In the past, a study team from Iowa State University published findings stating spider silk possessed the ability to conduct heat like a metal. These findings were supposed to "...revolutionize the conventional thought on the low thermal conductivity of biological materials." For some reason I don't really think many people think about this, but recently a group of scientists from the University of Basque Country published findings which challenge the past findings. It's on!
Though the original findings reported spider silk to conduct heat as well as the best metals, the second findings did not come even close. The second team took a common garden spider of Europe and tested its conductivity and found it was 300 times less than the original findings. It's very unlikely the difference was caused by the use of different spiders. I mean, unless the first spider was the same spider who bit Peter Parker.
It's surprising the first group of scientists didn't second-guess their findings as biological materials are usually not sufficient for conducting heat. Read more in the article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/Spider_silk_ties_scientists_up_in_knots.asp
Even though spider silk does not have these super qualities, these findings prove how discoveries are constantly changing in the science world. The one world where you are expected to get things wrong! And even though it can be a pain, this is why it's important to record lab procedures so other scientists can repeat the same experiment. Or you could just not record the procedure so you could never be proven wrong. That sounds like the better choice.
I can't imagine why someone would want to study spiders! Grooossss! But I have to say that it's really interesting that changes in scientific discoveries can occur so drastically and completely alter what was once understood to be true. Hey who knows! Maybe that really was the spider who bit Peter Parker! hahaha!
ReplyDelete