The 'show why science is awesome' thread:

[ineffablebob]

Spider Drinks Graphene, Spins Web That Can Hold the Weight of a Human

For the study, Nicola Pugno and team at the University of Trento in Italy added graphene and carbon nanotubes to a spider’s drinking water. The materials were naturally incorporated into the spider’s silk, producing webbing that is five times stronger than normal. That puts it on par with pure carbon fibers in strength, as well as with Kevlar, the material bulletproof vests are made from.

Debated putting this in the What Could Possibly Go Wrong thread, but I prefer to be optimistic. Besides:

So far, it doesn’t seem as if the spiders can continue to spin their super-silk without a steady diet of graphene or nanotubes; it isn’t a permanent enhancement.

So that should limit the potential for super-spiders.