A protein in the silk of the giant golden orb-weaver spider (Nephila pilipes) allows it to heal when wet Benambot/iStockphoto/Getty Images
A synthetic material made from a protein in spider silk and laced with graphene can rapidly repair itself and form healable electrical circuits.
Hsuan-Chen Wu at the National Taiwan University and his colleagues collected silk from giant golden orb-weaver spiders (Nephila pilipes) and dissolved it in a chemical called hexafluoroisopropanol.
They dried the solution to create a thin film and used a razor blade to make a small cut in it, about 30 micrometres wide. When they added a…
