One final bit of educational material for your reading pleasure:
— Science News • Believe it or not: Spider silk is not just tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel, but its use is being studied for medical purposes: sutures, lattices for growing tissues, nerve cell growth along silk threads and encapsulated medicines. Spider silk has the advantage of not setting off the human immune system. At least 11 genes control spider spinerettes, making spider silk a hard material to replicate. 2008-11-22 .