WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:03.879 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radioie and today I will 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:08.480 be reading National Geographic magazine dated March twenty twenty six, 3 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:12.519 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. Radioie 4 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:15.199 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.600 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:22.320 printed material. Please join me now for the first article 7 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:30.480 titled Unlocking Nature's Miracle by Rowan Jacobson. An organic material 8 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.920 that is five times stronger than steel. It exists in 9 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.600 the natural world, but has historically been impossible for us 10 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.399 to manufacture. Now, thanks to breakthroughs in genetic engineering, we've 11 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:46.479 created something very close super silk, and it's poised to 12 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:52.119 upgrade for more than our clothing. Somewhere in Michigan, ten 13 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.759 thousand silkworms are spinning the future of super materials. They 14 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.640 labor in the thick air of a warm, humid warehouse, 15 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:02.880 pulling a sticky white strand from a gland in their 16 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.680 face and weaving it into a cocoon the size of 17 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:09.280 a grape. Since they were first domesticated in China thousands 18 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.959 of years ago, their silk has been used to make 19 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.519 the world's finest fabric, but these silkworms aren't like the 20 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.959 millions that came before. They are spinning spider's silk, or 21 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:24.079 something close to it. Pound for pound, spider silk, which 22 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:28.920 is tantalized scientists for decades, combined strength and elasticity unlike 23 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:33.359 anything else natural or artificial, five times stronger than steel 24 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:38.280 by weight, but completely organic. It's the stuff of superheroes, 25 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:43.599 says fioranzo Omenetto, director of the Silk Lab at Tufts 26 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:48.040 University in Massachusetts. It exists in the same rarefied space 27 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:54.040 as graphene and kevlar, human made creations with similarly extraordinary 28 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:59.400 physical properties, but those can require synthetic chemicals to manufacture. 29 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.680 Spider silk could do what they do, possibly better and organically. 30 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:06.879 That in turn has led to a steady stream of height. 31 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:11.680 Spider silk, if mass produced, could unlock everything from improved 32 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:16.280 bulletproof vests to ultra light jet planes to next generation 33 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:21.120 vaccine delivery, if only we could crack the code. Spiders, though, 34 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:24.759 are cannibalistic when forced to live together, making them neither 35 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:30.599 domesticable nor easily scalable. But in the past few years 36 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:36.599 everything's changed. Those spider silk spinning silkworms all genetically modified 37 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.599 live at the Lansing, Michigan Research Center of biotech firm 38 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:46.000 Craig Biocraft Laboratories. Craig is just one of several companies 39 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:50.080 around the world that have made breakthroughs in manufacturing spider 40 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:54.400 silk or a very close analog. Those silkworms can't quite 41 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:59.599 match spider silk's superhero level physical properties just yet, but 42 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:03.000 there is enough spider gene in the mix to give 43 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:07.560 their silk fibers special qualities. Other companies have charted a 44 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.000 different path, one less reliant on worms munching mulberry leaf cake, 45 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:15.400 but with the same goal. The goal is to mimic 46 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:19.560 and eventually surpass the performance of natural spider silk, and 47 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.800 then push it toward real world applications, says Wenbo, who 48 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:28.240 a spider silk expert at Southwest University in Central China. 49 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:33.439 We're getting incredibly close. For the first time, the long 50 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:37.719 hyped super material dubbed super silk seems to be real. 51 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.759 But the start ups and genetic engineers who've spent years 52 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:44.280 and millions of dollars pursuing this holy grail are now 53 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:47.479 having to reckon with a question they'd been able to ignore. 54 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:51.280 In the quest for super silk at scale. Once you 55 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.439 make us super material, what do you do with it? 56 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:58.159 The answers, it turns out, aren't as obviously as they'd imagined. 57 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.879 Spider self is, by any measure, one of nature's most 58 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:07.039 miraculous structures. Large orb weaver spiders have been known to 59 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.199 build webs that trap birds and bats. It may take 60 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.719 a simple swipe of the human hand to brush through 61 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:15.919 a spider web in the woods, but a hypothetically massive 62 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:19.519 web with strands the thickness of a pencil could stop 63 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:23.879 a seven forty seven in flight. Spider silk seemingly magical 64 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:31.399 capabilities derived from two singular factors, special proteins known as spidroins, 65 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:36.199 and the way those spidroins are spun into intricate fibers. 66 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:40.639 The spidroins are composed of thousands of amino acids in 67 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.720 a long chain, mixing both positive and negative electrical charges, 68 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:50.480 as well as hydrophobic and hydrophilic sections, allowing them to 69 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:53.920 stretch like an accordion while wrapping tightly around each other. 70 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:58.759 Spiders then bundle those proteins into a cabled matrix of 71 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:02.680 fibers that cling to each other, so tenaciously that almost 72 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.720 nothing can break them. Threshing insects don't stand a chance. 73 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.399 Spider silk's potential has been apparent for centuries. Ancient Greeks 74 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:16.759 and Romans applied webs as wound poultices, while Solomon Islanders 75 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.000 used web silk as fishing lures, but the first attempt 76 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.920 to commercialize the material didn't start until the late eating hundreds, 77 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:28.240 when Jesuit missionaries stationed in Madagascar took note of the 78 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.399 island's golden orb weaver spiders and the prolific amount of 79 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.480 silk they produced. With the help of local children, the 80 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.600 missionaries devised a system to immobilize the spiders and cokes 81 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:43.879 about five hundred yards of silk from each. All that 82 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:47.959 effort yielded a stunning golden yellow bed canopy that made 83 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:51.240 a stir at the nineteen hundred Paris Expo, but not 84 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:55.199 much more. The process was too labor intensive, and the 85 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:58.560 spiders had a nasty habit of eating each other. But 86 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.480 spider silk continued to inspire why settle for the physical 87 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:06.279 limits of cotton wool or regular silk when better options 88 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.560 merely required ingenuity. In the nineteen thirties, inspired by the 89 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.519 architecture of silk. DuPont developed nylon. The first commercially viable 90 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:21.680 synthetic fiber. Kevlar fiber, arrived in nineteen sixty six, its 91 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:26.600 strong lattice of hydrogen bonds making it nearly unbreakable. Graphene, 92 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.600 whose one item thick sheets of honey combed carbon make 93 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:33.720 it the strongest material in the world, was created in 94 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:38.360 two thousand three. But while these synthetic fibers have revolutionized 95 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:43.240 multiple industries, from clothing and cook wear to aerospace and electronics, 96 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:47.680 they're dogged by their artificiality. They don't degrade, they require 97 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:51.240 harmful processes to manufacture, and in some cases they can 98 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:56.519 burden the world and our bodies with toxic compounds and microplastics. 99 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.720 For that reason, scientists have long dreamed of producing comparable 100 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:04.839 materials out of organic proteins. Spider silk has always beckoned 101 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:09.439 as nature's finest model, but given their ornerary individualistic natures, 102 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.720 spiders were always likely to be cut out of the mix. 103 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:17.279 Efforts to create spider proteins without the spider began in 104 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:23.079 Earnest in the nineteen nineties. According to molecular biologist Randy Lewis, 105 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.000 then at the University of Wyoming. At first, he and 106 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:29.959 his team eyed E. Coli as a potential host. Their 107 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.360 thought process, if you could engineer the bacteria to produce 108 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:38.360 spidrains as part of their regular metabolism, you could cultivate 109 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.639 them in a fermentation tank as if you were brewing beer, 110 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.560 then separate the spidrains from the mix, spin them into 111 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:50.040 fibers and bloi la spider silk. That failed. Bacteria are 112 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:55.160 so tiny that they struggled to produce comparatively comparatively huge proteins, 113 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:58.680 and even when they do, they can't mimic Spider's intricate 114 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:03.519 physical weaving process. Lewis turned to goats as possible spid 115 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:08.079 drawing producers via their milk, and then alfalfa and silkworms. 116 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:12.000 Nothing worked. The gene editing tools of the time were cumbersome, 117 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.120 and neither Lewis nor the other researchers pursuing genetically modified 118 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.439 organisms spider silk could engineer a host to make enough protein. 119 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:25.319 Then technology came to the rescue. Crisper CAST nine arrived 120 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.639 in the early twenty tens with the ability to rewrite 121 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:32.440 genes at will in living organisms. Finding hosts for spider 122 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:37.039 silk became easier. The new technology significantly improved the expression 123 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:43.039 level of spider silk protein. According to shengyang Gong, a 124 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:49.080 transgenic silkworm expert at Suchow University near Shanghai. In twenty 125 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:52.639 twenty three, Chinese researchers were able to coax full length 126 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:56.320 spider silk from a transgenic silkworm for the first time. 127 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.559 The material had six times the toughness, the measure of 128 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:03.840 a matchere ceial's capacity to deform without breaking of kevlar. 129 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:08.919 For Craig biocraft laboratories, the new advances in genetic editing 130 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:13.480 unlocked the ability to engineer worms with just enough spidroins 131 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:17.960 to make a spider silk analog without hampering the worm's productivity. 132 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:22.480 According to Craig founder and CEO Kim Thompson, the company's 133 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.799 latest silk is a big step forward. This material is 134 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.080 not going to stop a seven forty seven, he says, 135 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:32.320 but it's better than regular silk. It's stronger and more flexible. 136 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:35.200 It's not quite spider sialt but it is super silk, 137 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.639 and most important, it's scalable. Some eight thousand miles away 138 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:43.799 from Craig's Michigan Lab in the steamy silk belt of Vietnam, 139 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.480 where there are plenty of mulberry leaves for silkworms to 140 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:50.679 eat and plenty of skilled workers to rear them. Craig 141 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.639 has established commercial scale farms where these little beasties are 142 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:58.799 weaving super silk daily. Many of the company's worms, including 143 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:03.279 all those in Vietnam, fluoresce green under ultraviolet light and 144 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:06.279 a filter thanks to the insertion of a jellyfish chin, 145 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:10.000 a way of identifying the modified worms. It took years 146 00:10:10.039 --> 00:10:12.639 to figure out how to keep the lap grown silkworms 147 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:17.000 from dyeing under commercial scale conditions, die offs that nearly 148 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:19.759 ruin the company, But the links have been worked out, 149 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.799 says Thompson. In significant quantities of sample fabric will be 150 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:29.120 shipped to major clothing brands for testing in twenty twenty six. 151 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:31.639 After all these years, he says, we are finally going 152 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.919 to make the shipment. For now. Craig is hoping luxury 153 00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:38.960 fashion houses show interest in it stronger than silk supersilk, 154 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.440 because the clothing industry is the most straightforward, if obvious, 155 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.919 path to driving commercial revenue. For the first time in 156 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:49.559 the company's twenty years in the meantime, it continues trying 157 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:53.720 to engineer silkworms that can spin pure spider silk at scale, 158 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:58.480 all while Craig's Super Silk Making competition across the globe 159 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:02.960 explores other applications for the material, some simple, some radical. 160 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.320 Spider silk as a supermaterial harnessed by humans has been 161 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:11.279 dogged by both optimistic hype and some material mistakes. Plenty 162 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:14.360 of promising projects have burned up on the lodge pad 163 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:19.120 as companies hunt for a real world application. In twenty fifteen, 164 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:24.080 Japanese start up Spiber, which uses tanks of genetically engineered 165 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:28.480 microbes to bruise silk proteins, designed a parka in partnership 166 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.000 with the North Face, only to see it suffer from 167 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.720 extreme shrinkage. Spider Silk's tendency to contract as much as 168 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:39.600 fifty percent when wet is an excellent quality for keeping 169 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.519 a web taught under the weight of dew, but not 170 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:47.279 for a winter jacket. A later iteration of Spiber's silk 171 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:50.159 solved the problem, but never made it to mass production. 172 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.039 Craig Biocraft's twenty sixteen contract with the US Army to 173 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:59.120 test its material in bulletproof vests didn't pan out. Airbus 174 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:03.320 teamed up with Jerminise AM Silk, which also brews protein, 175 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:08.879 to experiment with supersilk based composite materials for the aerospace industry, 176 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:14.000 but nothing progressed. Supersilk as a world changing textile has 177 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:17.679 not had much success as a year of As years 178 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.240 of R and D have turned into decades, companies like Spiber, 179 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:25.039 Craig and AM Silk have yet have had to find 180 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:28.720 applications that might provide a revenue stream now. And it 181 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.799 turns out the most right now value of spider silk 182 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.639 derived materials might have nothing to do with how we 183 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:39.240 think about fibers. AM Silk has pivoted toward two applications 184 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.480 with a low barrier to entry, dishwashing and laundry deterchins. 185 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:49.480 Although companies micro produced proteins do not yet make superior fabric, 186 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.679 they can still link together to form a microscopic and 187 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:57.159 non toxic biofilm that repels water keeping dishes and clothes. 188 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:01.279 Spotless dishwashing soap is full of chemicals right now, says 189 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:07.200 Gudrun Vogtentons, AM Silk's chief scientific officer. If you take 190 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:10.080 up the chemicals and add our spider silk protein instead, 191 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.840 you get the same performance, but from a sustainability or 192 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:17.679 an environmental point of view, it's way better. A planet 193 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:20.440 friendly tide pod is not going to save the world, 194 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.519 but it's doable today and advise an R and D 195 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:27.320 department time to keep working on moonshots, which all the 196 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:31.240 companies involved believe are right around the corner. But those 197 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.360 moonshots may be less about the spider silk itself and 198 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:38.120 more about the process of learning to design proteins. With 199 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:43.000 the advancement of synthetic biology and protein engineering technologies, it 200 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:48.360 is entirely possible to design artificial proteins that outperform natural 201 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:53.200 spider silk, says Gong. That's Speiber's proach over the past decade. 202 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.720 It's built a library of proprietary protein designs with amino 203 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:02.159 acid sequences that have no analog in nature and allow 204 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:06.840 for products specific flexibility. Some designs in this library resemble 205 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:11.240 spider silk more closely, while others are closer to silkworm silk, 206 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.919 says executive vice president Kenji Higashi. Tomorrow it might be 207 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:19.519 a better dish detergent, but the new hope for spider 208 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.960 silk lies in revolutionizing human health. One of the quirks 209 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:30.480 of materials science is that the inventions often precede the applications. Teflon, aerogel, 210 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:34.679 and graphene were all stumbled upon by researchers seeing what 211 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:36.639 they could make, and then it was up to the 212 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:39.480 world to figure out what to do with it. That 213 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:42.080 may well be the case with super silk too. We 214 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:44.879 thought we were chasing better bullet proof vests, but the 215 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:48.720 real value lies inside our own bodies. In the case 216 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:52.159 of spider silk, the quest to unlock the secrets of 217 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:55.399 its strength and flexibility has led to a new understanding 218 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.240 of protein structures and how those translate into performance. At 219 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:05.159 the microscopic scale. Beyond fabric recombinant, spider silk proteins can 220 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:12.759 be processed into diverse forms films, hydrogels, sponges, microcapsules, and nanoparticles, 221 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:19.720 says Shimai Ki, who researches spider silk based therapeutics at 222 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:25.279 Suchow University. What once seemed nearly impossible is now becoming 223 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:30.480 technically and economically feasible. The applications being explored would be revolutionary. 224 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:35.240 Spider's silk influenced gels and biofilms can coat catheters and 225 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.159 surgery meshes, reducing infections in blood clots. They can line 226 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:43.440 wound dressings and improved cosmetics. At the nanoscale level, they 227 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.440 become legos, giving gene jockeys the ability to design new 228 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:52.960 molecules one amino acid at a time, forming shapes and 229 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.960 functions that go beyond anything available in nation nature's pharmacy 230 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:01.600 that could revolutionize tissue engineering and drug delivery. The strength 231 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:07.360 and biodegradability of spidroins make them excellent designers scaffolding upon 232 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:11.440 which new ligaments, cartilage, and nerves can grow, and these 233 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:15.360 genetically crafted proteins are extremely well tolerated by the body. 234 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:21.240 Spidrowing nanoparticles already meet most of the critical biomedical requirements, 235 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:26.519 says she. They are biodegradable, bio compatible, safe, and can 236 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.960 be produced under mild scalable conditions for drug delivery. She 237 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.639 is currently working on a new generation of vaccines in 238 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:41.120 which spidrilling nanocapsules could carry the delicate immune system stimulating 239 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:46.679 molecules to their targets and release them at slow, sustained rates. Ultimately, 240 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:50.480 we hope that these silk inspired materials will bridge biology 241 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:54.759 and medicine, said she. Turning one of nature's most remarkable 242 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:59.600 structural proteins into a platform for human health. That transformation 243 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:03.320 will not come tomorrow. Navigating the miles of regulations and 244 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:07.000 clinical trials required for the approval of anything in the 245 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.200 medical industry takes years. But yet again, super Silk's hype 246 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:13.559 has found a second wind, and the payoff could be 247 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:16.839 worth the weight. Until then, the hard working silkworms in 248 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.480 Michigan and China and Vietnam will keep munching and weaving, 249 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:24.640 blissfully unaware that they're pushing science forward with every fiber 250 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:29.640 they spin. How a spider spins its silk, spider's silk 251 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:33.200 owes its special powers to both a unique molecular structure 252 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:38.480 and and arachnid's intricate spinning prosss. Scientists have spent decades 253 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:41.519 trying to replicate the spiders, all natural but not so 254 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:47.079 easy to make super material A spider's strongest silk. Spiders 255 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.160 make seven types of silk, each with varying degrees of 256 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:54.640 stretch and strength and produced by different glands. Dragline silk 257 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:58.880 is the strongest, used for web scaffolding and catching prey. 258 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:03.680 In sce Czia, spider's silk factory. Spider silk production begins 259 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:07.920 with a solution of proteins called spidroins that are acidified 260 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:13.039 and dehydrated, then elongated on demand. Spiders use their legs 261 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:17.359 or gravity to pull the thread from their spinnerets. The 262 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:22.559 secret of spider silk proteins Extraordinarily long spidroins contain two 263 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:27.240 amino acid groups, one coiled for stretchability and another compact 264 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:31.240 for strength. Bundled in a complex matrix of fibrils. The 265 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:36.440 proteins imbue spider silk with its signature traits, making spider 266 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.559 silk minus the spider. The production of spider silk at 267 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:43.559 scale hinges on genetic engineering. Scientists have coaxed a variety 268 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.519 of hosts into making a recumbent version that could unlock 269 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:53.640 breakthroughs in everything from clothing to medicine applications. Textiles from 270 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:57.480 shirts and parkas to bulletproof fabrics to car interior's recumbent 271 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:00.880 silk fiber has been eyed by multiple industries as a 272 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:08.079 fully recyclable and microplastic free textile option. Cosmetics, silk proteins 273 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:10.480 can be added to hair and skin care products to 274 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:15.079 help form a protective surface level shield. In early tests 275 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.960 of facial products, users have reported smoother skin detergents as 276 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.920 a non toxic ingredient indition laundry detergent. Silk proteins repel 277 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:29.160 water naturally and create ultra thin, invisible coatings on dishes 278 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.680 and glasses to prevent residue build up medicine. When used 279 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:38.759 in sutures, silk proteins, which are biocompatible with our immune system, 280 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:42.640 promote cell tissue regeneration. They also can be used to 281 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:47.359 carry drugs to targeted areas in the body. Next an 282 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:51.200 ancient vessel. From an ancient vessel, thousands of pieces of 283 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:56.839 pottery crafted in Campagna in what's now Southernatalie filled the 284 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.720 hold of erect Greek ship. The cargo went down in 285 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:02.720 the world western Mediterranean, only to rise again a couple 286 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:07.279 of millennia later. Thanks to Jacques eve Cousteau, famed oceanographer 287 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.880 and National Geographic Explorer. In nineteen fifty two, off a 288 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:16.599 French islet near Marseilles. Marseilles, his divers launched one of 289 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.759 the world's first underwater excavations, and the breath of the 290 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:24.359 hall was extraordinary. Alongside more than seven thousand ceramic pieces 291 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:28.920 were some two thousand clay jugs called Ampheri once full 292 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:33.079 of wine. They'd belonged Archaeologists later realized to two different 293 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:36.599 ships wrecked at the same site. When Cousteau found a 294 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.759 single jug still sealed, he had the cork scraped away 295 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:43.039 and poured out what a crewmate called a dark brown, thick, 296 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:46.839 lumpy syrup. Upon swigging the dregs of the ancient wine, 297 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:50.559 Cousteau wrote, I tasted all the mustiness and age there 298 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:56.039 is in this world. This article by Brian Kevin next. 299 00:20:56.200 --> 00:21:01.799 Can tik Tok resurrect Scots by Raw Perlin Inside the 300 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:05.920 decidedly modern campaign to revitalize a lost language that some 301 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:10.640 say isn't truly a language. When herkl Derkel went viral 302 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:13.119 on social media a couple of years ago, most of 303 00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:16.000 the people using the phrase had only a fate ideal 304 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.240 of what language it came from, but not Len Penny. 305 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:23.880 Penny as a poet and Scott's language influencer with more 306 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:28.160 than a million followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms 307 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:31.599 Originally from just outside Glasgow, the twenty six year old 308 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.440 appreciates that people connected with herkl Derkel as a fun 309 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:39.400 funny sounding way to say lounge in bed when one 310 00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:42.079 should be up and about, just like how the cozy, 311 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:47.160 convivial concept of piggey from Danish and Norwegian entered the 312 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:51.440 zeitgeist years before. But old fashioned herkl derkel is not 313 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:54.319 a word that most people in Scotland are going to know, 314 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.960 says Penny, partly because it's the linguistic equivalent of a 315 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:02.200 penny farthing and early type of bicycle, and partly because 316 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:05.440 Scotts has been hiding in plain sight even in its 317 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.920 homeland for decades. Lately, however, with the help of young 318 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:13.240 ambassadors and activists like Penny, Scots is making itself known 319 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:17.039 not just on TikTok but in everyday life. Today, Scott's 320 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.119 is spoken by roughly one point five million people, with 321 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:24.400 almost another million having some understanding of the language, which 322 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:27.400 in a country of about five point five million is 323 00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:30.920 no small amount. Last year it was granted official status 324 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:34.400 by the government, alongside Gaelic, which is spoken by some 325 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:38.599 one hundred thirty thousand people. But Scott's still lives in 326 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:43.400 the shadow of English, the dominant language in Scotland, historically 327 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.880 spoken mostly south and east of the Highlands. Scotts was 328 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:52.680 the nation's quasi official tongue, complete with a growing literature, 329 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:55.680 until the union with England in seventeen oh seven put 330 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:59.519 English decisively on top. After that it was considered the 331 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:04.240 language of the uneducated. No matter how beloved Robert Burns Light, 332 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:08.599 Scott's verse was within living memory. You could get corporal 333 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:13.119 punishment for speaking it at school. Even now, Scott's still 334 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.119 carries a kind of hillbilly stigma, pushing back on their 335 00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:20.240 attitude while battling for the hearts and minds, or perhaps 336 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:24.200 the tongues and ears of non Scott's speakers. Is a 337 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:29.039 younger generation of creatives, singers, writers, social media natives and 338 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:32.759 others reviving and reinventing the language for the twenty first 339 00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:36.000 century in their twenties and thirties, hailing from all over 340 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:40.160 the country. They're bringing Scott's into tiktoks and text messages, 341 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:44.440 pop music covers and poetry. This has just all come 342 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:47.920 out of nowhere, says Penny of her own trajectory as 343 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:51.799 she steps out of the BBC Scotland Studios in Glasgow, 344 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.200 where she hosts a four times weekly Scott's inflected radio 345 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.119 show on arts and culture. It's not lost on her 346 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:02.559 that she broadcasts from inside what was once a famous 347 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:07.559 bastion of proper English. During the COVID pandemic, Penny's therapist 348 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.880 advised her to get a hobby. Cross stitching hurt her 349 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.240 hands too much, so she started writing poetry and sharing 350 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.000 it online. One poem, in particular, heart love Letter to 351 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:22.519 her mother and grandmother, part language lesson, went viral within 352 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.119 its lines, and a telesized phrase in English is challenged 353 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:30.160 by its equivalent in Scott's I'm no having children, I'm 354 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:35.240 gonna have wains and ye can ask with a cry 355 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.839 them know what are the names. Penny went on to 356 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:42.119 publish an award winning poetry collection in twenty twenty four, 357 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:45.519 with a follow up volume this past fall, both in 358 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:49.799 a mix of the two languages. Meanwhile, her social media fans, 359 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:53.039 seventy percent of them in the United States hang on 360 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:57.400 her Scott's word of the day. Recent examples include smook 361 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.880 it or a sly crafty person as in an offy 362 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:07.319 smoked wee smote and awfully sly yet insignificant person. And 363 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:12.319 prinkle meaning glitter, as in his e'en eye prinkle, His 364 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:16.279 eyes always glitter, squint and you can see that plenty 365 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:19.559 of Scott's words are close cognates with English ones. But 366 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.759 where Scot's has long been considered a dialect, plenty of 367 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:27.240 linguists insists it's really more a sister language of English, 368 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:32.240 with its own distinct vocabulary, grammar and resonance. That's complicated 369 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:35.039 by the fact that it's not uncommon for speakers to 370 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.240 move between English and Scots. There are different spellings, pronunciations 371 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:43.279 and usages. The Doric Scot's dialect of the Northeast and 372 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:48.680 Aberdeenshire is different to the Scots of Rsher and Galloway, 373 00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:52.720 and different again to Glaswegian Scots, says Emma Harper, a 374 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:59.640 Scottish parliament member who championed Scott's officialization. Penny another active 375 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.480 as off and reflect this interwoven reality, while also challenging 376 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:07.359 listeners to figure certain things out for themselves. Everybody's got 377 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:11.480 their own standard, Penny says. While many Scott's speakers celebrate 378 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:15.079 all this variety, others hope that official recognition will provide 379 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:19.880 a degree of clarity, consistency, and active protection, the kind 380 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:24.000 that will guard against, say a North Carolina teenager who 381 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:27.400 barely knew the language writing half of the entire Scott's 382 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:31.920 language Wikipedia entry in a garbled pseudo Scots for the 383 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:36.400 better part of a decade, as was discovered in twenty twenty. 384 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:42.559 On the other side, some worry that viralities like Herkl 385 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:46.480 dirkl just continue a history of not taking the language seriously, 386 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:51.160 a process of cutesy commodification that Penny links to the 387 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:56.200 tartan t towel and kilt faux identity that's packaged for Taurus. 388 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:00.759 Parliamentarian Harper gives plenty of credit to the new cohort 389 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:05.599 of influencers for helping keep the language well youthful. Young people, 390 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:08.839 like most Scot's code switch on a daily basis, and 391 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:12.200 his social media has integrated itself into their daily lives, 392 00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:14.839 so the code they use online is their day to 393 00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:18.200 day one, which in most cases is Scot's, says Harper. 394 00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:21.240 It's a good example of government matching its actions in 395 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:25.680 legislation with the reality of what's happening in society right now. 396 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:29.160 Thousands of young people using Scots on a daily basis 397 00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:35.279 an ancient language in a very modern context, further proof, writers, musicians, 398 00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:39.119 and artists are taking Scots in new directions. While reading 399 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:42.640 at the recent launch of his debut poetry collection, Gooni. 400 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:47.839 Laswegian poet Michael Mullan thirty, wearing a fabulously decorative suit, 401 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:51.960