A new spin on silk: Silkworms in Singapore are weaving cocoons
in brilliant colors. A team at the country’s Institute of
Materials Research and Engineering, part of the government’s
lead agency for science and technology, is hoping to do away
with the laborious and water-intensive silk-dyeing process by
feeding domesticated silkworms (Bombyx mori) fluorescent
molecules mixed into their natural diet of mulberry powder. The
worms’ silk glands take up the dye and incorporate it into the
silk fibers they produce, lead author Natalia C. Tansil says.
The luminescent silk, described in a recent online edition of
Advanced Materials, also has potential applications for tissue
engineering because it allows a clear—and bright—way to monitor
scaffolds implanted to rebuild tissue or bone. More research is
needed for this biomedical application, but Tansil is hopeful
that a textile product will be available within a few years.