A unique golden textile

A two-man project to use spider silk is achieved after 4 years

A. A rare textile made from the silk of more than a million wild spiders has gone on
display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. To produce
the golden cloth, 70 people spent four years collecting golden orb spiders from
telephone poles in Madagascar, while another dozen workers carefully extracted about
24 meters of thread from each of the arachnids. The resulting 11-foot by 4-foot textile
is the only large piece of cloth made from natural spider silk existing in the world
today.
B. Spider silk is very elastic and strong compared with steel or Kevlar, said textile
expert Simon Peers, who led the project. Kevlar is a lightweight synthetic fabric
which is often compared to nylon. It is very tough and durable and used in bullet-
proof vests. Spider silk is resistant to wear, tear, and heat and has absolutely no
melting point. But the tensile strength of spider silk is even greater than Kevlar’s and
maintains elasticity, a strand of high-grade steel. Most importantly, spider silk is
extremely lightweight: a strand of spider silk long enough to circle the Earth would
weigh less than 500 grams (18 oz). It is also especially ductile, able to stretch up to
140 percent of its length without breaking, and can hold its strength below -40°C.
This gives it a very high toughness, which equals that of commercial fibers.
C. Researchers have long been intrigued by the unique properties of spider silk.
Unfortunately, spider silk is extremely hard to mass produce. Unlike silkworms,
which are easy to raise in captivity, spiders have a habit of chomping off each other’s
heads when housed together. According to Peers, there’s scientific research going on
all over the world right now trying to replicate the tensile properties of spider silk to
apply it to all sorts of areas in medicine and industries, but no one has yet succeeded
in replicating 100 percent of the properties of natural spider silk.
D. Peers came up with the idea of weaving spider silk after learning about the French
missionary Jacob Paul Camboué, who worked with spiders in Madagascar during the
1890s and 1900s. Camboué built a small, hand-driven machine to extract silk from up
to 24 spiders at once, without harming them. The spiders were temporarily restrained,
their silk extracted, and then let go. Peers managed to build a replica of this 24-spider
silk-spinning machine. It was used at the turn of the century, said Nicholas Godley,
who co-led the project with Peers. As an experiment, the pair collected and restrained
about 80 spiders. When we stuck them in the machine and started turning it, a lot of
them started to spin beautiful gold-colored silk straight onto our machine, Godley
said.
E. But to make even the tiniest significant size, the silk experts had to drastically scale
their plan. Fourteen thousand spiders yield about an ounce of silk, Godley said, and
the textile weighs about 2.8 pounds. The numbers are overwhelming. To achieve their
goal, Godley and Peers began hiring dozens of spider handlers to collect wild
arachnids and carefully harness them to the silk extractors. When they needed people
who were willing to work with spiders, Godley said, because by the end of the project,
the team had spent more than 1 million spider lifetimes. In return, they produced a
beautiful yet absolutely impractical cloth, passion provided by love and obsession.
Once the spiders had been silked, they were released back into the wild, said Godley.
Godley said it takes them about a week to regenerate their silk. We can go back and
get more from the same spiders, he said. It’s like the gift that never stops giving.
F. Of course, spending four years to produce a single textile of spider silk isn’t very
practical for scientists trying to study the properties of spider silk, or companies that
want to manufacture the fabric for use as a biomedical product, or an alternative to
Kevlar armor. Several groups have tried inserting spider genes into bacteria or even
cows and goats to produce silk, but so far, the attempts have been only moderately
successful. Part of the reason it’s so hard to generate spider silk in the lab is that it
starts out as a liquid protein that’s produced by a special gland in the spider’s
abdomen. Using their spinneret, spiders apply force to rearrange the protein’s
molecular structure and transform it into solid silk. When we talk about a spider
spinning silk, we’re talking about how the spider applies forces to produce a
transformation from liquid to solid, said spider silk expert Todd Blackledge of the
University of Akron, Ohio, US, who was not involved in creating the textile.
Scientists simply can’t replicate the efficiency with which a spider produces silk.
Every year we’re getting closer and closer to being able to mass-produce it, but we’re
not there yet. For now, it seems we’ll have to be content with one incredibly beautiful
cloth, graciously provided by more than a million spiders.

Từ / Cụm từ Từ loại Dịch nghĩa Ghi chú, ví dụ

unique Adj độc nhất unique golden textile.
textile N vải, dệt phẩm golden textile.
project N dự án two-man project.
use V sử dụng use spider silk.
achieved V đạt được achieved after 4 years.
rare Adj hiếm a rare textile.
silk N tơ spider silk.
wild Adj hoang dã wild spiders.
display N/V trưng bày gone on display.
produce V sản xuất to produce the golden cloth.
collecting V-ing thu thập spent years collecting spiders.
golden orb spiders N nhện vàng cầu collected in Madagascar.
extracted V chiết, lấy ra extracted thread from spiders.
thread N sợi 24 meters of thread.
arachnids N lớp nhện technical term for spiders.
resulting Adj kết quả resulting textile.
textile N vải the only large piece of cloth.
 Từ / Cụm từ Từ loại Dịch nghĩa Ghi chú, ví dụ
existing V-ing tồn tại existing in the world today.
elastic Adj đàn hồi spider silk is very elastic.
strong Adj chắc, mạnh strong compared with steel.
compared with PhrV so với steel or Kevlar.
steel N thép compared with steel.
Kevlar N sợi Kevlar lightweight synthetic fabric.
lightweight Adj nhẹ Kevlar is lightweight.
synthetic Adj tổng hợp synthetic fabric.
fabric N vải synthetic fabric.
tough Adj chắc chắn tough and durable.
durable Adj bền tough and durable.
bullet-proof vests N áo chống đạn Kevlar used in bullet-proof vests.
resistant to Adj chống lại resistant to wear, tear, and heat.
wear and tear N hao mòn daily wear and tear.
melting point N điểm nóng chảy no melting point.
tensile strength N độ bền kéo tensile strength greater than Kevlar.
maintains V duy trì maintains elasticity.
elasticity N độ đàn hồi maintains elasticity.
strand N sợi strand of steel.
high-grade Adj chất lượng cao high-grade steel.
extremely Adv cực kỳ extremely lightweight.
lightweight Adj nhẹ repeat for emphasis.
strand N sợi strand long enough to circle Earth.
circle V bao quanh circle the Earth.
weigh V cân nặng would weigh less than 500g.
ductile Adj dễ uốn especially ductile.
stretch V kéo giãn stretch up to 140%.
breaking V-ing đứt without breaking.
hold V giữ can hold strength below -40°C.
toughness N độ dai, độ bền high toughness.
equals V bằng toughness equals commercial fibers.
intrigued by Adj bị hấp dẫn bởi researchers intrigued by properties.
properties N tính chất unique properties.
unfortunately Adv thật không may unfortunately, hard to mass produce.
mass produce V sản xuất hàng loạt mass produce spider silk.
captivity N nuôi nhốt silkworms easy to raise in captivity.
spiders chomping off each other’s
chomping off V cắn đứt
heads.
housed together V nuôi chung when housed together.
replicate V tái tạo replicate tensile properties.
apply V áp dụng apply to medicine and industries.
 Từ / Cụm từ Từ loại Dịch nghĩa Ghi chú, ví dụ
succeeded V thành công no one succeeded in replicating.
weaving N/V dệt weaving spider silk.
idea N ý tưởng idea of weaving silk.
missionary N nhà truyền giáo French missionary Camboué.
worked with V làm việc với worked with spiders.
built V xây dựng built small machine.
hand-driven machine N máy quay tay hand-driven silk machine.
extract V rút, chiết extract silk from spiders.
harming V-ing làm hại without harming them.
temporarily Adv tạm thời spiders temporarily restrained.
restrained V giữ lại restrained to extract silk.
let go PhrV thả ra then let go.
managed to V xoay sở managed to build replica.
replica N bản sao replica of machine.
silk-spinning
N máy kéo tơ
machine
used V được sử dụng was used at turn of century.
turn of the century N đầu thế kỷ
co-led V đồng dẫn dắt co-led project with Peers.
experiment N thí nghiệm as an experiment.
collected V thu thập collected about 80 spiders.
restrained V giữ restrained spiders.
stuck V cho vào stuck them in machine.
started V bắt đầu started turning it.
spin V quay tơ spiders started to spin silk.
significant Adj đáng kể tiniest significant size.
drastically Adv mạnh mẽ drastically scale plan.
scale V thay đổi quy mô scale their plan.
yield V tạo ra 14,000 spiders yield an ounce.
đơn vị khối lượng
ounce N an ounce of silk.
(~28.35g)
weighs V nặng textile weighs about 2.8 pounds.
overwhelming Adj choáng ngợp numbers are overwhelming.
achieve V đạt được achieve their goal.
hiring V thuê began hiring dozens.
dozens N hàng tá dozens of spider handlers.
handlers N người thu bắt spider handlers.
harness V buộc, khai thác harness them to extractors.
extractors N máy chiết silk extractors.
willing Adj sẵn sàng people willing to work.
spent V đã tiêu tốn team spent over 1 million lifetimes.
 Từ / Cụm từ Từ loại Dịch nghĩa Ghi chú, ví dụ
lifetimes N vòng đời spider lifetimes.
impractical Adj không thực tế beautiful yet impractical cloth.
passion N đam mê passion provided by love.
obsession N ám ảnh love and obsession.
released V thả released back into wild.
regenerate V tái tạo takes a week to regenerate silk.
gift N món quà gift that never stops giving.
spending V-ing tiêu tốn spending 4 years impractical.
practical Adj thực tế not practical for scientists.
study V nghiên cứu study properties of silk.
manufacture V sản xuất companies want to manufacture fabric.
inserting V-ing cấy inserting spider genes.
bacteria N vi khuẩn inserting genes into bacteria.
moderately Adv ở mức vừa phải moderately successful.
protein N chất đạm liquid protein in silk.
gland N tuyến gland in abdomen.
abdomen N bụng (nhện) gland in abdomen.
spinneret N cơ quan tạo tơ use spinneret to spin.
apply V áp dụng spiders apply force.
rearrange V sắp xếp lại rearrange molecular structure.
molecular structure N cấu trúc phân tử
transform V biến đổi transform into solid silk.
spinning N/V quay tơ spider spinning silk.
forces N lực apply forces to produce silk.
expert N chuyên gia spider silk expert Blackledge.
efficiency N hiệu suất replicate efficiency of spiders.
replicate V tái tạo scientists can’t replicate process.
getting closer V tiến gần hơn every year getting closer.
mass-produce V sản xuất hàng loạt mass-produce spider silk.
content with Adj hài lòng với content with one cloth.
incredibly Adv cực kỳ incredibly beautiful cloth.
graciously Adv tử tế, hào phóng graciously provided by spiders.