Now, Lewis and other scientists say that silk is so strong, it could be used in advances in artificial ligaments, surgical sutures, and hernia meshes. While other spider threads rely on one ...

Phan Thi Thuan's family have been making silk for generations, growing and harvesting the threads from silkworms themselves to create luxury garments. But making lotus silk is different.

At the time, raw silk became the country's largest export, as the silk industries in France and Italy had been hit by an epidemic of silkworm disease. At one point, Japan was the world's biggest ...