Caterpillars and spiders spin silk as a dry fiber at room temperature using nothing more than a few parsnip seeds or dead flies as starting material.
Click play to listen. Recorded on November 11, 2006.
Insects, despite their miniscule brain capacity, produce a staggering diversity of chemical substances useful for combating predators, attracting mates, detoxifying poisonous substances, securing and preserving food, and otherwise exerting control over their environment. Berenbaum, one of the world’s leading entomologists, is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
