Comments on: Comments on 18594

Post number 18594

RylandDotNet — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 12:45:34 -0800

They're farther along than I thought... You may have heard about Nexia Biotechnology, who have put spider genes into goats to get milk with spider silk protein in it. I thought it was still in the research phase, but Nexia have apparently gone to market with the stuff. They've signed agreements with several manufacturers to produce spider silk protein-based products such as lightweight ballistic armor (like Kevlar, only lighter and non-toxic to produce) for the armed forces and super-strong sutures and prosthetic ligaments for medical supply companies.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 14:55:11 -0800

Okay, I wonder how long it will take PETA to jump on this one...

By: frenetic

frenetic — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 15:56:25 -0800

[ joke about adding spider genes to PETA members ]

By: UnReality

UnReality — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 18:03:22 -0800

Most of the jokes have already been made here in the earlier discussion. Given that the NY Times article linked there was posted two weeks after the Washington Post article linked here, I'd have to say this probably a double-post. Oh, and just to be a grammar nazi, it's further along than you thought.

By: RylandDotNet

RylandDotNet — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 18:15:47 -0800

I searched for "spider silk"... I guess that's what I get for not obsessively reading every single post every day.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 18:29:16 -0800

[fwiw you'd have turned up the link if you'd selected "in the past year" rather than the default "in the past month" in the search doodah]

By: o2b

o2b — Sun, 21 Jul 2002 20:10:40 -0800

i keep imagining goats hanging upsidedown in the corner of my house.

By: UnReality

UnReality — Mon, 22 Jul 2002 06:03:52 -0800

Obsessively? Nah. Just a good memory. I don't even really care that this is a double-post. It's an interesting enough topic to merit further discussion. But there really isn't much, if any, new information linked by this post.