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cover of episode The Secrets of Silk

The Secrets of Silk

2025/4/10
logo of podcast What's Your Problem?

What's Your Problem?
AI Chapters Transcript
Chapters
This chapter explores the unique properties of silk, highlighting its millennia-long history of human use and the natural engineering marvel of the silkworm's cocoon creation. The discussion covers the material's strength, smoothness, and versatility.
  • Silk is one of the most engineered natural materials.
  • The Bombyx Mori caterpillar has been domesticated for over a thousand years.
  • Each cocoon contains almost a kilometer of uninterrupted 10-micron thread.
  • The cocoon creation process is akin to biological 3D printing.

Shownotes Transcript

Fiorenzo Omenetto is a professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University and the director of Silklab. Fiorenzo's problem is this: How do you turn a material people have been using for thousands of years into useful, cutting edge tools that  improve everything from vaccine delivery to food waste?

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