Monday, February 4, 2008

Spidergoat, Spidergoat, does whatever a Spidergoat does...

I am not making this stuff up!!! There are real goats out there that are part spider!!! Okay, so it's only about 1/70,000th of a spider, but still!!! They are using them to get spider silk, which can prove very useful to humans in many ways!!! Check it out here.

Some spider silk facts: It's 5 times stronger than kevlar and only about a third of the weight. It's 3 times stronger than steel (if it were made into spider-silk steel- whatever that is. Anyone finds out, please reply.) And a strand about the thickness of a pencil, and just as long, could stop a 747 in mid flight. Cool huh!

My only fear is this: only 5% of the goats that are put together with this spider gene are able to produce spider silk. What are they doing with the other 95%? Hopefully not milling them together to try and get a Super Spidergoat! HA!

JT & Tea by Joseph T. Gould
 
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