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Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Silkworm thread has been turned into superstrong material that surpasses the strength of natural spider silks, according ...

I talked about your question with my friend Allan Felsot. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University. He told me cocoons are mostly silk. But they’re usually made by moths. A butterfly ...

Those precious silk garments in your closet were made by the caterpillar of a fuzzy, white moth — thousands of them. Silkworms spin a cocoon with a single strand of silk up to 10 city blocks long.