1.0 INTRODUCTION: Spider silk has long been admired by scientists for its exceptional strength and elasticity, this admiration has led to many years of research to find a similar product that they can produce in series. Due to the cannibalistic and territorial nature of spiders, as well as their inadequate silk production, they are not suitable for commercial agriculture. This report will look at how scientists have genetically modified goats to produce large quantities of spider-like silk for use in industry and will examine some of the issues surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Gram for gram, spider silk is five times stronger than steel. and three times stronger than synthetic materials such as Kevlar. Spider silk is strong enough to stop a bullet at maximum speed, elastic enough to stretch many times its original length, absorb moisture to remain flexible, and effective at dressing wounds and promoting healing (Nexia Biotechnologies). These properties are what make spider silk such a desirable material; It is durable and lightweight and can be used as a replacement for many materials such as steel, Kevlar and fishing line. Spider silk is a protein. When inside a spider it takes the form of a liquid, but once released from the spider's spinnerets it becomes solid. When in a liquid state, the molecules join together to form a larger molecule called fibroin. A single thread of spider silk is in fact made up of many strands, sometimes numbering in the thousands, released together (Appendix: A).2.0 THE ORIGINAL SPIDER-MEN: Jeffery Turner and his team of bio-scientists at Nexia Biotechnologies; along with Randolph Lewis, Ming Xu, and Michael Hinman of the University of Wyoming; they took the genes responsible for producing spider silk...... middle of paper ......ng-tough-spider-silk-goat-milk/story?id=98095 http://www. spiderroom. info/allaboutsilk.html# http://www.mcgill.ca/files/ott/nexia.pdf http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/10/gmo-goats http://modernfarmer. com/2013/09/saga-spidergoat/ http://www.sciencechannel.com/video-topics/sci-fi-supernatural/kapow-superhero-science-spider-silk-gene-goats.htm http://phys .org/news194539934.html http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-16554357 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioSteel http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/ jan/14/synthetic-biology-spider-goat-genetics http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/meet-spider-goat-the-dna-enhanced-web-flinging-nanny-that-may -one-day-knit-your-bones/story-fn5fsgyc-1225867617374 http://www.google.com/patents/US5728810 http://davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2009/09/more-science -necessity on the effects of genetically modifying food crops/