Scientists mimic Spider-Man's web in groundbreaking discovery

The character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee in 1962, became one of the most recognizable pop culture icons. The superhero, known for his ability to swing through the city using spider webs, returned to popular consciousness thanks to films featuring Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Previously, this character gained fame through Tobey Maguire's portrayal in early 2000s films.

Although many regarded the spider webs as mere fantasy, researchers from Tufts University took on the challenge of turning this fiction into reality. The team of scientists developed technology that allows for the shooting of a liquid substance from a needle, instantly transforming it into a solid fiber capable of adhering to surfaces and lifting objects.

Interestingly, this technology was not the result of a planned experiment. As Marco Lo Presti, an assistant professor at Tufts University, admitted, it all started accidentally during the cleaning of laboratory glassware.

I was working on a project to create exceptionally strong adhesives using silk fibroin. When I was cleaning the glass with acetone, I noticed that a material resembling a spider web started to form at the bottom of the vessel, recalls Lo Presti.

The mysterious fibers are based on fibroin, a protein obtained from silkworm cocoons. The cocoons are boiled and then decomposed into protein components, which can be transformed into strong fibers.

The process of creating these fibers is inspired by nature, which has long been a source of inspiration for scientists. Many animals, such as spiders, wasps, butterflies, and flies, produce silk at different stages of their lives. However, what has been achieved in the laboratory exceeds the natural abilities of animals.

One of the key elements of the technology was the use of a silk fibroin solution combined with dopamine and chitosan, a chemical compound obtained from insect shells. After adding a borate buffer, both the strength and adhesiveness of the fibers increased. Ultimately, the created material can lift objects weighing more than 80 times its own weight.

Although natural spider silk is still about 1,000 times stronger than the artificial fibers developed by Lo Presti's team, the technology has enormous development potential.

Unlike spiders, which need to physically contact surfaces to create their web, we demonstrate how a fiber can be shot from a device to adhere to surfaces and lift an object from a distance, explained Lo Presti.

Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto, director of the Silklab at Tufts University, emphasizes that the inspiration for this technology came not only from nature but also from comics.

This discovery paves the way for new, advanced technologies that could have applications in various fields, from adhesive production to innovative methods of microchip manufacturing. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be able to use comic-book-inspired technologies in everyday life.