Author Archives: loomispw

If it does become viable to mass produce spider-silk using genetically engineered silkworms the implications in the world of materials are staggering.  Spider-silk has a plethora of properties that have a wide range of applications.  Silkworms will, as a domesticated … Continue reading →

Silkworms’ main product, silk, has had a tumultuous past, being the object of perhaps the longest running monopoly in history.  While silk production started in China around 3500 BCE, it wasn’t until 200 BCE in Korea that another culture was … Continue reading →

There are a few differences between wild and domesticated silkworms with most having to do with increasing dependence on humans and increasing silk production.  As well as modifications for increased production, domesticated silkworms have increased tolerance to living together in … Continue reading →

Humans first started domesticating silkworms around 3500 BCE in China, before the first dynasty government.  How silkworm sericulture started is likely that ancient Chinese took notice of the cocoons of wild silkworms on mulberry trees, leading to the deliberate raising … Continue reading →

The evolution of the modern silkworm can be traced through its full taxonomy classification: Animilia Arthropoda Insecta Macrolepidoptera Bombicidae Mori.  As the larvae of moths, silkworms fall under the Order Lepidoptera, the same as butterflies as well as moths.  The … Continue reading →