1. Silk as a biomaterial

Silk is a natural biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymer produced by two arthropods: the spider and the caterpillar. Silk comes in the form of cocoons produced by silkworms such as Bombyx mori and Anthereae pernyi, or webs produced by Nephila clavipes and Araneus diadematus.

Bombyx mori cocoons are made up of a single silk thread, up to one kilometer long. Most of this thread is made up of two proteins, one hydrophobic, fibroin, and the other hydrophilic, sericin .

Unlike silkworms, it is impossible to breed spiders on an industrial scale. In the 1960s, the U.S. military experimented with spiders: when these individuals are removed...