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Science Has Spun Spider-Man’s Web-Slinging Into Reality
When a US research lab accidentally created a sticky web-like substance, it turned to Peter Parker and comic-book lore for inspiration on what to do next.
In Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original 1960s comic books, starting with Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter Parker builds a “little device”, one fastened to each wrist and triggered by finger pressure, to produce strands of ejectable ‘spider webs’. As the acetone evaporates mid-air, the dopamine speeds up the substance's solidifying process, creating sticky, strong spun fibers by pulling water away from the silk—something that would usually take hours. Testing real world conditions, the researchers used the air-spun fibers to remotely pick up a small plastic lab tube floating on water, and a stainless-steel scalpel, partially buried in sand.
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