In the middle ages princes and generals wore a “magic” combat clothes thin shirt made of natural silk was worn on the naked body and served as an antiseptic barrier when the inevitable injuries. Today, researchers are interested in silk modified, which is called the material of the future and are going to use it to make a revolution in traumatology.
Scientists from the University of Connecticut to develop a bondage on the basis of silk threads, which securely fasten broken bones. Without the need to drill and put pins and needles, which in itself is traumatic. Silk clips, or loops, in addition, is gradually decomposed and removed from the body in about a year.
Their colleagues from the University Pergoda added caterpillars-the silkworms in the DNA of a protein that triggers a special chemical reaction. It is directed against E. coli – when a thread woven stained in their solution and then illuminated in a particular spectrum, which started the reaction had destroyed 55 % of all germs. It is something like disinfect wounds with concentrated hydrogen peroxide, and in the future in silk thread and cloth you can add components that work as antibiotics to disinfect the wound when the dressing.
The third area of application is the creation of artificial tendons made up of a combination of silk and nanocellulose. The first element is responsible for the elasticity, the second for structural strength, so that such materials can be used in bullet-proof vests. And if this can be implemented, the dream of the subcutaneous armor of man becomes a reality. And if he still can run farther and easier on the new tendons in the legs, super-silk really will be the material of the future.
Source — The Verge