Scientist Mix Spiders with Goat

News.com.au ^ | 6-23--02

[dogbyte12]

LONDON: As comic book hero Spider-Man fills cinemas with his webby adventures, prepare to meet an equally astonishing creation - Spidergoat.

Scientists have combined the DNA from a goat and spider to create an animal which produces silk that is five times stronger than steel. The fibre, derived from the goats' milk, harnesses the huge strength of silk spun by spiders.

The breakthrough could be worth millions because the silkmilk fibre can be used to make body armour which is far tougher than normal bullet-proof vests – while weighing little more than a cotton shirt.

The hybrid goats were created by the insertion of a single gene from an orb-weaving spider into a fertilised goat egg.

The amazing genetically-engineered goats are outwardly normal, but carry the gene responsible for production of a spider silk protein. Each goat is only 1/70,000th spider, but when fully grown the females produce a milk which can be treated to produce a fibre with spider-silk strength.

The animals are believed to be the first commercially-viable creatures made from the DNA of two species.

Nexia, the Canadian biotech company which produced the goats, hopes the fibre – dubbed Biosteel – could take a large chunk of the billion-dollar market in industrial fibres.

[Centurion2000]

Sweet .... now is the tensile strength of this spidergoat silk strong enough to make an orbital cable ?

[dheretic]

We are playing God.

The modern world must be a scary place for luddites...

[weikel]

You would need huge quanities of it to make an orbital cable I think nanotubules derived from fullerenes will be the basis of such material. But Im just an engineering student and will defer to your expertise.

[GummyIII]

I downloaded two Science articles that are in-depth PDF files with color and all about the spider-goats and uploaded them to my website. You can view them through the links below. They are large and take a few minutes to download, but worth it!

Article one

Article two

Here are some other links, also.

Birth of "BioSteel Goats" Marks Major Manufacturing Milestone

Want a job with the spidergoat people?

New spin on spider silk

From a friend of mine: Here is the chart for the spider goat company...Might be one worth keeping an eye on.

[GummyIII]

"who wants to wear armour that smells like a goat?"

Do you wear leather shoes? A leather coat? Do you smell like a cow?

[ladyinred]

Spiders mixed with goat? What is so new about that? Hillary has been in the Senate with DasHOLE and company for quite some time now.

[GummyIII]

I've heard that in the days of saturday morning serial westerns they made cowboy chaps for kids out of goatskin. They were fine until they got wet. When that happened the neighborhood dogs would start barking and following the kids wearing them.

If you read the science articles, they actually filter the proteins out of the milk of the goats and spin the silk themselves. It's very environmentally sound which should make the environmentalists very happy (or very sad 'cause they can't rant). In fact, it looks too good to be true.

[Mad Dawgg]

"The modern world must be a scary place for luddites..."

Not to mention the near impossibility in aquiring Wooden Shoes!

[Mad Dawgg]

"Do you wear leather shoes? A leather coat? Do you smell like a cow?"

Yup I have three fine leather coats (Up Yours PETA) which smell wonderful which brings us back to my Point...

Who would want to smell like a Goat? :-)

[boris]

"The amazing genetically-engineered goats are outwardly normal"

It's their climbing the walls to graze on the ceiling lamps that puts me off a bit.

[GummyIII]

Yup I have three fine leather coats (Up Yours PETA) which smell wonderful which brings us back to my Point... Who would want to smell like a Goat? :-)

Got any fine (and expensive) cashmere sweaters at your house? How about expensive mohair furniture?

[aruanan]

Yes, but wearers of the special silk become obsessed with eating garbage, butting heads, and collecting friends who are willing to venture out in groups or heards.

You mean 'herds', right? Given the feeding habits of spiders, it'll probably be very popular in San Franscisco.

[aruanan]

We are playing God.

Yeah, well, being made in his image, I guess we're bound to.

[dcwusmc]

Interesting article bump!

[Willie Green]

I want a firefly gene so my butt will glow in the dark.
Then when we start having power shortages again, I can moon the eco-nuts who caused them by obstructing the construction of power plants.

[freepsolo]

This goats milk protein and spider gene has been known for over 18 months!

Stop and THINK...

The Hit Movie of this Summer is WHAT... SPIDERMAN!

This is the Liberal Hollywood CRAP that gets publication SOLD on THe NEWS Stand!

Spider+Goat? = Spiderman+Movie?

Most gullible will not know the difference since they went through the Public Education System.
It's just fodder for the stupid masses.

I think there are some (so Called) Freeper who arn't much better than a Low Life Scum Liberal - posting here!

[2sheep]

This is terrible! Goats can now go through, over and under fences. With this contrivance, they will also climb walls and look in your windows. They will no longer ringbark trees, they will climb them and top the crowns. The horror of meddling scientists!

[dcwusmc]

And your post should mean WHAT to me?

[Mad Dawgg]

"Got any fine (and expensive) cashmere sweaters at your house? How about expensive mohair furniture?'

Nope! Cause I don't Want to smell Like a GOat! :-D

[GummyIII]

Nope! Cause I don't Want to smell Like a GOat! :-D

HOWLING!!!