Silk Protein Photonics

Researchers in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University have used a straightforward, water based extraction method to make pure, ultra-transparent silk films. These films can be patterned with photonic devices, like diffraction gratings and infused with proteins and enzymes allowing biochemically active, cheap, printable optics to be fabricated. Applications to implantable optical sensors are almost limitless. (Disclaimer: I am part of this research group.)

FTA

[dk90406]

I RTFA, and was a little surprised. Obviously this was a press release (and shown as such), but my thoughts were:

• They have discovered something important, but failed to communicate it properly
• They may have something - but it is highly speculative
• If they have something - why chose chose such a bad as bad food? No explanation is presented. Power Source? Needed at all? Processor? etc..
• There might some more interesting applications for this stuff, think of translucent cloth.

I saw you guys are all making fun, but story shows how academia struggles to communicate to the public.
Unfurtunatly /. is not the typical public.