Friday 10 June 2011

Future uses of silk

Silk Material Science
I came across this field of Silk material science a few weeks ago. When i read the articles and reports on some of the amazing stuff coming from TUFTS University, i had to share it with the world.

The main person behind this research:


Background
Fiorenzo Omenetto is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and leads the laboratory for Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and Biophotonics at Tufts University and also holds an appointment in the Department of Physics. Formerly a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining Tufts, his research is focused on interdisciplinary themes that span nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), optofluidics and biopolymer based photonics. He has published over 100 papers and peer-review contributions across these various disciplines.
Since moving to Tufts at the end of 2005, he has proposed and pioneered (with David Kaplan) the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics and high-technology applications. This new research platform has recently been featured in MIT's Technology Review as one of the 2010 "top ten technologies likely to change the world."

Read more about his research by clicking the link here. They are specifically interested in engineered and biomimetic optical materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers) and novel/unconventional organic, sustainable optical materials for photonics and optoelectronics.

In particular, there is close collaboration with their own biopolymer expert, they have pioneered silk optics and are re-inventing silk as a green material for photonics and high technology applications.

TED Talks video

The video below shows Fiorenzo Omenetto  who shares 20+ astonishing new uses for silk, one of nature's most elegant materials -- in transmitting light, improving sustainability, adding strength and making medical leaps and bounds. On stage, he shows a few intriguing items made of the versatile stuff.


I think we have a promising future ahead of us, we need to spend more effort and time into research that could revolutionize the world we live in. Tell me what you think?

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