Self-strengthening tape junctions inspired by recluse spider webs.

Adhesive tapes are versatile and widely used yet lack adhesion strength due to their tendency to fail peeling, a weak failure mode. A tape with surprising adhesive properties is the recluse spider's 50 nm-thin silk ribbon with a 1 : 150 aspect ratio. Junctions of these microscopic sticky tapes can withstand the material's tensile failure stress of ≈1 GPa.

Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction Paired with High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy for Quantitation and Length Analysis of DNA Length Polymorphisms.

DNA length polymorphisms are found in many serious diseases, and assessment of their length and abundance is often critical for accurate diagnosis. However, measuring their length and frequency in a mostly wild-type background, as occurs in many situations, remains challenging due to their variable and repetitive nature. To overcome these hurdles, we combined two powerful techniques, digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) and high-speed atomic force microscopy (HSAFM), to create a simple, rapid, and flexible method for quantifying both the size and proportion of DNA length polymorphisms.

AFM-based mechanical characterization of single nanofibres.

Nanofibres are found in a broad variety of hierarchical biological systems as fundamental structural units, and nanofibrillar components are playing an increasing role in the development of advanced functional materials. Accurate determination of the mechanical properties of single nanofibres is thus of great interest, yet measurement of these properties is challenging due to the intricate specimen handling and the exceptional force and deformation resolution that is required. The atomic force microscope (AFM) has emerged as an effective, reliable tool in the investigation of nanofibrillar mechanics, with the three most popular approaches-AFM-based tensile testing, three-point deformation testing, and nanoindentation-proving preferable to conventional tensile testing in many (but not all) cases.

Silk Reconstitution Disrupts Fibroin Self-Assembly.

Using atomic force microscopy, we present the first molecular-scale comparison of two of the most important silk dopes, native (NSF) and reconstituted (RSF) silkworm fibroin. We found that both systems depended on shear to show self-assembly. Significant differences in the nature of self-assembly between NSF and RSF were shown.

Brown recluse spider's nanometer scale ribbons of stiff extensible silk.

The silk of the recluse spider features a ribbon-like morphology unlike any other spider silk or synthetically spun polymer fiber. These protein ribbons represent free-standing polymer films with a thickness of about 50 nm. Stress-strain characterization of individual fibers via atomic force microscopy reveals that these ribbons, only a few molecular layers of protein thin, rival the mechanical performance of the best silks.