"Provides comprehensive information on spiders and the process of how they make webs"--Provided by publisher.

Text and photographs describe how a variety of spiders produce silk and use it for making webs, trapping insects for food, and for other purposes.

Examines the physical characteristics, life cycle, and natural habitat of various kinds of spiders with emphasis on their ability to extrude silk and weave webs.

"In The Spider Silk Scientists, readers enter Randy Lewis' lab where they come face to face with golden orb weaver spiders and genetically engineered goats, whose milk contains the proteins to spin spider silk--and to weave a nearly indestructible fiber. Learn how this amazing material might someday be used to repair or replace human ligaments and bones, improve body armor, strenghten parachute rope, and even tether an airplane to an aircraft carrier!...