Unveiling the secrets of the world's strongest spider silk.

Researchers have used advanced microscopy techniques to study the internal parts of spider silk without cutting or opening the silk in any way. The spider's silk fiber consists of at least two outer layers of lipids, behind which there are numerous fibrils running in a straight, tightly packed side-by-side arrangement. The fibrils have a diameter ranging between 100 and 150 nanometers and are made up of proteins. Understanding how spiders create such strong fibers is important, but the fibers are also challenging to produce. Researchers are working on producing artificial spider silk using computational methods.