TED2010
Cheryl Hayashi: The magnificence of spider silk
Cheryl Hayashi: 蛛丝奇观
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Cheryl Hayashi研究的是自然界的高性能材料之一：蜘蛛丝。每种蜘蛛最多可吐出7种截然不同的蛛丝。它们是如何做到的呢？Hayashi从DNA层面作了解释，并展示这种超级牢固又极度柔韧的材料能为我们带来怎样的启示。
Cheryl Hayashi - Spider silk scientist
Cheryl Hayashi studies the delicate but terrifically strong silk threads that make up a spider's web, finding startling applications for human use. Full bio
Cheryl Hayashi studies the delicate but terrifically strong silk threads that make up a spider's web, finding startling applications for human use. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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I'm here to spread the word about the
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我来到这里是为了向让世人了解
00:18
magnificence of spiders
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蜘蛛的伟大之处
00:20
and how much we can learn from them.
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以及我们能从它们身上学到多少东西
00:23
Spiders are truly global citizens.
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蜘蛛遍布全球，这点勿庸置疑
00:25
You can find spiders in nearly
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你几乎能在每一个
00:27
every terrestrial habitat.
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陆地栖息地中找到蜘蛛
00:29
This red dot marks
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这个红点标出了
00:31
the Great Basin of North America,
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北美大盆地地区
00:33
and I'm involved with an alpine biodiversity
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我和一些人合作
00:35
project there with some collaborators.
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参与了一个山地生物多样性的项目
00:37
Here's one of our field sites,
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这里是我们的野外场地之一
00:39
and just to give you a sense of perspective,
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你可以看到
00:41
this little blue smudge here,
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这里有个小蓝点
00:43
that's one of my collaborators.
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那是我的合作者之一
00:45
This is a rugged and barren landscape,
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这里虽地势崎岖，土地贫瘠
00:48
yet there are quite a few spiders here.
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但存在相当数量的蜘蛛
00:50
Turning rocks over revealed this crab spider
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翻开岩石就可以看见一只蟹蛛
00:54
grappling with a beetle.
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正与一只甲壳虫搏斗
00:56
Spiders are not just everywhere,
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蜘蛛并非随处可见
00:59
but they're extremely diverse.
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但它们品种繁多
01:01
There are over 40,000 described species
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目前已有超过40000种
01:04
of spiders.
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蜘蛛
01:05
To put that number into perspective,
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根据这个数字
01:07
here's a graph comparing the 40,000
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这里有一张图表用以比较
01:09
species of spiders
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蜘蛛的40000个品种和
01:11
to the 400 species of primates.
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灵长类动物的400个品种
01:13
There are two orders of magnitude more
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蜘蛛的种类比灵长类动物
01:15
spiders than primates.
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多了两个数量级
01:17
Spiders are also extremely old.
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蜘蛛也极其古老
01:21
On the bottom here,
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在图表的底部
01:23
this is the geologic timescale,
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是一个地质年代表
01:25
and the numbers on it indicate millions
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表上的数字所指的是
01:27
of years from the present, so the zero here,
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距今数百万年以前，而这里的数字零
01:29
that would be today.
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代表今天
01:31
So what this figure shows is that spiders
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所以该图表显示，蜘蛛的出现
01:34
date back to almost 380 million years.
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可追溯至约3.8亿年前
01:38
To put that into perspective, this red
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相比较而言
01:40
vertical bar here marks the divergence time
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这条红色垂直轴标记着
01:43
of humans from chimpanzees,
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猩猩演化成人类的时间
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a mere seven million years ago.
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那也不过只有七百万年
01:49
All spiders make silk
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在其生命中的某些时间点上
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at some point in their life.
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所有的蜘蛛都会吐丝
01:53
Most spiders use copious amounts of silk,
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大多数蜘蛛会用到大量的蛛丝
01:56
and silk is essential to their survival
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且蛛丝对于蜘蛛的存活
01:58
and reproduction.
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和繁殖也至关重要
02:00
Even fossil spiders can make silk,
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即使是远古的蜘蛛也能够吐丝
02:02
as we can see from this impression of
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我们在图上可以看到
02:04
a spinneret on this fossil spider.
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这只古老的蜘蛛的吐丝器
02:07
So this means that both spiders
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这就意味着
02:09
and spider silk have been around
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蜘蛛和蛛丝都已经
02:11
for 380 million years.
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存活了3.8亿年了
02:16
It doesn't take long from working with spiders
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研究蜘蛛，你不用花很长时间
02:19
to start noticing how essential silk is
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就会开始注意到蛛丝对于
02:22
to just about every aspect of their life.
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蜘蛛生存的每个方面都十分重要
02:25
Spiders use silk for many purposes, including
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蜘蛛使用蛛丝有多种目的
02:28
the trailing safety dragline,
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包括用拖丝确保其安全
02:30
wrapping eggs for reproduction,
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包缠它们的蛋以利于繁殖
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protective retreats
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撤退时的保护机制
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and catching prey.
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以及捕获猎物
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There are many kinds of spider silk.
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蛛丝种类繁多
02:39
For example, this garden spider can make
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举例来说，这种园蛛能够
02:42
seven different kinds of silks.
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吐出七种不同的蛛丝
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When you look at this orb web, you're actually
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当你看到这种圆形蛛网
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seeing many types of silk fibers.
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事实上，你看到了多种蛛丝纤维
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The frame and radii of this web
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蛛网的骨架丝与辐射状丝
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is made up of one type of silk,
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是由同一种蛛丝织成
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while the capture spiral is a composite
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而螺旋状的蛛丝部分是由
02:56
of two different silks:
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两种不同的丝组成
02:58
the filament and the sticky droplet.
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即单纤维细丝和小滴的粘液
03:01
How does an individual spider
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那么一只蜘蛛是如何
03:04
make so many kinds of silk?
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吐出这么多不同的蛛丝的呢？
03:07
To answer that, you have to look a lot closer
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想知道答案，你必须更加贴近观察
03:09
at the spinneret region of a spider.
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蜘蛛的吐丝器部位
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So silk comes out of the spinnerets, and for
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蛛丝源于吐丝器
03:13
those of us spider silk biologists, this is what
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对于那些像我一样的蛛丝生物学家来说
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we call the "business end" of the spider. (Laughter)
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这就是所谓的蜘蛛的“业务端点”
03:17
We spend long days ...
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我们花了很长时间...
03:19
Hey! Don't laugh. That's my life.
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嘿！别笑！那可是我的人生！
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(Laughter)
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（笑声）
03:23
We spend long days and nights
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我们整日整夜的
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staring at this part of the spider.
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瞪着蜘蛛的吐丝器
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And this is what we see.
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然后我们观察到了这个
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You can see multiple fibers
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你可以看到吐丝器里
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coming out of the spinnerets, because
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吐出了多种纤维
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each spinneret has many spigots on it.
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因为每个吐丝器都有许多栓塞
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Each of these silk fibers exits from the spigot,
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而每一条蛛丝纤维都来自于栓塞
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and if you were to trace the fiber back
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如果循着纤维追溯到蜘蛛本体当中
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into the spider, what you would find is that
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你就会发现
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each spigot connects to its own individual
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每个栓塞都各自连结了一个独立丝腺
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silk gland. A silk gland kind of looks like a sac
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丝腺看起来就像是一个小囊
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with a lot of silk proteins stuck inside.
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囊中充满了蛛丝蛋白
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So if you ever have the opportunity to dissect
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所以如果你曾经有机会解剖
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an orb-web-weaving spider,
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一只圆蛛
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and I hope you do,
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我也希望你有机会这么做
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what you would find is a bounty
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你就会发现
04:03
of beautiful, translucent silk glands.
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它有大量漂亮且半透明的丝腺
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Inside each spider, there are hundreds
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每只蜘蛛体内都有数百种丝腺
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of silk glands, sometimes thousands.
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有时候高达数千种
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These can be grouped into seven categories.
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这些丝腺可以被分为7类
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They differ by size, shape,
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它们大小不一，形状各异
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and sometimes even color.
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有时甚至连颜色也不同
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In an orb-web-weaving spider,
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在一只圆蛛体内
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you can find seven types of silk glands,
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你能找到七种不同的丝腺
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and what I have depicted here in this picture,
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而我在这张图中已把它们一一描绘出来
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let's start at the one o'clock position,
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我们从一点的位置开始
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there's tubuliform silk glands, which are used
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这里是管状丝腺
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to make the outer silk of an egg sac.
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用于制作卵囊的外部
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There's the aggregate and flagelliform silk
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这里是聚状丝腺和鞭状丝腺
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glands which combine to make the sticky
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它们均用于制造蛛网上
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capture spiral of an orb web.
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富有黏性的螺旋状丝
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Pyriform silk glands make the attachment
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梨状丝腺具有黏合作用
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cement -- that's the silk that's used to adhere
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这种蛛丝用于将丝线
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silk lines to a substrate.
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黏合在蛛网的基底上
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There's also aciniform silk,
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还有葡萄状腺丝
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which is used to wrap prey.
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用于捕获猎物
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Minor ampullate silk is used in web construction.
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小壶状腺丝则用于建构蛛网
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And the most studied silk line
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而在这些蛛丝中
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of them all: major ampullate silk.
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最常被研究的是大壶状腺丝
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This is the silk that's used to make the frame
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大壶状腺丝用于制造
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and radii of an orb web, and also
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蛛网的骨架丝和辐射状丝
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the safety trailing dragline.
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以及用于安全警戒的拖丝
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But what, exactly, is spider silk?
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但准确的说，蛛丝究竟是什么？
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Spider silk is almost entirely protein.
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蛛丝几乎全由蛋白质组成
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Nearly all of these proteins can be explained
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其中大多数蛋白质可以用
05:13
by a single gene family,
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单基因家族解释
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so this means that the diversity of silk types
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这就表示我们今日所见的蜘蛛丝分类
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we see today is encoded by one gene family,
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都是由单基因家族编码
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so presumably the original spider ancestor
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所以，我们可以推测，最远古的蜘蛛始祖
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made one kind of silk,
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可能只能吐出一种丝
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and over the last 380 million years,
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后来经过3.8亿年的演化
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that one silk gene has duplicated
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其蛛丝基因被复制
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and then diverged, specialized,
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接着出现分歧化和专门化
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over and over and over again, to get
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这样的过程不断重复
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the large variety of flavors of spider silks
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最终演化成我们今天的
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that we have today.
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各种各样的蛛丝
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There are several features that all these silks
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这些蛛丝有几个共通点
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have in common. They all have a common
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他们的设计都大同小异
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design, such as they're all very long --
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例如都非常的长
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they're sort of outlandishly long
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跟其它的丝质蛋白相比
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compared to other proteins.
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蛛丝蛋白长得有点古怪
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They're very repetitive, and they're very rich
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它们颇具重复性且内含丰富的
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in the amino acids glycine and alanine.
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氨基酸，甘氨酸和丙氨酸
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To give you an idea of what
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为了让你能够想像
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a spider silk protein looks like,
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蛛丝蛋白的样子
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this is a dragline silk protein,
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这是拖丝蛋白
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it's just a portion of it,
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这只是它的一部分
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from the black widow spider.
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是从黑寡妇体内取出来的
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This is the kind of sequence that I love
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这种序列
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looking at day and night. (Laughter)
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我每日每夜百看不厌
06:17
So what you're seeing here is the one letter
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所以你可以在这里看到
06:19
abbreviation for amino acids, and I've colored
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氨基酸仅用一个字母的缩写表示
06:21
in the glycines with green,
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并且我用绿色标明氨基酸
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and the alanines in red, and so
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用红色标明丙氨酸
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you can see it's just a lot of G's and A's.
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所以你们看见了很多G's和A's
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You can also see that there's a lot of short
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你也可以看到有很多短序列基元
06:31
sequence motifs that repeat over and over
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被不断重复
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and over again, so for example there's a lot of
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比如说这里有大量的多聚丙氨酸
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what we call polyalanines, or iterated A's,
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也就是不停重复的A's
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AAAAA. There's GGQ. There's GGY.
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AAAAA。这里是GGQ，这里是GGY
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You can think of these short motifs
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你可以将这些不断重复的短序列
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that repeat over and over again as words,
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想像成单词
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and these words occur in sentences.
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而这些单词会出现在句子中
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So for example this would be one sentence,
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所以，举例来说，这是一个句子
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and you would get this sort of green region
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你会得到这种绿色区块
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and the red polyalanine, that repeats
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和红色多聚丙氨酸的组合
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over and over and over again,
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这种组合会一再重复
07:00
and you can have that hundreds and
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然后你就会在一个蛛丝分子中
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hundreds and hundreds of times within
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得到数百个不断重复的
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an individual silk molecule.
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上述组合
07:06
Silks made by the same spider can have
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相同的蜘蛛吐出的丝
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dramatically different repeat sequences.
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可以有截然不同的重复序列
07:11
At the top of the screen, you're seeing
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在萤幕的上方，你看到的是
07:14
the repeat unit from the dragline silk
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一只花园金蛛的
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of a garden argiope spider.
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拖丝重复序列单位
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It's short. And on the bottom,
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它非常的短，而在底部
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this is the repeat sequence for the
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是蛋壳的重复序列
07:24
egg case, or tubuliform silk protein,
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即管状腺丝蛋白的序列
07:26
for the exact same spider. And you can see
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它们来自同一只蜘蛛
07:29
how dramatically different
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这样你就可以看到
07:31
these silk proteins are -- so this is
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这些蛛丝蛋白有多么迥异
07:34
sort of the beauty of the diversification
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这就是蛛丝基因家族多样化的
07:36
of the spider silk gene family.
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美妙之处
07:38
You can see that the repeat units differ
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你可以看到重复单位长度各异
07:40
in length. They also differ in sequence.
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它们的序列方式也大相径庭
07:42
So I've colored in the glycines again
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所以我再次用绿色标出甘氨酸
07:44
in green, alanine in red, and the serines,
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用红色标出丙氨酸
07:47
the letter S, in purple. And you can see
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紫色的字母S代表丝氨酸
07:50
that the top repeat unit can be explained
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你可以看到顶部的重复单位
07:52
almost entirely by green and red,
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几乎全部可用绿色和红色显示
07:55
and the bottom repeat unit has
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而下方的重复单位
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a substantial amount of purple.
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则有很大一部分是紫色的
07:59
What silk biologists do is we try to relate
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研究蛛丝的生物学家要做的就是试着
08:02
these sequences, these amino acid
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将这些氨基酸序列
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sequences, to the mechanical properties
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与蛛丝纤维的机械属性
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of the silk fibers.
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加以连结
08:08
Now, it's really convenient that spiders use their silk
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现在，因为蜘蛛将丝吐出身体之外
08:11
completely outside their body.
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所以我们的研究变得很便利
08:13
This makes testing spider silk really, really
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这就让在实验室做蛛丝测试
08:15
easy to do in the laboratory, because
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变得非常简易，因为事实上
08:17
we're actually, you know, testing it in air
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你也知道，我们可以直接在空气中测试
08:20
that's exactly the environment that
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因为蜘蛛恰恰是在那样的环境中
08:22
spiders are using their silk proteins.
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使用蛛丝蛋白的
08:24
So this makes quantifying silk properties by
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因此这就让量化蛛丝属性变得非常容易执行
08:26
methods such as tensile testing, which is
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比如基本的拉伸试验
08:28
basically, you know, tugging on one end
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即拉住纤维的某一端
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of the fiber, very amenable.
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会变得非常方便
08:33
Here are stress-strain curves
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这是同一只蜘蛛产岀的五种纤维
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generated by tensile testing
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进行拉伸试验后
08:38
five fibers made by the same spider.
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所产生的应变曲线
08:41
So what you can see here is that
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你可以看到
08:44
the five fibers have different behaviors.
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五种纤维各有不同的反应
08:47
Specifically, if you look on the vertical axis,
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具体来说，垂直轴代表压力
08:49
that's stress. If you look at the maximum
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如果你注意每一种纤维的
08:52
stress value for each of these fibers,
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最大压力值
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you can see that there's a lot of variation,
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那么你就可以看出变异实在太多了
08:57
and in fact dragline, or major ampullate silk,
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而事实上，拖丝或大壶状腺丝
09:00
is the strongest of these fibers.
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是这些纤维里最强韧的
09:02
We think that's because the dragline silk,
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我们认为这是因为拖丝
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which is used to make the frame and radii
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用于制造蛛网的骨架丝和辐射状丝
09:08
for a web, needs to be very strong.
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所以需要比其他蛛丝更加强韧
09:10
On the other hand, if you were to look at
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另外，如果你注意到张力
09:12
strain -- this is how much a fiber can be
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即一条纤维可被延展的程度
09:14
extended -- if you look at the maximum value
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如果你注意到它的最大值
09:16
here, again, there's a lot of variation
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那么，你会再次发现有很多变异
09:19
and the clear winner is flagelliform,
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而延展性最好的是鞭毛状的蛛丝
09:21
or the capture spiral filament.
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即用于捕猎的螺旋状丝纤维
09:23
In fact, this flagelliform fiber can
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事实上，鞭毛状丝纤维可以
09:25
actually stretch over twice its original length.
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延展至超过其原本长度的两倍
09:29
So silk fibers vary in their strength
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所以在长度和延展性上
09:32
and also their extensibility.
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蛛丝纤维是各不相同的
09:34
In the case of the capture spiral,
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以螺旋状丝为例
09:36
it needs to be so stretchy to absorb
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它必须非常有弹性
09:38
the impact of flying prey.
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才能经受住飞行猎物的冲撞
09:40
If it wasn't able to stretch so much, then
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如果它延展性不够
09:42
basically when an insect hit the web,
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那么基本上，当有昆虫落入蛛网时
09:44
it would just trampoline right off of it.
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这些昆虫就能从蛛网上弹开
09:46
So if the web was made entirely out of
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所以如果蛛网全部用拖丝做成
09:48
dragline silk, an insect is very likely to just
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那么昆虫很可能只是
09:51
bounce right off. But by having really, really
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从网上弹开，但是由于有
09:53
stretchy capture spiral silk, the web is actually
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可延展性极佳的的螺旋状丝
09:55
able to absorb the impact
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蛛网就能经受住
09:57
of that intercepted prey.
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被拦截的昆虫的冲撞力
10:00
There's quite a bit of variation within
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在一只蜘蛛可以吐出的纤维中
10:02
the fibers that an individual spider can make.
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存在很多的差异
10:05
We call that the tool kit of a spider.
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我们称之为蜘蛛的工具箱
10:08
That's what the spider has
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那就是蜘蛛与环境之间
10:10
to interact with their environment.
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进行互动所必需的
10:12
But how about variation among spider
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但是不同的蜘蛛之间存在多大的差异呢?
10:14
species, so looking at one type of silk
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是以同一种蛛丝为基础
10:16
and looking at different species of spiders?
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还是用不同的蜘蛛种类來作区分？
10:19
This is an area that's largely unexplored
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这是一片尚未探知的领域
10:21
but here's a little bit of data I can show you.
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但我还是能提供一些数据給各位
10:25
This is the comparison of the toughness
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这是拖丝的韧性比较
10:27
of the dragline spilk spun
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这些拖丝
10:29
by 21 species of spiders.
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取自21种蜘蛛
10:31
Some of them are orb-weaving spiders and
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有些是圆网蜘蛛
10:33
some of them are non-orb-weaving spiders.
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有些是非圆网蜘蛛
10:36
It's been hypothesized that
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有人假设圆网蜘蛛
10:38
orb-weaving spiders, like this argiope here,
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例如这里的金蛛
10:41
should have the toughest dragline silks
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这类蜘蛛的拖丝应该是最具韧性的
10:43
because they must intercept flying prey.
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因为它们必须截获飞行的猎物
10:46
What you see here on this toughness graph
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从韧性图表上看
10:49
is the higher the black dot is on the graph,
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黑点在图上的位置越高
10:51
the higher the toughness.
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其代表的韧性就越大
10:53
The 21 species are indicated here by this
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这21种蜘蛛通过这个系统演化
10:56
phylogeny, this evolutionary tree, that shows
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被标识出来。这个演化树指出了
10:59
their genetic relationships, and I've colored
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它们的基因关系，我用黃色
11:01
in yellow the orb-web-weaving spiders.
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标出了圆网蜘蛛
11:04
If you look right here at the two red arrows,
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这里有两个红色箭头
11:07
they point to the toughness values
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它们显示出络新妇蛛
11:10
for the draglines of nephila clavipes and
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和十字圆蛛的拖丝
11:12
araneus diadematus.
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最具韧性
11:14
These are the two species of spiders
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对于这两种蜘蛛
11:16
for which the vast majority of time and money
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人们使用了大量的时间和金钱
11:19
on synthetic spider silk research has been
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进行人造蛛丝的研究
11:22
to replicate their dragline silk proteins.
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以复制它们的拖丝蛋白
11:25
Yet, their draglines are not the toughest.
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然而，它们的拖丝并非最强韧的
11:29
In fact, the toughest dragline in this survey
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事实上，根据这个调查，最强韧的拖丝
11:32
is this one right here in this white region,
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是白色区域中的这个点
11:35
a non orb-web-weaving spider.
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它属于一只非圆网蜘蛛
11:37
This is the dragline spun by scytodes,
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这是由花皮蛛吐出的拖丝
11:39
the spitting spider.
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花皮蛛是毒蜘蛛
11:41
Scytodes doesn't use a web at all
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它们根本不结网捕猎
11:44
to catch prey. Instead, scytodes
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相反，花皮蛛埋伏在四周
11:46
sort of lurks around and waits for prey
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等待猎物临近
11:49
to get close to it, and then immobilizes prey
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然后通过喷出丝状的毒液
11:52
by spraying a silk-like venom onto that insect.
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来让猎物动弹不得
11:56
Think of hunting with silly string.
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相较于用愚蠢的丝线来捕猎
11:59
That's how scytodes forages.
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这才是花皮蛛的捕猎方式
12:02
We don't really know why scytodes
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我们并不知道为什么花皮蛛
12:04
needs such a tough dragline,
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需要如此强韧的拖丝
12:07
but it's unexpected results like this that make
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但正是这类出乎意料的结果
12:10
bio-prospecting so exciting and worthwhile.
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才让生物勘探如此的激动人心和富有价值
12:14
It frees us from the constraints
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它将我们从想象力的束缚中
12:16
of our imagination.
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解放出来
12:18
Now I'm going to mark on
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现在我将标出
12:20
the toughness values for nylon fiber,
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以下物质的韧性值，包括尼龙纤维
12:23
bombyx -- or domesticated silkworm silk --
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家蚕丝
12:26
wool, Kevlar, and carbon fibers.
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羊毛，凯夫拉纤维和碳质纤维
12:29
And what you can see is that nearly
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你可以看到几乎
12:31
all the spider draglines surpass them.
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所有蜘蛛拖丝的韧性都能超越它们
12:33
It's the combination of strength, extensibility
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正是结合了强力，延展性和韧性
12:37
and toughness that makes spider silk so
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才让蛛丝如此的特别
12:40
special, and that has attracted the attention
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它亦引起了仿生学家的注意
12:43
of biomimeticists, so people that turn
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所以人们转向大自然
12:46
to nature to try to find new solutions.
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以求发现新的解决方案
12:49
And the strength, extensibility and toughness
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而蛛丝集强力，延展性
12:52
of spider silks combined with the fact that
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和韧性于一体
12:55
silks do not elicit an immune response,
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却并不会引发免疫应答
12:58
have attracted a lot of interest in the use
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这一事实引起了人们将蛛丝应用于
13:01
of spider silks in biomedical applications,
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生物医学领域的兴趣
13:03
for example, as a component of
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比如说作为人造腱的成分
13:05
artificial tendons, for serving as
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用以帮助神经再生
13:08
guides to regrow nerves, and for
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作为脚手架
13:12
scaffolds for tissue growth.
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帮助组织生长
13:15
Spider silks also have a lot of potential
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蛛丝也因其反弹道能力
13:18
for their anti-ballistic capabilities.
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而拥有很多潜能
13:20
Silks could be incorporated into body
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蛛丝可被植入体内
13:22
and equipment armor that would be more
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以及装备装甲当中，以让其变得更加
13:25
lightweight and flexible
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轻便灵活
13:27
than any armor available today.
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远胜于今天的任何装甲
13:30
In addition to these biomimetic
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除了蛛丝在
13:33
applications of spider silks,
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仿生学上的应用
13:35
personally, I find studying spider silks
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就我个人而言，我发现研究蛛丝
13:39
just fascinating in and of itself.
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非常的令人着迷
13:42
I love when I'm in the laboratory,
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我很喜欢待在实验室
13:46
a new spider silk sequence comes in.
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研究新的蛛丝序列
13:49
That's just the best. (Laughter)
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那真是再好不过了
13:52
It's like the spiders are sharing
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就像蜘蛛正在与我
13:55
an ancient secret with me, and that's why
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分享一个远古的秘密
13:57
I'm going to spend the rest of my life
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那也是为什么我将倾尽余生
13:59
studying spider silk.
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来研究蛛丝
14:01
The next time you see a spider web,
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下次当你看到一个蛛网时
14:04
please, pause and look a little closer.
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请停下来并走近观察
14:07
You'll be seeing one of the most
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你将会看到人类已知的
14:09
high-performance materials known to man.
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性能最佳的材料之一
14:12
To borrow from the writings
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借用一只名叫
14:14
of a spider named Charlotte,
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夏洛特的蜘蛛的话来说
14:17
silk is terrific.
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蛛丝棒极了
14:19
Thank you. (Applause)
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谢谢
14:22
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Cheryl Hayashi - Spider silk scientistCheryl Hayashi studies the delicate but terrifically strong silk threads that make up a spider's web, finding startling applications for human use.
Why you should listen
Biologist Cheryl Hayashi is fascinated with spiders and their silks, and for good reason. Made of a mix of proteins, spider silks come in thousands of variations; there are over 40,000 species of spiders, with many spiders capable of producing half a dozen types. Some silks have the tensile strength of steel -- and often are much tougher -- while remaining light as air and extremely supple. And spiders use their silk in diverse ways: to make their homes and trap their food, to travel, to court and to protect their eggs.
In her lab at UC Riverside, Hayashi explores spider silk’s genetic makeup, evolution and unique biomechanics (winning a MacArthur “genius" grant for it in 2007). Her work blurs the boundary between biology and materials science, looking for the molecular basis of this wondrous material and exploring how humans might learn from it. Hayashi's work may inspire new biomimetic materials for a huge variety of uses, from biodegradable fishing lines and sutures to superstrong ropes and armor cloth.
Cheryl Hayashi | Speaker | TED.com