791
00:41:30.119 --> 00:41:32.639
<v Speaker 3>but you know, at least you'd have a talking point

792
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:33.519
<v Speaker 3>when you're out playing.

793
00:41:33.639 --> 00:41:38.400
<v Speaker 2>So you'd have to get a big embroidered spider exactly

794
00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:42.559
<v Speaker 2>front and back, front and back. Can I ask questions

795
00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:47.000
<v Speaker 2>from listeners? Sure? Oh my gosh, listeners have questions. Okay,

796
00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:50.440
<v Speaker 2>before we get into your spidy silk queries, a few

797
00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:52.639
<v Speaker 2>words about sponsors of the show who helped make it

798
00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:55.199
<v Speaker 2>possible to donate to a cause of the ologists choosing

799
00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:57.440
<v Speaker 2>each week, and I realized this week that I forgot

800
00:41:57.519 --> 00:41:59.480
<v Speaker 2>to ask Randy, so I rang them up on the horn,

801
00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:02.480
<v Speaker 2>just normcore as hell, and he answered at his desk

802
00:42:02.679 --> 00:42:05.599
<v Speaker 2>phones man their magic and then he said he'd like

803
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:08.599
<v Speaker 2>the donation to go toward the Women's Empowerment and Entrepreneurship

804
00:42:08.599 --> 00:42:12.679
<v Speaker 2>Project in Guatemala which supports women run farming initiatives to

805
00:42:12.719 --> 00:42:17.119
<v Speaker 2>bring to market textiles, organic vegetables and free range chickens.

806
00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:20.159
<v Speaker 2>And this was through Heffer dot Org. Okay, now you

807
00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:23.000
<v Speaker 2>may hear some words about some sponsors get value.

808
00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:25.360
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809
00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:28.400
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810
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:31.119
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811
00:42:31.159 --> 00:42:34.280
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812
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:37.119
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813
00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:40.679
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814
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:44.400
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815
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:48.880
<v Speaker 1>caramel cheesecake. Can't argue with that shop instore or online Tesco.

816
00:42:49.159 --> 00:42:52.079
<v Speaker 1>Every little helps available the most doores prices very and express.

817
00:42:54.440 --> 00:42:57.400
<v Speaker 2>Now this first question was also asked by Amanda. Anna

818
00:42:57.440 --> 00:42:59.599
<v Speaker 2>Thompson says, there's a series of photos that go around

819
00:42:59.639 --> 00:43:01.480
<v Speaker 2>every now and then of spider webs when they are

820
00:43:01.599 --> 00:43:04.000
<v Speaker 2>on different drugs. Are these real images? And if we

821
00:43:04.079 --> 00:43:06.960
<v Speaker 2>learned anything from giving spiders drugs, do they just have

822
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:09.880
<v Speaker 2>a good time like spider's given cash.

823
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:15.760
<v Speaker 3>So the answer is that because the the you know,

824
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:20.880
<v Speaker 3>the the web spinning process is really genetically set, the

825
00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:23.800
<v Speaker 3>drugs do mess it up. It turns out that the

826
00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:27.280
<v Speaker 3>first paper was published in Scientific America in nineteen sixty nine.

827
00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:30.599
<v Speaker 4>I was sixties. You know a lot of drugs kicking around.

828
00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:34.760
<v Speaker 3>And the answer is, yes, that various drugs have substantial

829
00:43:34.800 --> 00:43:40.039
<v Speaker 3>effects on sort of of deranged might be too strong

830
00:43:40.039 --> 00:43:43.719
<v Speaker 3>a word, but probably not inaccurate about what the webs

831
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:45.360
<v Speaker 3>look like when they're on various drugs.

832
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:48.880
<v Speaker 2>Really. Yeah, this was indeed a study and it was

833
00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:52.800
<v Speaker 2>later replicated in the mid nineteen nineties by NASA. So

834
00:43:52.840 --> 00:43:55.440
<v Speaker 2>if you look up pictures, you'll see these scattered and

835
00:43:55.519 --> 00:44:00.480
<v Speaker 2>kind of haphazard webs on uppers and caffeine. There are

836
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:04.760
<v Speaker 2>half completed ones on hallucinogens, and let's just say some

837
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:10.079
<v Speaker 2>geometric minimalism done on sleeping pills. So, according to researchers,

838
00:44:10.280 --> 00:44:14.000
<v Speaker 2>each of the spiders interviewed during the process thought their

839
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:17.519
<v Speaker 2>web looked great and was hella tight and then upon

840
00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:20.760
<v Speaker 2>waking the next morning, a lot of spiders reported being

841
00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:22.880
<v Speaker 2>embarrassed by their work. They thought it was a lot

842
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:24.639
<v Speaker 2>better when they were under the influence.

843
00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:29.199
<v Speaker 3>That's not true, and to the best of my knowledge,

844
00:44:29.239 --> 00:44:32.559
<v Speaker 3>there's no real correlation between what the drug was and

845
00:44:32.599 --> 00:44:34.960
<v Speaker 3>what it did to disturb it. But it's probably because

846
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:37.239
<v Speaker 3>we don't know enough about the nervous system of a

847
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:39.599
<v Speaker 3>spider to actually be able to, you know, to make

848
00:44:39.639 --> 00:44:43.400
<v Speaker 3>an acurate judgment about, you know, what they're doing on

849
00:44:43.559 --> 00:44:44.679
<v Speaker 3>various kinds of drugs.

850
00:44:45.559 --> 00:44:46.960
<v Speaker 2>I just looked at my phone, by the way, and

851
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:50.400
<v Speaker 2>I accidentally asked that question. It for twenty which is

852
00:44:52.320 --> 00:44:55.559
<v Speaker 2>I'm not a big smoker, but it was gotta say

853
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:59.199
<v Speaker 2>that was good timing. Kimberly Fajardo wants to know just

854
00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:00.960
<v Speaker 2>how strong is spider silk.

855
00:45:02.039 --> 00:45:05.519
<v Speaker 3>So the idea is that in terms of energy to break,

856
00:45:05.559 --> 00:45:08.679
<v Speaker 3>which is the combination of stretch and strength, it's about

857
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:13.760
<v Speaker 3>four times stronger than kevlar, ten to twelve times stronger

858
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:16.679
<v Speaker 3>than steel. And it's important to remember that it's that

859
00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:21.000
<v Speaker 3>combination of stretch and strength that makes the spider silk unique.

860
00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:23.639
<v Speaker 3>So there are no man made materials there are no

861
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:26.960
<v Speaker 3>other biological materials that have that kind of a combination.

862
00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:32.119
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Evelyn Jensen wants to know does spider silk come

863
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:32.840
<v Speaker 2>in different colors?

864
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:37.679
<v Speaker 3>Interestingly enough, the answer is yes to a certain extent.

865
00:45:37.880 --> 00:45:39.840
<v Speaker 3>So one of the spiders that we work with us

866
00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:43.079
<v Speaker 3>called a golden orb weaver, and it's silk is actually

867
00:45:43.079 --> 00:45:45.639
<v Speaker 3>a gold color. You mentioned the tapestry. If you see

868
00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:48.639
<v Speaker 3>a picture of the tapestry, it's very gold colored, so

869
00:45:48.880 --> 00:45:53.119
<v Speaker 3>very distinctive of the golden orb weavers. There's another spider

870
00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:55.559
<v Speaker 3>and by the way, nobody knows why it's gold. Nobody

871
00:45:55.559 --> 00:45:57.760
<v Speaker 3>knows what the We actually spend a little time and

872
00:45:58.719 --> 00:46:01.159
<v Speaker 3>got a little sidetracked trying to identify the dye or

873
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:04.679
<v Speaker 3>what it was. We never were successful in getting there,

874
00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:06.840
<v Speaker 3>to the best of my knowledge, neither is anybody else.

875
00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:10.320
<v Speaker 3>There's another spider that makes sort of a greenish, huge silk,

876
00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:13.000
<v Speaker 3>and then there's a whole family that make everything from

877
00:46:13.079 --> 00:46:16.079
<v Speaker 3>sort of a brownish silk to a pinky silk, but

878
00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:19.760
<v Speaker 3>they use it almost exclusively for their egg cases. So

879
00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:23.000
<v Speaker 3>it's clearly to camouflage the egg case. So if you

880
00:46:23.039 --> 00:46:25.039
<v Speaker 3>go out you can you can find these because you

881
00:46:25.079 --> 00:46:27.239
<v Speaker 3>don't see it in the dragline silk. You only see

882
00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:30.320
<v Speaker 3>it when they make their their egg case. So there

883
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:33.800
<v Speaker 3>there's a pretty wide variety of colors that are out there,

884
00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:35.159
<v Speaker 3>particularly for the egg cases.

885
00:46:35.480 --> 00:46:38.400
<v Speaker 2>So spiders are just out there using their stiffest silk

886
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:41.480
<v Speaker 2>to make little Easter eggs. Oh and if you are

887
00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:44.679
<v Speaker 2>an expectant parent and you're not sure what kind of

888
00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:49.559
<v Speaker 2>nursery theme you want, consider camo. I mean you won't

889
00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:52.199
<v Speaker 2>be able to find the baby under all its grease

890
00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:55.679
<v Speaker 2>paint and tiny mossy gilly suit onesie. But also no

891
00:46:55.840 --> 00:46:58.760
<v Speaker 2>bears will probably eat it. Spiders know it's up. Moving

892
00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:02.800
<v Speaker 2>on Deli Dames Ashley Kelly, Caleb Patten, Cannon Party and

893
00:47:02.960 --> 00:47:08.199
<v Speaker 2>first time question asker Lawrence All echoed Christina's question, Christina

894
00:47:08.280 --> 00:47:10.199
<v Speaker 2>Neil wants to know how do you feel about Spider Man?

895
00:47:10.320 --> 00:47:12.400
<v Speaker 2>Is there even an ounce of truth to the idea

896
00:47:12.519 --> 00:47:14.760
<v Speaker 2>that spider silk supporting the weight of a human being

897
00:47:14.920 --> 00:47:17.320
<v Speaker 2>could be used or that it could be used in weaponry.

898
00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:20.360
<v Speaker 3>So it turns out that that's a very interesting question,

899
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:22.800
<v Speaker 3>and we have answered it. We got answered. We got

900
00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:26.519
<v Speaker 3>asked that question the first time from a children's program

901
00:47:26.800 --> 00:47:31.559
<v Speaker 3>at the Canadian Broadcasting Company radio program and they ask us,

902
00:47:31.639 --> 00:47:33.960
<v Speaker 3>you know, particularly, I guess it's Spider Man two really

903
00:47:33.960 --> 00:47:36.400
<v Speaker 3>stops the train and asks the question, could.

904
00:47:36.199 --> 00:47:36.920
<v Speaker 2>He really do it?

905
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:40.280
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so put the students to work on it and answers, yes,

906
00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:43.280
<v Speaker 3>there's no question. So we you know, we took it

907
00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:46.039
<v Speaker 3>like the last spit on it. A reading was like

908
00:47:46.039 --> 00:47:49.000
<v Speaker 3>one hundred and twenty miles an hour, and we counted

909
00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:51.239
<v Speaker 3>up how many cars there were and how big the engine.

910
00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:53.599
<v Speaker 3>We got rough weights for those, so we were able

911
00:47:53.599 --> 00:47:56.639
<v Speaker 3>to calculate how much energy was in that train and

912
00:47:56.679 --> 00:47:58.519
<v Speaker 3>then go back and look how many times did he

913
00:47:58.599 --> 00:48:00.760
<v Speaker 3>stick the web onto the wall? And the answer is

914
00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:05.480
<v Speaker 3>he actually was about three times over having the ability

915
00:48:05.519 --> 00:48:07.280
<v Speaker 3>to stop the train. That was kind of where we

916
00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:10.519
<v Speaker 3>left it. Then we got another question, you know, and

917
00:48:10.800 --> 00:48:14.039
<v Speaker 3>somebody came up with, well, how much would he have

918
00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:18.039
<v Speaker 3>to consume to make the spot because it's all protein

919
00:48:18.199 --> 00:48:18.800
<v Speaker 3>right right.

920
00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:20.239
<v Speaker 2>So it turns out.

921
00:48:20.119 --> 00:48:22.320
<v Speaker 3>We calculated that was about had to eat about eighty

922
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:26.159
<v Speaker 3>five pounds of steak a day, So we felt like, yes,

923
00:48:26.239 --> 00:48:31.440
<v Speaker 3>it was possible, but clearly practically it's unlikely that he

924
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:34.360
<v Speaker 3>could have managed to eat enough to make as much

925
00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:36.599
<v Speaker 3>spider So protein as as he was able to shoot

926
00:48:36.599 --> 00:48:38.480
<v Speaker 3>out a sizzler.

927
00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:43.880
<v Speaker 2>Ps. In real life, it wouldn't shoot from his wrists, though,

928
00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:47.920
<v Speaker 2>because a more anatomically accurate spider man would extrude silk

929
00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:51.360
<v Speaker 2>from the slowly wriggling fingers right next to his anus.

930
00:48:51.519 --> 00:48:53.599
<v Speaker 2>Keeping that in mind, are you hungry? Who else asked

931
00:48:53.599 --> 00:48:55.920
<v Speaker 2>about eating? Let's see Brandon Butler wants to know is

932
00:48:55.960 --> 00:48:58.480
<v Speaker 2>it true that spiders can eat their silk and recycle it.

933
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:01.760
<v Speaker 3>The answer is yes, several species do that. Some of

934
00:49:01.800 --> 00:49:04.239
<v Speaker 3>them do it actually on a daily basis. So it

935
00:49:04.320 --> 00:49:07.480
<v Speaker 3>turns out to be very useful because initially, when people

936
00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:12.039
<v Speaker 3>are trying to understand something about the proteins, they would

937
00:49:12.239 --> 00:49:15.159
<v Speaker 3>put radioactive amino acids on the web and then allow

938
00:49:15.199 --> 00:49:16.400
<v Speaker 3>the spider to eat it.

939
00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:19.280
<v Speaker 2>What we've done is not.

940
00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.199
<v Speaker 3>Used radioactive but used amino acids that we can use

941
00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:25.800
<v Speaker 3>for nuclear magnetic resonance studies for structure, and we put

942
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:28.079
<v Speaker 3>it in their water, and so when they drink the water,

943
00:49:28.119 --> 00:49:30.840
<v Speaker 3>they recycles amino acids and it goes right into the self.

944
00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:33.239
<v Speaker 3>So the answer is yes, they do, and it's a

945
00:49:33.320 --> 00:49:36.039
<v Speaker 3>very useful thing to do when you're studying the silk itself.

946
00:49:36.519 --> 00:49:39.679
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I imagine then they can just kind of

947
00:49:39.760 --> 00:49:42.480
<v Speaker 2>destroy and munch on their own web and rebuild it

948
00:49:42.519 --> 00:49:43.360
<v Speaker 2>if it gets damaged.

949
00:49:43.440 --> 00:49:47.199
<v Speaker 3>Right, Yes, frequently they don't do that. Usually when it's

950
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:49.559
<v Speaker 3>going to be repaired, they don't seem to clean up

951
00:49:49.599 --> 00:49:51.480
<v Speaker 3>the old web. They just put a new one, you know,

952
00:49:51.679 --> 00:49:53.199
<v Speaker 3>fill in that area with new silk.

953
00:49:53.320 --> 00:49:57.519
<v Speaker 2>Oh. Just imagine an HGTV show where you make a house,

954
00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:00.440
<v Speaker 2>but your building materials come from your butt, and then

955
00:50:00.599 --> 00:50:02.880
<v Speaker 2>when it kind of starts looking shabby, you just eat

956
00:50:02.880 --> 00:50:07.159
<v Speaker 2>the whole house, make another buttthouse. It's rustic, it's resourceful,

957
00:50:07.239 --> 00:50:11.719
<v Speaker 2>it's d Why why why? Speaking of why, some other

958
00:50:11.760 --> 00:50:14.440
<v Speaker 2>folks shared this next question, and they are Evan Jude,

959
00:50:14.599 --> 00:50:20.320
<v Speaker 2>Amanda Baldino Casey and Anna Thompson. Wants to know related

960
00:50:20.639 --> 00:50:23.679
<v Speaker 2>why do some spiders string webs across wide expanses like

961
00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:27.119
<v Speaker 2>paths and trails and doorways instead of smaller areas. I

962
00:50:27.119 --> 00:50:28.880
<v Speaker 2>imagine she has gotten a spider face on her.

963
00:50:29.119 --> 00:50:32.719
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so there's possibly two depending on one.

964
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:33.840
<v Speaker 2>Is is that that?

965
00:50:33.960 --> 00:50:37.480
<v Speaker 3>Again, they don't plan very well, they're not really intelligent

966
00:50:37.519 --> 00:50:41.159
<v Speaker 3>about it, so they may start with some guidelines that

967
00:50:41.199 --> 00:50:42.960
<v Speaker 3>are way out and then a web that's more in

968
00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:45.239
<v Speaker 3>the middle. But also as they get larger, they need

969
00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:47.159
<v Speaker 3>to make a bigger web just to catch more prey.

970
00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:51.039
<v Speaker 3>So as they increase in size that their need for

971
00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:53.320
<v Speaker 3>food increases, so they usually make a bigger web.

972
00:50:53.480 --> 00:50:55.760
<v Speaker 2>Oh, they got to catch more little buggos. That's right,

973
00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:59.199
<v Speaker 2>that's right. Ashley Kelly wants to know after listening to

974
00:50:59.320 --> 00:51:02.199
<v Speaker 2>a podcast called Biology of Superhero Spider Man episode. I

975
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:04.639
<v Speaker 2>have so many questions like can it really be used

976
00:51:04.679 --> 00:51:08.880
<v Speaker 2>in healing wounds and tendons? And how thick would it

977
00:51:08.920 --> 00:51:10.519
<v Speaker 2>need to be to support me in order to swing

978
00:51:10.559 --> 00:51:12.400
<v Speaker 2>from building to building? So we can go to the

979
00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:13.000
<v Speaker 2>last one.

980
00:51:13.119 --> 00:51:14.679
<v Speaker 3>I have no idea what your weight is, so I

981
00:51:14.679 --> 00:51:18.000
<v Speaker 3>won't present to say anything like that. We have had

982
00:51:18.039 --> 00:51:21.960
<v Speaker 3>a student suspended in a chair from the ceiling and

983
00:51:22.199 --> 00:51:26.360
<v Speaker 3>the line was narrower than a pencil, so it was

984
00:51:26.519 --> 00:51:29.199
<v Speaker 3>it was not that big. Certainly in the Spider Man movies,

985
00:51:29.239 --> 00:51:31.440
<v Speaker 3>you look at the at the diameter of the sulky shooting,

986
00:51:31.559 --> 00:51:33.760
<v Speaker 3>there's no question that he could do what he does.

987
00:51:35.159 --> 00:51:37.840
<v Speaker 2>Oh, this is changing how I feel about Spider Man movies.

988
00:51:37.880 --> 00:51:40.559
<v Speaker 2>I like them even more out and then what about

989
00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:45.760
<v Speaker 2>biomedical purposes tendons? Yeah, patrons who wanted to know about

990
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:49.880
<v Speaker 2>medical uses are Lacy J. Schuer, Amanda and Laura Merriman,

991
00:51:50.039 --> 00:51:53.880
<v Speaker 2>who shouted out ologites beloved Thermo physiologist doctor Shane Campbell

992
00:51:53.880 --> 00:51:57.360
<v Speaker 2>Stayton and his Biology of Superheroes podcast episode on Spider

993
00:51:57.400 --> 00:52:01.000
<v Speaker 2>Man as another excellent resource on medical uses of the silk.

994
00:52:01.400 --> 00:52:04.679
<v Speaker 3>So we certainly think there's a good opportunity for artificial

995
00:52:04.719 --> 00:52:08.400
<v Speaker 3>ligaments and artificial tendons because one of the unique features

996
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:12.039
<v Speaker 3>about spider silk is that, for whatever reason, it's almost

997
00:52:12.039 --> 00:52:15.760
<v Speaker 3>impossible to get an immune response to it, really, even.

998
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:17.079
<v Speaker 2>When you try so.

999
00:52:17.320 --> 00:52:20.840
<v Speaker 3>For instance, I know of nobody who's ever made antibodies

1000
00:52:21.159 --> 00:52:23.159
<v Speaker 3>to the main portion of the spider silk protein. You

1001
00:52:23.159 --> 00:52:25.400
<v Speaker 3>can make it to the end parts, you can't make

1002
00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:27.199
<v Speaker 3>it to the main part of the protein. And we've tried,

1003
00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:30.360
<v Speaker 3>we've tried different organisms, we've tried doing it in different ways.

1004
00:52:30.639 --> 00:52:33.639
<v Speaker 3>It just does not generate an immune reaction. And we've

1005
00:52:33.679 --> 00:52:37.519
<v Speaker 3>done some work here, not in massive detail, but we've

1006
00:52:37.519 --> 00:52:42.159
<v Speaker 3>demonstrated that you can implant our synthetic spider silk fibers

1007
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:45.199
<v Speaker 3>and some of our synthetic fiber silk films into animals

1008
00:52:45.480 --> 00:52:48.079
<v Speaker 3>and not get any reaction at all, which is a

1009
00:52:48.199 --> 00:52:49.000
<v Speaker 3>huge benefit.

1010
00:52:49.039 --> 00:52:54.159
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely. Absolutely. And now spider Tech is a company obviously

1011
00:52:54.159 --> 00:52:56.599
<v Speaker 2>that you are, that you're involved with, and what do

1012
00:52:56.679 --> 00:53:00.760
<v Speaker 2>you think the kind of principal goal of spy Tech is?

1013
00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:02.480
<v Speaker 2>And also how did you come up with a name?

1014
00:53:02.760 --> 00:53:05.519
<v Speaker 3>I did, Roberto came up with them. I think that,

1015
00:53:05.840 --> 00:53:08.159
<v Speaker 3>you know, adhesives encodings are going to be the first

1016
00:53:08.199 --> 00:53:11.280
<v Speaker 3>place we go because I think it's got the lowest

1017
00:53:11.400 --> 00:53:14.039
<v Speaker 3>barrier to market in terms of that. I think it

1018
00:53:14.119 --> 00:53:17.280
<v Speaker 3>has unique capabilities that aren't out there right now, which

1019
00:53:17.280 --> 00:53:19.239
<v Speaker 3>again I think is important if you're coming out with

1020
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:19.880
<v Speaker 3>a new product.

1021
00:53:20.039 --> 00:53:23.079
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. He mentioned to me that Spidey was a good

1022
00:53:23.079 --> 00:53:25.719
<v Speaker 2>way to get people not scared of spiders and to

1023
00:53:25.760 --> 00:53:28.719
<v Speaker 2>think of it in a kind of a oh Spidey nay.

1024
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:30.679
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, And I think, you know, part of that comes

1025
00:53:30.679 --> 00:53:33.800
<v Speaker 3>from Spider Man movie because Spidey's certainly, you know, used

1026
00:53:33.880 --> 00:53:34.840
<v Speaker 3>multiple times there.

1027
00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:36.960
<v Speaker 2>You like that Spidy, So you're right.

1028
00:53:37.119 --> 00:53:40.559
<v Speaker 3>I think it does present a much more acceptable kind

1029
00:53:40.559 --> 00:53:42.840
<v Speaker 3>of a use as opposed to a racking a cream

1030
00:53:42.960 --> 00:53:43.760
<v Speaker 3>or something like that.

1031
00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:46.920
<v Speaker 2>So Spidey does seem so friendly. I'm a spider. I

1032
00:53:46.960 --> 00:53:50.360
<v Speaker 2>make cool stuff here to help that's right, exactly exactly.

1033
00:53:50.599 --> 00:53:55.480
<v Speaker 2>It's a very super heroic name. Eva also asked this question.

1034
00:53:56.079 --> 00:53:57.880
<v Speaker 2>Nanine wants to know is it true that most spiders

1035
00:53:57.920 --> 00:54:00.159
<v Speaker 2>we see out in the world are female for the or.

1036
00:54:00.199 --> 00:54:03.039
<v Speaker 3>Weavers and that's what most people see. The answer is yes,

1037
00:54:03.480 --> 00:54:06.760
<v Speaker 3>I mean, in general, the females do put out the webs.

1038
00:54:07.280 --> 00:54:10.679
<v Speaker 3>Many not maybe I would say probably most of the

1039
00:54:10.679 --> 00:54:13.360
<v Speaker 3>males hang out and actually steal their food because they're

1040
00:54:13.400 --> 00:54:16.599
<v Speaker 3>much smaller, so they're only about to temphesize. Of the

1041
00:54:16.599 --> 00:54:19.639
<v Speaker 3>females steal their food and hope not to get eaten,

1042
00:54:20.280 --> 00:54:22.800
<v Speaker 3>because I mean, the males are there for one thing,

1043
00:54:22.840 --> 00:54:26.519
<v Speaker 3>that's to deliver asperm sack and to procreate. That's the

1044
00:54:26.519 --> 00:54:28.599
<v Speaker 3>only thing they do delivery for you.

1045
00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:30.360
<v Speaker 2>They're just busters.

1046
00:54:30.679 --> 00:54:32.360
<v Speaker 3>They're just maybe pretty much leeches.

1047
00:54:32.840 --> 00:54:37.599
<v Speaker 2>Speaking of little disappointments, Emily asks what are cobwebs versus

1048
00:54:37.679 --> 00:54:41.000
<v Speaker 2>spider webs and why don't I notice the cobwebs until

1049
00:54:41.039 --> 00:54:42.719
<v Speaker 2>long after the spider is gone?

1050
00:54:42.880 --> 00:54:46.480
<v Speaker 3>So most so cobwebs. The proteins that cobweb weavers use

1051
00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:50.039
<v Speaker 3>are in many cases very similar to the proteins the

1052
00:54:50.199 --> 00:54:53.639
<v Speaker 3>or weavers use, So the cobwebs basically a three dimensional net.

1053
00:54:54.119 --> 00:54:57.880
<v Speaker 3>It does not have any adhesive on it. So what

1054
00:54:57.960 --> 00:55:02.119
<v Speaker 3>happens is that the organism physically gets in and can't

1055
00:55:02.119 --> 00:55:05.880
<v Speaker 3>find its way out, okay, as opposed to being stuck

1056
00:55:05.920 --> 00:55:08.480
<v Speaker 3>on the web blight with an orb web. And so

1057
00:55:08.480 --> 00:55:10.679
<v Speaker 3>that's one of the major differences. That's why most of

1058
00:55:10.719 --> 00:55:13.039
<v Speaker 3>those have a more potent poison because they got to

1059
00:55:13.079 --> 00:55:14.960
<v Speaker 3>catch them in and keep them from getting away.

1060
00:55:15.320 --> 00:55:21.239
<v Speaker 2>Got it right, exactly exactly. So if there's spun as

1061
00:55:21.280 --> 00:55:23.960
<v Speaker 2>a cobweb, they are a different structure, but also a

1062
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:27.440
<v Speaker 2>cobweb can refer to that dusty web that's lost its

1063
00:55:27.480 --> 00:55:30.239
<v Speaker 2>stick and been abandoned. But just think of how many

1064
00:55:30.239 --> 00:55:32.599
<v Speaker 2>more cob webs you would have to clean up if

1065
00:55:32.639 --> 00:55:35.119
<v Speaker 2>spiders didn't do it for you by eating them.

1066
00:55:35.880 --> 00:55:36.280
<v Speaker 5>Spider.

1067
00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:38.079
<v Speaker 3>I think part of the reason you don't see them

1068
00:55:38.239 --> 00:55:41.199
<v Speaker 3>normally is you usually see them after they're abandoned and

1069
00:55:41.239 --> 00:55:44.360
<v Speaker 3>dust starts gathering on them. So when they're there, you

1070
00:55:44.400 --> 00:55:46.599
<v Speaker 3>want them pretty. You want them so that that you're

1071
00:55:46.639 --> 00:55:49.039
<v Speaker 3>not very visible because you want something to fly into

1072
00:55:49.079 --> 00:55:51.960
<v Speaker 3>it and then get lost in there. So if it's

1073
00:55:52.079 --> 00:55:55.000
<v Speaker 3>very visible, they're going to avoid it. Yeah, So I

1074
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:56.639
<v Speaker 3>think that that the reason you see it is is

1075
00:55:56.639 --> 00:55:59.880
<v Speaker 3>that you know they're cobwebs, and people usually think about

1076
00:55:59.920 --> 00:56:01.199
<v Speaker 3>it after they get dust on them.

1077
00:56:01.840 --> 00:56:03.719
<v Speaker 2>This is just my question, But how dope are your

1078
00:56:03.719 --> 00:56:07.760
<v Speaker 2>Halloween decorations every year? Not all that much?

1079
00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:11.960
<v Speaker 3>Actually, okay, I you know we we don't do anything

1080
00:56:12.039 --> 00:56:15.519
<v Speaker 3>unique there. For some reason, to me, spiders are more

1081
00:56:15.559 --> 00:56:17.360
<v Speaker 3>in all year thing than a once a day thing.

1082
00:56:17.480 --> 00:56:19.800
<v Speaker 2>So once a year thing. So I felt that way

1083
00:56:19.800 --> 00:56:21.960
<v Speaker 2>about Halloween when I was Goth, I was like, don't

1084
00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:24.960
<v Speaker 2>dress up as me on one day. That's right. I'm

1085
00:56:25.079 --> 00:56:28.519
<v Speaker 2>like this all the time. Yeah, I'm constantly wearing fishnet shirts, like,

1086
00:56:28.639 --> 00:56:32.320
<v Speaker 2>don't do it just Halloween. So I get it. Did

1087
00:56:32.320 --> 00:56:34.519
<v Speaker 2>you ever watch a movie about like a haunted house

1088
00:56:34.559 --> 00:56:36.840
<v Speaker 2>and you think spiders wouldn't make those kind of whibs?

1089
00:56:38.480 --> 00:56:38.719
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?

1090
00:56:39.119 --> 00:56:41.519
<v Speaker 3>But you know the fact is is that that the

1091
00:56:41.880 --> 00:56:45.239
<v Speaker 3>spider webs come in such a variety of different shapes

1092
00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:49.559
<v Speaker 3>and sizes that you know, yeah, you'd say that's probably outlandish,

1093
00:56:49.639 --> 00:56:52.480
<v Speaker 3>but you'd never say, oh, I wouldn't guarantee you'd never

1094
00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:54.239
<v Speaker 3>find one like that. Oh.

1095
00:56:54.280 --> 00:56:55.719
<v Speaker 2>I forgot to ask you before we get back to

1096
00:56:55.719 --> 00:56:58.039
<v Speaker 2>patron questions, is there any flim flam that you'd like

1097
00:56:58.079 --> 00:57:01.079
<v Speaker 2>to debunk, like any myths about or spider silk that

1098
00:57:01.119 --> 00:57:04.800
<v Speaker 2>you're just sick of hearing, Like, okay, let's clear this up.

1099
00:57:08.519 --> 00:57:10.800
<v Speaker 3>I think part of it is certainly that a lot

1100
00:57:10.800 --> 00:57:13.239
<v Speaker 3>of people believe that all the spiders are poisonous, certainly

1101
00:57:13.280 --> 00:57:16.000
<v Speaker 3>as far as poisonous for humans. The answer is that's

1102
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:17.119
<v Speaker 3>just simply not true.

1103
00:57:17.320 --> 00:57:17.559
<v Speaker 2>Right.

1104
00:57:17.639 --> 00:57:20.599
<v Speaker 3>You know, there's three depending on how you argue about it.

1105
00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:22.480
<v Speaker 3>There might be a fourth one in the US.

1106
00:57:23.159 --> 00:57:27.159
<v Speaker 2>And Randy means venomous, poison is ingested, venom is injected.

1107
00:57:27.239 --> 00:57:29.079
<v Speaker 2>But you know what he means, do not waste your

1108
00:57:29.079 --> 00:57:32.079
<v Speaker 2>finger muscles emailing or tweeting me about it. Spend that

1109
00:57:32.280 --> 00:57:37.119
<v Speaker 2>energy giving a hard working and busy spider a little wave. Yeah, well,

1110
00:57:37.159 --> 00:57:37.679
<v Speaker 2>thumbs up.

1111
00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:41.360
<v Speaker 3>So the other thing is is that a study done

1112
00:57:41.400 --> 00:57:44.360
<v Speaker 3>in Australia demonstrated and this was people who came to

1113
00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:46.920
<v Speaker 3>the hospital claiming you've been bitten by spider and they

1114
00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:49.840
<v Speaker 3>actual they checked it and less than less than ten

1115
00:57:49.880 --> 00:57:51.679
<v Speaker 3>percent and we're actually bitten by spider.

1116
00:57:51.920 --> 00:57:52.519
<v Speaker 2>Really Yeah.

1117
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:55.519
<v Speaker 3>Mosquitoes, Yeah, all kinds of other things, some of them

1118
00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:59.280
<v Speaker 3>aren't even bites. Oh, so you know, you hear all

1119
00:57:59.280 --> 00:58:01.199
<v Speaker 3>these people say Oh, yeah, I got a spider bite

1120
00:58:01.280 --> 00:58:03.440
<v Speaker 3>last night, and you're going you know, you got a

1121
00:58:03.519 --> 00:58:05.119
<v Speaker 3>ninety percent chance of being full.

1122
00:58:04.960 --> 00:58:08.159
<v Speaker 2>Of it, right, Trish, that's a hickey. Yeah, yeah, that's

1123
00:58:08.480 --> 00:58:11.159
<v Speaker 2>that's right. That's right. Dave, you've got a ZiT on

1124
00:58:11.199 --> 00:58:15.000
<v Speaker 2>your neck. Yeah, get out of here, right. Someone asked

1125
00:58:15.039 --> 00:58:18.000
<v Speaker 2>jen anthis asked all this talk about eating bugs? Can

1126
00:58:18.039 --> 00:58:21.360
<v Speaker 2>we eat spider webs? Sometimes that's the only thing I

1127
00:58:21.400 --> 00:58:24.119
<v Speaker 2>have in the house shrug emoji. She says, there's a

1128
00:58:24.119 --> 00:58:26.599
<v Speaker 2>lot of protein. Could we one day be eating.

1129
00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:29.400
<v Speaker 3>Spider So, first of all, there isn't a lot of protein.

1130
00:58:29.599 --> 00:58:33.679
<v Speaker 3>Most of the webs way very little. So, for instance,

1131
00:58:34.239 --> 00:58:39.199
<v Speaker 3>the entire gland that makes dragline silk is only good

1132
00:58:39.280 --> 00:58:43.519
<v Speaker 3>for about one hundred milligrams max. Now that's good for

1133
00:58:44.440 --> 00:58:49.239
<v Speaker 3>several hundred yards of single fiber silk, but that's not

1134
00:58:49.320 --> 00:58:53.880
<v Speaker 3>a lot to eat, right. Number two, the spider silk,

1135
00:58:53.960 --> 00:58:57.239
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure is digestible to a certain extent. But what

1136
00:58:57.280 --> 00:59:01.159
<v Speaker 3>we found is that that there are very few organisms

1137
00:59:01.159 --> 00:59:04.079
<v Speaker 3>who could break it down. So we know fungi can,

1138
00:59:04.159 --> 00:59:06.679
<v Speaker 3>but fungi can break down almost anything, or at least

1139
00:59:06.840 --> 00:59:08.880
<v Speaker 3>some species of fungi can.

1140
00:59:09.159 --> 00:59:10.079
<v Speaker 2>Huh.

1141
00:59:10.119 --> 00:59:12.519
<v Speaker 3>So I think that that would probably not be a

1142
00:59:12.639 --> 00:59:15.280
<v Speaker 3>very nutritious way to go about augmenting your diet.

1143
00:59:15.480 --> 00:59:18.519
<v Speaker 2>Right now, to mention it's expensive, right, it would be expensive,

1144
00:59:19.119 --> 00:59:23.119
<v Speaker 2>like how much a kilogram? Twenty five hundred dollars. That's like,

1145
00:59:23.480 --> 00:59:25.719
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, I have no idea how much chicken

1146
00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:28.199
<v Speaker 2>costs a kilogram, but I'm thinking less, yeah, a little

1147
00:59:28.199 --> 00:59:30.920
<v Speaker 2>bit less, a bit less, Okay. I had to crunch

1148
00:59:30.920 --> 00:59:33.039
<v Speaker 2>some numbers because I live in America, and the only

1149
00:59:33.079 --> 00:59:35.400
<v Speaker 2>reference points I have for kilos are when there are

1150
00:59:35.400 --> 00:59:38.960
<v Speaker 2>headlines about people smuggling heroin in their suitcases or under

1151
00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:42.000
<v Speaker 2>two pays. But a kilo of chicken is two point

1152
00:59:42.079 --> 00:59:45.360
<v Speaker 2>two pounds, which is about half a whole roaster chicken,

1153
00:59:45.760 --> 00:59:49.440
<v Speaker 2>or about five dollars worth of chicken breasts, which is

1154
00:59:49.679 --> 00:59:54.000
<v Speaker 2>three hundred times as expensive as spider silk, probably even

1155
00:59:54.000 --> 00:59:57.440
<v Speaker 2>more actually, if you're like starving for spy droin and

1156
00:59:57.679 --> 01:00:00.360
<v Speaker 2>lazy and you just have it delivered on Postmates. Billy

1157
01:00:00.360 --> 01:00:02.440
<v Speaker 2>Marina wants to know how do spiders use their silk

1158
01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:05.000
<v Speaker 2>to fly? I think he's talking about believe, yeah, so ballooning.

1159
01:00:05.079 --> 01:00:08.559
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so basically, especially when they're small, you know, there's

1160
01:00:08.559 --> 01:00:11.400
<v Speaker 3>a nest, a nest of one hundred hundred and fifty

1161
01:00:11.400 --> 01:00:14.079
<v Speaker 3>little DBD spiders, and they got to spread out if

1162
01:00:14.079 --> 01:00:14.440
<v Speaker 3>they're going.

1163
01:00:14.440 --> 01:00:16.760
<v Speaker 2>To eat anything. So what happens is they usually go

1164
01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:17.840
<v Speaker 2>up into something.

1165
01:00:17.599 --> 01:00:20.239
<v Speaker 3>They lay a big line off the end, and when

1166
01:00:20.280 --> 01:00:23.800
<v Speaker 3>the wind gets up, they jump and their fate is

1167
01:00:23.840 --> 01:00:26.639
<v Speaker 3>now completely dependent on where they end up. But here

1168
01:00:26.760 --> 01:00:28.599
<v Speaker 3>in the spring, what happens is you can go out

1169
01:00:28.639 --> 01:00:30.559
<v Speaker 3>and see some of the fields and they look like

1170
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:33.079
<v Speaker 3>they're coat of the spider silk because all these spiders

1171
01:00:33.360 --> 01:00:35.760
<v Speaker 3>have jumped and their lines are laying out across the

1172
01:00:36.119 --> 01:00:38.159
<v Speaker 3>like the sagebrush of the grass or something like that.

1173
01:00:38.280 --> 01:00:40.960
<v Speaker 3>And I've seen pictures along the coast of California where

1174
01:00:40.960 --> 01:00:43.480
<v Speaker 3>you see that because the marine layer comes in and

1175
01:00:43.519 --> 01:00:46.320
<v Speaker 3>you get drops for dew forming on that. So it

1176
01:00:46.360 --> 01:00:48.719
<v Speaker 3>looks like the whole entire thing is covered with spider

1177
01:00:48.760 --> 01:00:51.400
<v Speaker 3>silk because all these little guylines are laying out.

1178
01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:55.440
<v Speaker 2>Can't they get pretty high like ten thousand? Yeah, they've

1179
01:00:55.480 --> 01:00:56.159
<v Speaker 2>they've found them.

1180
01:00:56.239 --> 01:00:58.400
<v Speaker 3>I think they've found them clear into the thirty to

1181
01:00:58.400 --> 01:01:01.159
<v Speaker 3>forty I mean, the up as high as air as.

1182
01:01:00.960 --> 01:01:03.400
<v Speaker 2>The jets fly. How do they not run out of silk?

1183
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:04.639
<v Speaker 2>They don't.

1184
01:01:04.679 --> 01:01:06.239
<v Speaker 3>They just put one thing and they'll let the wind

1185
01:01:06.280 --> 01:01:09.360
<v Speaker 3>get it. So it's like they're putting out a sale,

1186
01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:11.519
<v Speaker 3>so they use it like a sale.

1187
01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:14.800
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, So it really is wherever the wind blows. Yeah,

1188
01:01:14.800 --> 01:01:18.320
<v Speaker 2>you got that right, You got that right. Okay, aswealth,

1189
01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:21.079
<v Speaker 2>Jennifer wants to know, Hi, how many animals did you

1190
01:01:21.119 --> 01:01:22.920
<v Speaker 2>consider before landing on these goats?

1191
01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:26.239
<v Speaker 3>Is not very many because the company we work with

1192
01:01:26.360 --> 01:01:29.840
<v Speaker 3>specifically focused on goats for a multitude of reasons, one

1193
01:01:29.920 --> 01:01:33.559
<v Speaker 3>being that these goats were called breed early, lactate early,

1194
01:01:33.719 --> 01:01:36.800
<v Speaker 3>so five months are sexually mature. Well, you breed them

1195
01:01:36.800 --> 01:01:39.280
<v Speaker 3>in five months later you have a goat producing milk,

1196
01:01:39.559 --> 01:01:41.920
<v Speaker 3>so in less than a year you've got a complete cycle.

1197
01:01:42.440 --> 01:01:46.639
<v Speaker 3>So that's a huge advantage. Yeah, and especially being here

1198
01:01:46.639 --> 01:01:49.239
<v Speaker 3>in Utah where dairy is a big business, we always

1199
01:01:49.239 --> 01:01:52.400
<v Speaker 3>get asked why goats and not cows. So the answer

1200
01:01:52.440 --> 01:01:57.679
<v Speaker 3>to that question is is number one, goat milk production

1201
01:01:58.039 --> 01:02:00.920
<v Speaker 3>per pound of feed is basically in goats as it

1202
01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:04.360
<v Speaker 3>is in cows. They don't produce as much. They're much

1203
01:02:04.400 --> 01:02:06.840
<v Speaker 3>easier to deal with. So a fifteen hundred pound cow

1204
01:02:06.840 --> 01:02:09.920
<v Speaker 3>doesn't want to go anywhere you kind of impact into

1205
01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:15.440
<v Speaker 3>a corner. They also are much more adaptable human orientation,

1206
01:02:15.679 --> 01:02:19.039
<v Speaker 3>So our kids shortly after they're born, after a couple

1207
01:02:19.039 --> 01:02:21.960
<v Speaker 3>of three days, are then fed by hand milk by hand,

1208
01:02:22.280 --> 01:02:24.679
<v Speaker 3>and I'll guarantee you they have no idea their goats.

1209
01:02:24.719 --> 01:02:29.119
<v Speaker 3>They think they're humans. So there really are easy to

1210
01:02:29.239 --> 01:02:32.239
<v Speaker 3>work with in terms of that, the waste is much

1211
01:02:32.320 --> 01:02:34.440
<v Speaker 3>less than it is with cows and makes it easier

1212
01:02:34.440 --> 01:02:35.400
<v Speaker 3>for cleanup.

1213
01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:36.000
<v Speaker 2>And that kind of stuff.

1214
01:02:36.639 --> 01:02:38.519
<v Speaker 3>And last, but not least, my people will tell you

1215
01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:40.639
<v Speaker 3>that baby goats are much cuter than maybe cows.

1216
01:02:40.800 --> 01:02:44.440
<v Speaker 2>That's very factual. There's nothing cuter that a baby goat.

1217
01:02:44.519 --> 01:02:48.280
<v Speaker 2>It's a fact. Absolutely. Did you like, low key love

1218
01:02:48.320 --> 01:02:49.800
<v Speaker 2>getting to work with the goats? Were you like I

1219
01:02:49.840 --> 01:02:52.159
<v Speaker 2>never really realized that working with spiderbuts would lead me

1220
01:02:52.239 --> 01:02:53.840
<v Speaker 2>to getting to cuddle baby goats?

1221
01:02:54.360 --> 01:02:57.280
<v Speaker 3>No, not so much, because I raised sheep when I

1222
01:02:57.400 --> 01:03:00.360
<v Speaker 3>was when I was a kid, and then when my

1223
01:03:00.480 --> 01:03:02.920
<v Speaker 3>kids started growing up, we moved out and had a

1224
01:03:02.960 --> 01:03:05.400
<v Speaker 3>place out of town and they raise sheep, so I

1225
01:03:05.440 --> 01:03:09.039
<v Speaker 3>got to see baby lambs, you know, multiple times every year.

1226
01:03:09.159 --> 01:03:12.880
<v Speaker 3>So baby goats probably are cuter than baby lambs, but

1227
01:03:12.960 --> 01:03:13.639
<v Speaker 3>not by a lot.

1228
01:03:13.800 --> 01:03:15.519
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to do a pole because I think that

1229
01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:17.519
<v Speaker 2>that would be a very heated debate, to be honest.

1230
01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:23.320
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, I certainly it's a It's a tough one

1231
01:03:23.320 --> 01:03:26.239
<v Speaker 3>because I certainly do like to like lambs, there's no

1232
01:03:26.280 --> 01:03:26.840
<v Speaker 3>doubt about it.

1233
01:03:27.039 --> 01:03:29.119
<v Speaker 2>Just do a transgendic one where we got a little

1234
01:03:29.119 --> 01:03:32.000
<v Speaker 2>bit of both. Yeah, yeah, right now. Okay, I took

1235
01:03:32.039 --> 01:03:35.360
<v Speaker 2>a Twitter pool and at press time it was baby

1236
01:03:35.360 --> 01:03:38.599
<v Speaker 2>goats in the leads sixty two percent. I regret not

1237
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:41.320
<v Speaker 2>including baby spiders in the pole. So that's now a

1238
01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:44.599
<v Speaker 2>mystery that's just lost to time. Okay, Gregory o'conway wants

1239
01:03:44.639 --> 01:03:47.239
<v Speaker 2>to know, Dear Alward, can we use spider silk to

1240
01:03:47.239 --> 01:03:48.559
<v Speaker 2>make a kick ass parachute?

1241
01:03:49.079 --> 01:03:52.280
<v Speaker 3>The answer is yes. But what we're probably more interested

1242
01:03:52.320 --> 01:03:56.360
<v Speaker 3>in is the parachute lines, because one of the problems

1243
01:03:56.360 --> 01:03:59.079
<v Speaker 3>you have is is that, especially if you're dropping let's

1244
01:03:59.079 --> 01:04:02.280
<v Speaker 3>say a tang out of a cargo and you want

1245
01:04:02.320 --> 01:04:04.840
<v Speaker 3>to go more frequently than I think any of the

1246
01:04:04.960 --> 01:04:10.079
<v Speaker 3>DoD would like to believe, the parachute collapses because obviously

1247
01:04:10.119 --> 01:04:12.440
<v Speaker 3>it goes out, it tries to open, and then at

1248
01:04:12.480 --> 01:04:15.280
<v Speaker 3>the end it goes wham when it opens up and

1249
01:04:15.320 --> 01:04:18.400
<v Speaker 3>it collapses. So we see is that if we made

1250
01:04:18.400 --> 01:04:21.119
<v Speaker 3>the guidelines out of spider silk, when it hit that end,

1251
01:04:21.159 --> 01:04:23.840
<v Speaker 3>it would just stretch it so the parachute would no

1252
01:04:23.920 --> 01:04:27.599
<v Speaker 3>longer collapse. It would allow the guidelines to absorb all

1253
01:04:27.639 --> 01:04:29.840
<v Speaker 3>of that energy and then as we talk, it gets

1254
01:04:29.880 --> 01:04:32.920
<v Speaker 3>released as heat. So it's not going to go bouncing

1255
01:04:33.000 --> 01:04:35.079
<v Speaker 3>up and down like a trampoline. It's going to go

1256
01:04:35.119 --> 01:04:37.400
<v Speaker 3>down and then slowly come back up and keep the

1257
01:04:37.440 --> 01:04:40.440
<v Speaker 3>parachute from collapsing. Now, we may also want to do

1258
01:04:40.519 --> 01:04:43.719
<v Speaker 3>it for all the parachutes, but particularly those where you're

1259
01:04:43.760 --> 01:04:46.440
<v Speaker 3>dumping something heavy out. We could see this would be

1260
01:04:46.480 --> 01:04:48.519
<v Speaker 3>a huge advantage to what they have right now.

1261
01:04:49.039 --> 01:04:53.159
<v Speaker 2>And speaking of DoD stuff, what about armors things like that.

1262
01:04:53.840 --> 01:04:57.440
<v Speaker 3>We don't see spider silkas as from our perspective anyway,

1263
01:04:58.079 --> 01:05:02.039
<v Speaker 3>as the way to go for protective armor, particularly things

1264
01:05:02.079 --> 01:05:05.159
<v Speaker 3>like bulletproof vests. And the reason is it stretches too much,

1265
01:05:05.199 --> 01:05:07.440
<v Speaker 3>and that's what's unique about it, that's what makes it key.

1266
01:05:07.920 --> 01:05:10.559
<v Speaker 3>So my joke is when somebody asks, is I know

1267
01:05:10.679 --> 01:05:12.559
<v Speaker 3>I can make your bulletproof vest, he just stops the

1268
01:05:12.599 --> 01:05:15.199
<v Speaker 3>bullet on the wrong side of your chest. So that's

1269
01:05:15.280 --> 01:05:16.599
<v Speaker 3>not particularly useful.

1270
01:05:18.199 --> 01:05:20.960
<v Speaker 2>Also, any movies that you've seen with spiders or spider

1271
01:05:21.000 --> 01:05:21.639
<v Speaker 2>webs that you.

1272
01:05:22.320 --> 01:05:25.320
<v Speaker 3>Oh, oh, eight eight Legged Freaks. Eight Legged Freaks is

1273
01:05:25.360 --> 01:05:26.679
<v Speaker 3>a movie you have to see.

1274
01:05:26.960 --> 01:05:27.519
<v Speaker 2>What is it?

1275
01:05:27.519 --> 01:05:32.440
<v Speaker 3>It's oh, it's it's the It's it's like the parody

1276
01:05:32.480 --> 01:05:41.119
<v Speaker 3>of every horror movie you've ever seen. Radioactivity. Guy has

1277
01:05:41.159 --> 01:05:45.400
<v Speaker 3>spiders there. They all become giant spiders. This little twelve

1278
01:05:45.480 --> 01:05:47.679
<v Speaker 3>year old kid sees it. He tries to go to

1279
01:05:47.719 --> 01:05:50.119
<v Speaker 3>the sheriff and tell the sheriff. The sheriff doesn't listen

1280
01:05:50.159 --> 01:05:53.719
<v Speaker 3>to the little kid. So these are loose destroying, you know,

1281
01:05:53.920 --> 01:05:59.400
<v Speaker 3>picking up trailer houses, chasing people down, having eggs and

1282
01:05:59.800 --> 01:06:01.760
<v Speaker 3>magically getting giant whatever else.

1283
01:06:01.800 --> 01:06:02.920
<v Speaker 2>And then toward the end.

1284
01:06:03.280 --> 01:06:05.280
<v Speaker 3>Somebody tells you that the little kid comes and says,

1285
01:06:05.320 --> 01:06:09.039
<v Speaker 3>you know, I know what's going on, and somebody says,

1286
01:06:09.199 --> 01:06:11.039
<v Speaker 3>share a fun. Don't you listen to the little kid?

1287
01:06:11.400 --> 01:06:13.880
<v Speaker 3>And so they finally managed to clear out. But it's

1288
01:06:13.960 --> 01:06:16.760
<v Speaker 3>like when it first came out. I took everybody in

1289
01:06:16.760 --> 01:06:19.519
<v Speaker 3>the lab for the movie. We went and I said,

1290
01:06:19.559 --> 01:06:22.519
<v Speaker 3>everybody has to come up with at least ten things

1291
01:06:22.920 --> 01:06:26.880
<v Speaker 3>that are absolutely totally false that they find in this movie,

1292
01:06:26.960 --> 01:06:29.559
<v Speaker 3>and trust me, we had lots more than ten.

1293
01:06:30.559 --> 01:06:34.079
<v Speaker 2>It was, it was. It's hilarious. It's absolutely hilarious. But

1294
01:06:34.119 --> 01:06:38.960
<v Speaker 2>those things are also delightful because they're so false, absolutely ly.

1295
01:06:39.360 --> 01:06:42.320
<v Speaker 3>I mean some people don't see if all, which is

1296
01:06:42.360 --> 01:06:44.000
<v Speaker 3>the unfortunate part here.

1297
01:06:44.239 --> 01:06:47.320
<v Speaker 2>Spiders just going about their business and the things that

1298
01:06:47.320 --> 01:06:50.920
<v Speaker 2>they're making naturally could literally save our lives, I hope.

1299
01:06:50.920 --> 01:06:54.480
<v Speaker 2>So so thanks spiders, Thank you spider Just get one

1300
01:06:54.480 --> 01:06:58.039
<v Speaker 2>of those little spider catchers, take them outside, let them

1301
01:06:58.039 --> 01:07:00.239
<v Speaker 2>go do their business, let them keep evolving. It's five

1302
01:07:00.280 --> 01:07:04.119
<v Speaker 2>hundred million years, that's right. The thing that you hate

1303
01:07:04.119 --> 01:07:06.639
<v Speaker 2>the most about your job or about spider silk, what's

1304
01:07:06.719 --> 01:07:11.000
<v Speaker 2>so either annoying or irksome or just troubling. Is there

1305
01:07:11.000 --> 01:07:18.360
<v Speaker 2>anything that you're just like, ugh, this sucks for us.

1306
01:07:18.400 --> 01:07:19.039
<v Speaker 2>I think it has.

1307
01:07:19.239 --> 01:07:24.639
<v Speaker 3>It has been heading toward the commercialization direction, just because

1308
01:07:24.719 --> 01:07:28.360
<v Speaker 3>it's been difficult to convince people that that it can

1309
01:07:29.119 --> 01:07:32.400
<v Speaker 3>have advantages over what they're currently using, particularly in the

1310
01:07:32.440 --> 01:07:36.440
<v Speaker 3>medical world. It's astounding to me that advances ever get

1311
01:07:36.440 --> 01:07:40.199
<v Speaker 3>made in medicine based on our experiences because these people,

1312
01:07:40.320 --> 01:07:42.159
<v Speaker 3>you know, if you say you got to have to

1313
01:07:42.159 --> 01:07:45.639
<v Speaker 3>go back to the FDA for approval, immediately it's off

1314
01:07:45.679 --> 01:07:46.079
<v Speaker 3>the table.

1315
01:07:46.360 --> 01:07:49.000
<v Speaker 2>They would rather have inferior products.

1316
01:07:49.039 --> 01:07:51.400
<v Speaker 3>So one, for instance, we've made a hernia mesh that

1317
01:07:51.559 --> 01:07:54.320
<v Speaker 3>is far superior to what they use right now, absolutely

1318
01:07:54.360 --> 01:07:57.719
<v Speaker 3>no question, but hernia meshes are off the table. There

1319
01:07:57.760 --> 01:08:00.559
<v Speaker 3>is not a company that were that we know of

1320
01:08:00.599 --> 01:08:03.880
<v Speaker 3>any that wants to touch it because lawsuits around around

1321
01:08:03.960 --> 01:08:07.400
<v Speaker 3>vaginal meshes failing. Hernia mesh is failing. Well, the reason

1322
01:08:07.440 --> 01:08:11.039
<v Speaker 3>they failed is because they're made out of lousy material. Yeah,

1323
01:08:11.280 --> 01:08:13.119
<v Speaker 3>but you talk to them and it's like, we're not

1324
01:08:13.159 --> 01:08:14.880
<v Speaker 3>touching it with a ten foot pole. We don't want

1325
01:08:14.880 --> 01:08:17.000
<v Speaker 3>to have to take on you know, we don't want

1326
01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:19.640
<v Speaker 3>to have to do the FDA testing, we don't want

1327
01:08:19.680 --> 01:08:21.840
<v Speaker 3>to deal with possible lawsuits. We don't want anything to

1328
01:08:21.840 --> 01:08:23.640
<v Speaker 3>do with it, so we'll keep using our lousy stuff.

1329
01:08:23.760 --> 01:08:30.119
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So it's that technology has advanced faster than maybe

1330
01:08:30.159 --> 01:08:34.520
<v Speaker 2>mindsets certainly acceptance. Yeah, but I think it's so great

1331
01:08:34.520 --> 01:08:37.079
<v Speaker 2>to know how it's made and that it's a protein

1332
01:08:37.119 --> 01:08:40.399
<v Speaker 2>structure that is so versatile and that it can be manufactured.

1333
01:08:40.479 --> 01:08:43.039
<v Speaker 2>I think it's just so unreal to people because it's

1334
01:08:43.039 --> 01:08:45.680
<v Speaker 2>so science fiction. Right, You're like, oh no, this is

1335
01:08:45.720 --> 01:08:48.000
<v Speaker 2>twenty nineteen, like we can actually do this now. It's

1336
01:08:48.359 --> 01:08:51.239
<v Speaker 2>so exciting, right, And what about the best thing about

1337
01:08:51.319 --> 01:08:55.079
<v Speaker 2>spider Silk or your job? I think the best thing

1338
01:08:55.079 --> 01:08:55.720
<v Speaker 2>about my job.

1339
01:08:55.920 --> 01:08:58.640
<v Speaker 3>And I always say that you know it's coming to

1340
01:08:58.720 --> 01:09:02.760
<v Speaker 3>work and you know, having a realistic expectation that you're

1341
01:09:02.760 --> 01:09:03.960
<v Speaker 3>going to find something.

1342
01:09:03.640 --> 01:09:05.479
<v Speaker 2>New multiple times a year.

1343
01:09:05.920 --> 01:09:08.199
<v Speaker 3>I have to say that I other than a day,

1344
01:09:08.239 --> 01:09:10.399
<v Speaker 3>I have meetings all day, I would I have not

1345
01:09:10.560 --> 01:09:13.600
<v Speaker 3>dreaded a day coming to work since I started.

1346
01:09:13.600 --> 01:09:15.800
<v Speaker 2>For thirty years. For thirty years. You've got to get

1347
01:09:15.800 --> 01:09:20.119
<v Speaker 2>this cake, man, Yeah, you deserve it. You've got a

1348
01:09:20.159 --> 01:09:23.960
<v Speaker 2>great job. And where can people find out more about

1349
01:09:23.960 --> 01:09:26.039
<v Speaker 2>you or about your work or about spidy Tech.

1350
01:09:26.920 --> 01:09:29.239
<v Speaker 3>Certainly, spidery Tech has a website. We have a website

1351
01:09:29.239 --> 01:09:32.079
<v Speaker 3>on USU. If you just do Spidersilk USU, you'll get

1352
01:09:32.079 --> 01:09:34.640
<v Speaker 3>to our website, and we have a Facebook page. We're

1353
01:09:34.720 --> 01:09:36.840
<v Speaker 3>not quite as good on the on the social media

1354
01:09:36.880 --> 01:09:37.479
<v Speaker 3>side of things.

1355
01:09:37.560 --> 01:09:39.399
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you got to get a social media and yeah,

1356
01:09:39.439 --> 01:09:41.960
<v Speaker 2>that's right. I'm afraid it's passed me by. So it's

1357
01:09:43.079 --> 01:09:45.520
<v Speaker 2>you're not out at Coachella wearing a spider hat and

1358
01:09:46.960 --> 01:09:47.399
<v Speaker 2>no I.

1359
01:09:47.399 --> 01:09:51.520
<v Speaker 3>Am not, and I'm not tweeting to keep up with

1360
01:09:51.560 --> 01:09:53.199
<v Speaker 3>the president or anything aniles.

1361
01:09:52.880 --> 01:09:57.640
<v Speaker 2>Here or so hashtag spidy life. Yeah, well, thank you

1362
01:09:57.760 --> 01:10:00.600
<v Speaker 2>so much for doing this. That's such a joy. Enjoyed it.

1363
01:10:00.800 --> 01:10:05.079
<v Speaker 2>Enjoyed it? Okay, so ask smart people some silky questions

1364
01:10:05.119 --> 01:10:08.439
<v Speaker 2>because you'll never know what they know unless you ask.

1365
01:10:08.840 --> 01:10:11.680
<v Speaker 2>And I hope this has given you greater appreciation for

1366
01:10:11.760 --> 01:10:14.279
<v Speaker 2>our Leggi friends and this Halloween season, when you see

1367
01:10:14.279 --> 01:10:18.119
<v Speaker 2>a spider web decoration, just feel free to stop everyone

1368
01:10:18.119 --> 01:10:21.920
<v Speaker 2>around you inform them of the molecular engineering that goes

1369
01:10:21.920 --> 01:10:24.600
<v Speaker 2>into it. Maybe if you get a spider web in

1370
01:10:24.640 --> 01:10:27.840
<v Speaker 2>your face, you don't like cotton candy. That shit's expensive.

1371
01:10:28.159 --> 01:10:30.920
<v Speaker 2>So for more on the topics discussed, you can head

1372
01:10:30.920 --> 01:10:33.720
<v Speaker 2>over to my website. For links, it's Alleyward dot com

1373
01:10:33.760 --> 01:10:38.560
<v Speaker 2>slash ologies slash Spidronology and there are links to sponsors

1374
01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:40.359
<v Speaker 2>and codes in the show notes as well, and for

1375
01:10:40.520 --> 01:10:43.319
<v Speaker 2>merch there's a link at Alleyward dot com. Thank you

1376
01:10:43.399 --> 01:10:45.880
<v Speaker 2>Shannon Felt as Bonnie Dutch of the podcast You Are That,

1377
01:10:46.119 --> 01:10:49.159
<v Speaker 2>which is a hilarious podcast for managing that. Thank you

1378
01:10:49.239 --> 01:10:52.720
<v Speaker 2>to Aaron Talbert and Hannah Lippo for admitting the Facebook

1379
01:10:52.800 --> 01:10:57.600
<v Speaker 2>Ologies podcast group a few things live appearance wise, I'm

1380
01:10:57.720 --> 01:11:01.600
<v Speaker 2>keynoting Sycomcamp in Southern California on November eighth, and there

1381
01:11:01.640 --> 01:11:04.199
<v Speaker 2>may still be a few spots left in case you

1382
01:11:04.239 --> 01:11:07.039
<v Speaker 2>can convince your work or your lab or yourself that

1383
01:11:07.119 --> 01:11:10.760
<v Speaker 2>this conference is an important thing to attend to communicate science.

1384
01:11:11.199 --> 01:11:13.439
<v Speaker 2>You can go to Sycomcamp dot com. They have more

1385
01:11:13.479 --> 01:11:17.399
<v Speaker 2>details and it's November eight through tenth. The lineup is awesome.

1386
01:11:17.479 --> 01:11:20.880
<v Speaker 2>It includes Flash Forwards, Rose Eveleth and the Physics Girl

1387
01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:25.920
<v Speaker 2>Diana Cowen. Also on October seventeenth, it's the International Myloma

1388
01:11:25.920 --> 01:11:29.279
<v Speaker 2>Foundations Annual Comedy Benefit in LA and it's hosted by

1389
01:11:29.319 --> 01:11:33.800
<v Speaker 2>Raybermano and there are performances by Patton Oswald and A

1390
01:11:33.880 --> 01:11:36.800
<v Speaker 2>Man of Seals and Dimitri Martin and Kevin Neilan. And

1391
01:11:36.840 --> 01:11:40.359
<v Speaker 2>I'm hosting the Red Carpet live on the IMF Facebook page.

1392
01:11:40.359 --> 01:11:42.359
<v Speaker 2>And there'll be links to all this in the show

1393
01:11:42.359 --> 01:11:45.880
<v Speaker 2>notes or up at aliwarn dot com, slash Ologies slash Spidronology.

1394
01:11:46.399 --> 01:11:48.640
<v Speaker 2>And thank you to Shared Sleeper of the Mental health

1395
01:11:48.640 --> 01:11:51.920
<v Speaker 2>podcast My Good Bad Brain for assistant editing, and to

1396
01:11:52.000 --> 01:11:54.239
<v Speaker 2>the center of our webs Stephen Ray Morris of the

1397
01:11:54.279 --> 01:11:57.560
<v Speaker 2>per Cast and c Jurassic right for adhering the pieces

1398
01:11:57.560 --> 01:12:00.239
<v Speaker 2>together each week. And if you listen to the of

1399
01:12:00.239 --> 01:12:01.960
<v Speaker 2>the podcast, you know I tell you a secret. And

1400
01:12:01.960 --> 01:12:05.479
<v Speaker 2>this week's secret, Shannon and Bonnie stayed down here in

1401
01:12:05.600 --> 01:12:08.560
<v Speaker 2>LA and when they did, they left a loaf of

1402
01:12:08.640 --> 01:12:11.359
<v Speaker 2>sour dough bread. And I've just been slowly eating it

1403
01:12:11.399 --> 01:12:13.600
<v Speaker 2>piece by piece, by putting it in the microwave until

1404
01:12:13.640 --> 01:12:16.079
<v Speaker 2>it's all gooey, and then putting butter on it, and

1405
01:12:16.119 --> 01:12:18.880
<v Speaker 2>then putting salt on top of that, and just walking

1406
01:12:18.920 --> 01:12:21.680
<v Speaker 2>around eating this soggy piece of buttery bread. And I'll

1407
01:12:21.680 --> 01:12:23.920
<v Speaker 2>have you know, Shannon and Bonnie, I finished it today.

1408
01:12:24.159 --> 01:12:26.680
<v Speaker 2>I tore through it like a locust. Also, while I

1409
01:12:26.720 --> 01:12:29.560
<v Speaker 2>recorded all these asides, Grammy, my dog, is sitting next

1410
01:12:29.560 --> 01:12:32.720
<v Speaker 2>to me and she is wearing a spider themed sweater

1411
01:12:32.800 --> 01:12:35.239
<v Speaker 2>that I got her, So do keep an eye out.

1412
01:12:35.359 --> 01:12:36.920
<v Speaker 2>I will be posting a picture of her and the

1413
01:12:36.960 --> 01:12:38.680
<v Speaker 2>spider sweater on Instagram.

1414
01:12:38.800 --> 01:12:53.039
<v Speaker 5>Okay, byebye, Pacadermatology, hombiology, r doo, zoology, lithology, Yeah, technology, meteorologyology, apology, cereology, ethnology.

1415
01:13:01.000 --> 01:13:03.439
<v Speaker 2>Sorry, I'm not home right now. I'm workin in this

1416
01:13:03.560 --> 01:13:04.319
<v Speaker 2>spatter webs.

1417
01:13:04.600 --> 01:13:07.159
<v Speaker 4>Who'll leave a message and i'll call you a back