You might be surprised to learn that humans still use spider silk to produce certain goods. Don’t worry. It’s not normally used for items that we need on a daily basis. I’m talking about things like bulletproof vests, silk crosshairs for weapons, and even artificial human skin.
While all of that might sound freaky, believe me, it’s a lot freakier for the spider that’s stuck “donating” its silk. The main species that produces usable silk is the golden orb weaver spider. To extract the material, researchers sedate spiders with CO2 and then…well, I’ll let the video below take it from here.
Good Lord, that is terrifying. I’m not usually someone who feels sympathy for spiders, but that just looks horrific and terribly invasive. Still, I guess you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
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