The problem with spider silk is that it isn't just a chemical. We can make spider silk. There are plenty of papers where the spider silk proteins are produced b

The problem with spider silk is that it isn't just a chemical. We can make spider silk. There are plenty of papers where the spider silk proteins are produced by bacteria and spun into a fiber. The problem is that this fiber basically behaves like regular silk. Spider silk is partially crystallized and partially amorphous in a semi-disordered pattern that maximizes the toughness of the finished product. The way the silk is slowly concentrated out of solution during spinning in the spinneret is crucial to obtaining the desired properties. There have been attempts to replicate this process, e.g.: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.200803341 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.2008033... However, a scalable design is incredibly difficult to achieve. Frankly, I'd be happy if we could just make regular silk cheaper than the worm fiber.