Harnessing the Leavings of Bugs
Yes, today is another Great Junk Creators post. I have notice, and you may have as well (if you follow the strange patterns in my blog–it’s probably like a train wreck, you just can’t look away, right?) that many of the “Great Junk Creators” I feature cannot be tied to one particular person. That’s just fine with me–I’ll praise the lot of ‘em.
I think that I would not have noticed how useful the gossamer fibers from insects and arachnids were–I am certain I would have either swept them out of my house, or just left them there (I had to add the second one because I have a sort of you-don’t-bother-me-and-I-won’t-bother-you attitude about the little guys). But someone, somewhere (or, more likely, someones somewheres) decided that they might just try using it for other things. As with many other of my posts, I have foot notes to indicate where I got my information–it sometimes helps the flow of a sentence (not that I don’t interrupt enough with less important things–case in point).
Now, many of you might be thinking of silk from silk worms…me too. Here some history on that:
Silk is a natural proteinfiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance for which silk is prized comes from the fibers’ triangular prism-like structure which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.*
Even more interesting, and something I found out while writing this post–Europeans may have developed their own silk before they started trading for it with China:
There is some evidence that small quantities of wild silk were already being produced in the Mediterranean area and the Middle East by the time the superior, and stronger, cultivated silk from China began to be imported.**
An animal that perhaps you didn’t think about for clothes or fishing (fishing???) is spider webing or silk (Look out Spiderman! One more reason for them to catch you and study you in a lab.) here’s part of the scoop on spider webbing being reused:
Peasants in the southern Carpathian Mountains used to cut up tubes built by Atypus [a type of spider] and cover wounds with the inner lining. It reportedly facilitated healing, and even connected with the skin. This is believed to be due to antiseptic properties of spider silk (which is made of protein). Some fishermen in the indo-pacific ocean use the web of Nephila [another spider type] to catch small fish. Spider silk, normally that of the golden orb spider, is occasionally harvested and spun into usable textiles. Due to the difficulty of the process, the resulting fabric is invariably extremely expensive, and is generally utilized in fine couture.
The silk of Nephila clavipes [yet another type of spider] has recently been used to help in mammalian neuronal regeneration.**
I know that most people love silk–I even have a few silk ties–but the part about spider webs used as fishing line makes my day. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to do that (Yes, the afore mentioned Spiderman probably could, but he isn’t real and–close your eyes, kids–neither is the Easter Bunny).
Thank you First Silk Makers–you’ve done us proud!
*Used from the Wikipedia article: Silk (or you can paste http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk)
**Hill, John E. (2003), The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu (Referenced from the above Wikipedia Article: Silk)
***Used from the Wikipedia article: Spider Silk (or you can paste http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_silk)
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