New Materials For Spider Silk And Cellulose Fiber

From raindrops in the Rocky Mountains to food on our plates, we use plastic to weave an intricate giant net for ourselves.

Plastic is strong, flexible and cheap. But for the earth, it is also a risk of suffocation.

However, a new study from Finland Artaud University and Finland National Technology Research Center shows that there is a way to solve this mess: but with the help of spiders and the help of our environmental hero trees.

In a paper published in this month's issue of Science Advances, scientists claim that a new material has been developed by sticking cellulose fibers from wood to the silk protein in spider web. This solid and flexible material can be better in any way than plastic (except, of course, plugging the earth).

Because this biomaterial is very effective, researchers commend that it can replace plastics in the medical, textile and packaging industries.

"We used birch pulp to decompose it into cellulose nanofibers, and then turned them into a solid skeleton," Pezhman Mohammadi of the Finland State Technology Research Center said in a press release. At the same time, we infiltrated the cellulose network with a soft and dissipating spider silk adhesive matrix. "

It is worth mentioning that in his research, Finland scientists did not use any spider silk, but instead of using artificial DNA to make silk screen with bacteria.

"Because we know the structure of DNA, we can replicate it and use it to produce silk protein molecules similar in chemical properties to silk protein molecules in spider silk," Markus Linder, chief researcher of Artaud University, explained in a press release. DNA contains all of these information.

Nevertheless, let's face it: plastics are not stressed at the moment.

Since 1950s, when these polymers are becoming more and more popular among consumers, the annual output has now increased by 200 times. In 2015 alone, we produced over 3.8 million tons of plastic products.

However, new biomaterials: such as spider silk and tree pulp mixture, and international efforts to reduce disposable plastics, may make us poke holes in plastic packages to make us breathe easier.