GM silk worms make Spider-Man web closer to reality

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16399257


The best of both worlds - scientists want to produce super strong silk in industrial quantities

Writing in the PNAS journal, scientists from the University of Wyoming say that their eventual aim is to produce silk from worms that has the toughness of spider silk.

*** snip

Researchers have tried for years to get the best of both worlds - super-strong silk in industrial quantities - by transplanting genes from spiders into worms. But the resulting genetically modified worms have not produced enough spider silk until now.

*** snip

There are concerns, though, about creating GM worms for industrial applications in case they escape into the wild. But according to Professor Guy Poppy of Southampton University, they would not pose an environmental threat and he believes the benefits would outweigh any risk.

"It's hard to see how a silkworm producing spider silk would have any advantage in nature," he said.

[Ian David]

1. I can't wait to take a ride on The Space Elevator!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

[RandySF]

2. I'm sure I saw a movie about this somewhere.

[phantom power]

3. One thing about nature is...

you can't really predict whether, or how, a new feature gives you an advantage. There's even a term for this: "exaptation"

I'm not really opposed, but let's not pretend bogus confidence in what will or won't happen if something like that escaped into The World.

[Vincardog]

4. Two things are certain if these GM worms are used

1) they will escape
2) there will be unexpected consequences