A lucky lab accident produces Spider-Man-like silk
3-D printing: A means of producing physical items — including toys, foods and even body parts — using a machine that takes instructions from a computer program. That program tells the machine how and where to lay down successive layers of some raw material (the “ink”) to create a three-dimensional object.
acetone: A chemical produced by the body that is detectable in people’s breath. It’s also an extremely flammable liquid solvent used, for example, in nail-polish remover.
biodegradable: Adjective for something that is able to break down into simpler materials, based on the activity of microbes. This usually occurs in the presence of water, sunlight or other conditions that help nurture those organisms.
biomedical engineering: Combining engineering and biology to aid human health. Professions in this field develop artificial limbs, use biotechnology to produce new drugs and develop models to understand how diseases work. People who work in this field are known as biomedical engineers.
chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.
disperse: To spread, often widely. Plants, for example, disperse their seeds to far off sites by allowing them to ride the winds or survive being eaten by animals that travel great distances.
engineering: The field of research that uses math and science to solve practical problems. Someone who works in this field is known as an engineer.
nut: (in construction) A fastener with a threaded hole. They typically are used along with a bolt to securely hold the surfaces of two things together.
radioactive: An adjective that describes unstable elements, such as certain forms (isotopes) of uranium and plutonium. Such elements are said to be unstable because their nucleus sheds energy that is carried away by photons and/or one or more subatomic particles. This emission of energy is by a process known as radioactive decay.
silk: A fine, strong, soft fiber spun by a range of animals, such as silkworms and many other caterpillars, weaver ants, caddis flies and spiders.
skyscraper: A very tall building.
solvent: A material (usually a liquid) used to dissolve some other material into a solution.
syringe: A plunger-type device used to extract blood from the body or to deliver a liquid medicine through the skin via a needle.
toxic: Poisonous or able to harm or kill cells, tissues or whole organisms. The measure of risk posed by such a poison is its toxicity.
whisk: To move rapidly, often in a circular way.
