Superhero Silk | Nat Geo Photo of the Day

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TL;DR

A researcher extracts silk from a Joro spider, highlighting its strength and potential applications in bulletproof vests, aircraft, and vaccine delivery.

A close-up of two gloved hands extracting silk from a pinned-down black, yellow, and red spider.

Superhero Silk

Hu Wenbo, assistant professor at China's Southwestern University, pins down a Joro spider to extract its silk, in this photo from our March 2026 cover story. Spider silk is five times stronger than steel by weight but completely organic. If mass-produced, it could unlock everything from improved bulletproof vests to ultra-light jet planes to next-generation vaccine delivery.

Justin Jin, National Geographic Image Collection