Spider-Man couldn’t have chosen a better natural material to mimic when he chose spider silk. It’s nature’s super-material, surpassed only by the teeth of a little limpet. Arachnid silk is also something of a mystery — we know what it’s made of and where it comes out of a spider (the spinnerets), but not how the proteins that make up the silk position themselves when forming silk.

In my latest Because Science, I’m talking about the science of spider silk, and how Spider-Man could make it even stronger, featuring a recent study where we sprayed spiders down with our own super-materials.

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