This is news that has been making the rounds a lot in recent days. Chinese scientists have developed a revolutionary transgenic silk with extremely resistant threads. How so? That's right. Silk, which has fascinated us since the dawn of time, has now become even more incredible in the 21st century. It's taken a quantum leap. Chinese scientists have managed to combine the properties of ancient silk with the differentials of spider silk. Is that right? That's right.

The spider produces silk with incredible qualities, but it just happens to be a bit rebellious, whereas the silkworm is very friendly, very kind, and has been a domesticated insect for centuries. So what did the scientists manage to do? They took the spider's silk and put it in the silkworm's body, making it produce a silk thread that is the spider's silk. So they've combined the useful with the pleasant and created a thread that's very light and sustainable, and also much stronger than steel itself - kevlar, which is well known for being used in bulletproof vests.

Now, how was this resistance measured? That's the question that has been asked by experts on the subject. There is this question. They also say that this innovation will be very useful, especially in the field of medicine. For those who don't know, the silkworm is a plant, a factory for producing silk, and many scientists around the world are studying its genetics, even to modify it, introducing new characteristics, such as fluorescence, putting a gene from living water, and now they've managed to talk about putting the spider gene into the silkworm.

Apart from fashion, of course, which we know very well, silk is present in the fuselage of aeroplanes, in parachutes, but also in sutures, in the seams made by doctors in surgery, to sew up organs, and more recently, it has also been developed as a bone matrix for transplants. This is because silk fibre is very compatible with the human body. So this is marvellous, an incredible opportunity for healthcare, for saving lives.

Now one question I would also raise is the fact that this research is being carried out by scientists from all over the world. I remember well that when I was researching this subject in 2019 for my master's thesis in Lyon, France, I interviewed Professor Bernard Mauchamp. He is now an old man, but he said that all his life he had studied this question of spider silk applied to the silkworm because there are other animals that produce silk, not just our beloved bombyx mori. It turns out that it's the only one that can be domesticated and is therefore useful to all of us.

It's important to emphasise, however, that silk from the silkworm is also highly resistant. Silk thread is stronger than steel wire of the same diameter, and that's a true statement. Now, would you wear a ballistic waistcoat with spider thread? The question remains. There's a lot more to come on this subject.