For decades, scientists and entrepreneurs have fantasized about creating lab-grown spider silk. Only a few companies have been able to do it.
or decades, scientists and entrepreneurs have fantasized about creating lab-grown spider silk, which is renowned for its strength and softness. Slowly, a few companies have emerged that are able to do it. AMSilk, a German company founded in 2008, is one of them.
Spider silk without the spiders: AMSilk CEO Jens Klein and chief science officer Lin Römer; a flask of silk powder; a prototype shoe for Adidas. Unlike silkworms, spiders can’t be farmed, because they are territorial and cannibalistic. Proponents of growing spider silk in a lab hope to get the advantages of its strength and softness and also to have an alternative to silkworm silk, which requires the death of thousands of silkworm cocoons. They also hope that lab-grown silk, which is biodegradable, can ultimately replace materials like polyester that are made with petrochemicals and harm the environment.
A core of AMSilk’s business is selling its lab-grown silk gels and powders to cosmetics companies, which use silk additives to give skin products their glow and shampoo its shine. Along with more than $30 million in funding, this gives it the cash flow to pursue riskier projects, such as a deal it signed last year with Airbus to develop a
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Officials warn of measles exposure at Long Beach Airport as California outbreak growsAt least 17 people in California have been diagnosed with measles this year — most of them in Northern California. Those numbers will likely keep going up.
Read more »
China goes all-in on home grown tech in push for nuclear dominanceChina plans to gamble on the bulk deployment of its untested 'Hualong One&q...
Read more »
Breakingviews TV: Going longThe “risk factors” sections in IPO filings are getting positively voluminous. Uber’s tops 35,000 words, and continues a trend that has been going for years. That mostly makes for better-prepared investors, but it also means more homework, explains...
Read more »
We Now Live in a World With Customized ShampooCompanies are personalizing everyday items from sports drinks and vitamins to skin creams and shampoo based on new technology and the data it collects
Read more »
California lawmakers want to ban those little shampoo bottles you get in hotelsCNN News, delivered. Select from our newsletters below and enter your email to subscribe.
Read more »
California bill aims to ban complimentary shampoo bottles found in hotelsA California bill aims to ban complimentary shampoo bottles found in hotels
Read more »
Stratolaunch, the world's largest airplane and built to launch rockets, takes first flightAviation has a new number one in size, as a one-of-a-kind airplane completed its first test flight on Saturday morning.
Read more »
Stratolaunch, plane dreamed up by Paul Allen, just became the world’s largest airplane ever to flyWith the billionaire’s death last year, the aircraft’s future is uncertain.
Read more »
Stratolaunch, the world’s largest airplane, takes first flightThe Stratolaunch is now the largest airplane in the world to fly, with a wingspan measuring 385 feet — wider than a football field is long.
Read more »