Even with the advent of many synthetic imitations, proper silk remains a highly sought after material.
It's very strong, it's soft, very light, and looks absolutely beautiful. The strength and lightness of silk make it particularly good in making parachutes, as it can easily be folded away. It can also be used to make beautiful clothes.
There's just one catch, which is that it takes a lot to make it:
Many people will be aware that silk comes from a creature called the 'silk worm'.
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While this creature does exist, it's not actually a worm in the true sense, but a caterpillar, specifically that of the Bombyx Mori, or Silk Moth.
The moths themselves look rather unassuming, but there is one thing about these creatures which has set them apart from other types of moth.
Silk Worms only eat the leaves of mulberry trees, so once they hatch they are fed up on mulberry leaves until they grow to full size.
They then build a cocoon ready to pupate into their adult form.
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It's this part of the life cycle which is important, as the pupa itself is made up of a long thread which the caterpillar spins into the cocoon. This is silk!
To extract the silk, the cocoons are boiled in water, which softens the material sticking the silk thread together and allows it to be unravelled.
From there it can be spun into thicker threads and woven into fabrics for use in clothes, bags, parachutes, and all manner of applications.
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Needless to say, the larvae themselves do not survive this process, but they are not put to waste, and are actually eaten in parts of India, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea.
This is both as by product of silk production, or just as a dish in themselves.
And people were impressed.
One person wrote: "How did humans even get to that point? Like who looked at that and thought hmmm we could make cloths out of that stuff"
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Another replied: "Never realized the worms would be killed in the process. Kinda sad now."
A third said: "My dumb brain though it was giant pizzas at first."
While Silk Worms are the most commonly produced form of silk, and lend themselves best to the levels of production needed for large quantities of fabric, they're not the only animal which produces silk.
There are of course spiders. And while spider silk is very strong, no one has figured out a way to farm spiders to make lots of silk, so spider silk is used in specialist applications.
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There are also, rather surprisingly, mussels which produce silk. That's right, those delicious bivalves which can be served with shallots, garlic, and white wine can produce silk.
Or at least, one species native to the Mediterranean can, and it's called 'sea silk'.
Topics: News, World News