{"id":382,"date":"2017-01-06T08:19:14","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T08:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=382"},"modified":"2017-01-06T08:19:14","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T08:19:14","slug":"a-synthetic-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/","title":{"rendered":"A Synthetic Thread"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gossamer of human life<\/p>\n

Sways gently in a passing breeze.<\/p>\n

A whisper on a callous knife –<\/p>\n

The gossamer of human life.<\/p>\n

You take away the sting of strife,<\/p>\n

With artificial growth to please.<\/p>\n

The gossamer of human life<\/p>\n

Sways gently in a passing breeze.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Nature\u2019s bandages (Photo Credit: TGoeller, via Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a Triolet<\/a>, inspired by recent research<\/a> into the development of antibiotic synthetic spider silk.<\/p>\n

Spider silk is highly biocompatible (meaning that it is unlikely to cause an allergic reaction), and possesses natural antiseptic and antifungal\u00a0properties that can help to keep wounds clean and free of infection. For this reason, it has long been used for medicinal purposes; for example, the Ancient Greeks placed spider webs over their wounds to stem the bleeding.<\/p>\n

A group of researchers have now demonstrated that spider silk can be artificially synthesised by E. coli bacteria in the lab. They have also shown that this synthetic silk can be further enhanced with additional molecules such as antibiotics or fluorescent dyes –\u00a0attached via a process known as ‘click-chemistry.’ This process means that artificially produced spider silk can be altered to increase its potential for usage in wound healing and tissue regeneration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An audio version of this poem can be heard here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gossamer of human life Sways gently in a passing breeze. A whisper on a callous knife – The gossamer of human life. You take<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,29,2,3,284,285,91],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-poems","tag-health","tag-nature","tag-poetry","tag-science","tag-silk","tag-spider","tag-wildlife","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","no-featured-image-padding","resize-featured-image"],"yoast_head":"\nA Synthetic Thread - The Poetry of Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Synthetic Thread\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The gossamer of human life Sways gently in a passing breeze. A whisper on a callous knife – The gossamer of human life. You take\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Poetry of Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"headline\":\"A Synthetic Thread\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":224,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Health\",\"Nature\",\"poetry\",\"science\",\"silk\",\"spider\",\"Wildlife\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science Poems\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2017\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Synthetic Thread - The Poetry of Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Nature\u2019s bandages (Photo Credit: TGoeller, via Wikimedia Commons).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/382\\\/a-synthetic-thread\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Synthetic Thread\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Poetry of Science\",\"description\":\""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\",\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Illingworth\"},\"description\":\"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.samillingworth.com\\\/\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/pub\\\/sam-illingworth-dr\\\/21\\\/514\\\/90b\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/author\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Synthetic Thread - The Poetry of Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Synthetic Thread","og_description":"The gossamer of human life Sways gently in a passing breeze. A whisper on a callous knife – The gossamer of human life. You take","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/","og_site_name":"The Poetry of Science","article_published_time":"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sam Illingworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Illingworth","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/"},"author":{"name":"Sam Illingworth","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"headline":"A Synthetic Thread","datePublished":"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/"},"wordCount":224,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","keywords":["Health","Nature","poetry","science","silk","spider","Wildlife"],"articleSection":["Science Poems"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2017","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/","name":"A Synthetic Thread - The Poetry of Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-06T08:19:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"Nature\u2019s bandages (Photo Credit: TGoeller, via Wikimedia Commons)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/382\/a-synthetic-thread\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Synthetic Thread"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/","name":"The Poetry of Science","description":""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed","name":"Sam Illingworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam Illingworth"},"description":"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.samillingworth.com\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/sam-illingworth-dr\/21\/514\/90b"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/author\/thepoetryofscience\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/1024px-Spider_web_with_dew.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}