Golden Fiber Worn by Emperors Resurrected After 2,000 Years
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
One of the most prized materials of antiquity—the luxurious "golden fiber of the sea" that was reserved for the likes of Roman emperors—has been resurrected after 2,000 years.
Often proposed as the inspiration for the "Golden Fleece" of Greek myth, sea silk is made from the "byssus" threads secreted by the pen shell Pinna nobilis, a large species of clam that is native to the Mediterranean, to anchor it to rocks on the seafloor.
Sea silk was valued for being lightweight, warm and finer than regular silk, but also for its iridescent, golden color that wouldn't fade.
A sample of the new sea silk.
A sample of the new sea silk.
POSTECH
Ecological decline, overfishing and marine pollution, however, have driven P. nobilis into endangered status, with harvesting of the clam has been banned and the art of spinning byssus thread now limited to but a few individuals.
Now, however, professor Dong Soo Hwang of South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology and colleagues have spun sea silk from the "waste" byproduct of a commercially farmed shellfish—and revealed the secret of its lasting color.
In their study, Hwang and colleagues focused on another "pen shell" species, Atrina pectinata, which is cultivated off of the coast of Korea for food.
Just like its endangered cousin P. nobilis, A. pectinata secretes byssus threads to anchor itself to the sea floor.
The researchers determined that these threads are both chemically and physically similar to those produced by P. nobilis—and, moreover, can be processed to recreate golden sea silk.
Analysis of this material has revealed what gives sea silk its distinctive golden hue and why the color is so resistant to fading over time.
Rather than being the result of some form of dye, the golden sheen of sea silk is inherent, a form of "structural coloration" derived from the way light reflects off its nanostructures. The same phenomenon can also be seen at play in the iridescent surfaces or soap bubbles and on butterfly wings.
Pictured: a pen shell, both closed (left) and open (right), showing the byssus from which the material for the sea silk is taken.
Pictured: a pen shell, both closed (left) and open (right), showing the byssus from which the material for the sea silk is taken.
POSTECH
In the case of sea silk, the structural coloration come from the layering of a spherical protein called photonin—one that becomes more vivid the more orderly the protein arrangement. The result is a coloring that is highly stable.
"Structurally colored textiles are inherently resistant to fading," said Hwang in a statement.
"Our technology enables long-lasting color without the use of dyes or metals, opening new possibilities for sustainable fashion and advanced materials."
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about sea silk? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Choi, J., Im, J.-H., Kim, Y.-K., Shin, T. J., Flammang, P., Yi, G.-R., Pine, D. J., & Hwang, D. S. (2025). Structurally Colored Sustainable Sea Silk from Atrina pectinata. Advanced Materials. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202502820
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
8 hours ago
- Miami Herald
‘Dangerous predator' — 350 million years old — is new species in Canada creekbed
On an inner beach in Nova Scotia, layers of stone and sediment are battered by water. The area is susceptible to the extreme tides in the Bay of Fundy, pulling anything on the surface out to sea, possibly lost forever. For centuries, researchers, geologists and paleontologists have studied Blue Beach because of its abundant fossil record, and in recent years they have worked to start collecting, preserving and categorizing the bones found there. Researchers Chris Mansky and Sonja Wood founded the Blue Beach Fossil Museum as part of this mission, and now their work has led to the discovery of a new prehistoric species. Wood, who died last year, is credited with finding a jaw bone for a previously undescribed species in a study published June 18 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 'She (a wheelchair user) was out with Chris along the road at Blue Beach when she got a good feeling that a fossil would be found in the nearby creek,' Conrad Wilson, a Ph.D. candidate at Carleton University and lead author on the study, told McClatchy News in an email. 'She pointed Chris down the rocky embankment into the creek bed and that's where he found the fossil.' The jaw is long and curved and teeth protrude from the bone, according to the study. The teeth near the back of the jaw were conical and nearly vertical, while those near the front were strongly curved backward in a hook-like structure The jaw was identified as a species of actinopterygian, or predatory ray-finned fish, a group that is 'hugely important today,' Wilson said. 'Today, they include more than 50% of all vertebrates and pretty much any fish that is fished commercially, and range from sturgeon to tuna,' Wilson said. '... This one was close to 3 feet long and is strikingly different from its contemporaries because of the curvature of its jaws and the size and anatomy of its fangs.' Each type of tooth served a different purpose in making the fish a 'dangerous predator,' Wilson said. Hooked teeth at the front of the jaw would capture the fish's prey in their mouth, holding them in while the pointed fangs in the back could 'pierce' the creature and 'chop it up,' according to Wilson. This is the earliest record of this kind of dentition in ray-finned fishes, appearing about 350 million years ago, Wilson said. The species was named Sphyragnathus tyche, combining Greek words 'sphyra,' meaning hammer and 'gnathus,' meaning jaw for the genus, according to the study. The species name, Tyche, refers to the Greek goddess of fortune for 'the fortunate circumstances of the fossil's discovery.' Aside from a distinction as a new species, the hammer jaw fish also tells researchers about how all ray-finned fish fared after a catastrophic event. Lots of species were lost at the end of the Devonian period, which ended about 358.9 million years ago, to a mass extinction and the diversity of fish declined, Wilson wrote in a June 24 article published in The Conversation. 'One point of debate revolves around how actinopterygians (ray-finned fishes) diversified as the modern vertebrate world was born — whether they explored new ways of feeding or swimming first,' Wilson wrote. By noting and analyzing the unique teeth, researchers suggest the group of fish focused first on changing their feeding strategy evolutionarily, instead of adapting their swimming, according to Wilson. 'The fossils are telling us about what the fish existing right after a mass extinction looked like,' Wilson told CBC News. '... The beach where this fossil was discovered tells us … this is a group of animals that is doing well, pretty quickly, after a mass extinction.' Blue Beach is on the inner shore of Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast. The research team includes Wilson, Mansky and Jason S. Anderson.
Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Newsweek
REVIEW: Jurassic World Rebirth Is Filled With Old School Movie Magic
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Summer 2025 has its first hit courtesy of Gareth Edwards, who has filled his Jurassic World: Rebirth with dazzling movie magic that sinks into your heart and reminds you of why we go to the movies. The film opens on a scene 17 years before the main narrative of Jurassic World: Rebirth, on an island home to a lab where experiments on massive prehistoric creatures occur. When one goes awry, a chilling opening sequence ensues, which sets us on the path to Jurassic World: Rebirth, where cities are riddled with ginormous creatures and travel to equatorial regions is banned. Among the chaos is Rupert Friend, playing Martin Krebs, who's assembling a group to take to the scene of the devastation in hopes of extracting DNA from the creatures roaming the island to fund his next medical breakthrough. He recruits Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), who then brings Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) onto the expedition. L to R: Jonathan Bailey as paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis and Scarlett Johansson as skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett in JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH, directed by Gareth Edwards. L to R: Jonathan Bailey as paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis and Scarlett Johansson as skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett in JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH, directed by Gareth Edwards. Universal Studios Bailey is brilliant as the rule-following Dr. Henry Loomis, who is so precise and by the book that it translates to comedy. Despite his dutiful demeanour, Bailey infuses Loomis with sincerity and humor, making chewing a mint one of the most comedic things you've seen on screen this year. The fire to his calm is Johansson, who charges alongside him as the bold and gutsy Zora Bennett. Harboring a tragedy from her past, Johansson smooths Zora's rough edges with a compulsion to keep everyone protected, even at the expense of her own safety. But the star of the show is Mahershala Ali, who is magnetic in every scene. Like Zora, Duncan has made his mistakes, and he's not looking to repeat history. More cautious than Zora, Ali carries Duncan's past earnestly, and Ali and Johansson have fantastic on-screen chemistry as partners in crime. You feel every nuance of their past without them ever needing to discuss it. Orchestrating them all is director Gareth Edwards, who works overtime to make every facet of this film feed into his vision for this entry to the Jurassic universe. One of the unsung highlights of Jurassic World: Rebirth will be the lighting crew, who made every shot – day or night – glisten. It's a detail that'll get swept under the rug due to how effortless it feels, but it cannot be overstated how stunning the work they did is. It made Edwards' world vibrant and dynamic, allowing the small details from each actor to shine through. There's an awe-inspiring moment in the final act where an outline shines through smoke. It's a blink-and-you-miss-it detail, but it deserves its flowers. L to R: Mahershala Ali as Duncan Kincaid and Audrina Miranda as Isabella Delgado in JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH, directed by Gareth Edwards. L to R: Mahershala Ali as Duncan Kincaid and Audrina Miranda as Isabella Delgado in JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH, directed by Gareth Edwards. Universal Studios READ: Jurassic World Rebirth – Everything We Know, Trailer, and Release Date Be assured, Edwards doesn't make you wait until Act Three for thrills. He infuses them from minute one, with every battle having you more on the edge of your seat than the last. People go to see the Jurassic films for the creatures, and Edwards makes sure you get your money's worth. They're not lingering in the background. They are in-your-face, ready to attack, and could arrive at any moment. Though, as much as Edwards highlights the dangers of these creatures, he also shows the beauty and romanticism. In one tearjerking scene, the group stumble upon a gorgeous landscape where ginormous dinosaurs roam freely. They are peaceful, intertwining with one another, showing another side of their overwhelming stature. It's particularly romantic for Jonathan Bailey as Dr. Henry Loomis, and we feel every inch of his awe as he takes in this unbelievable sight. As per tradition with Jurassic projects, Steven Spielberg was at the helm as executive producer. Though how much involvement he has is unclear, Edwards makes sure you feel his warm movie magic legacy. Jurassic World: Rebirth feels like an old adventure movie and a homage to those that came before. While it's impossible to emulate the three-time Oscar winner, Edwards honors what Spielberg laid the foundation for all those years ago. It's fantastical, romantic, awe-inspiring, but most of all... fun. Get out to the movies and enjoy it. It's not often we get big-budget productions imbued with this much care, attention to detail, and respect for their audience, so grab the opportunity while it's here. When Does Jurassic World: Rebirth Release? Jurassic World: Rebirth hits theaters on July 2, 2025.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Archaeologists Found a Lost Egyptian City Buried in the Nile Delta
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Archaeologists discovered the lost ancient city of Imet in modern-day Egypt's eastern Nile Delta. Included within the find were multi-story 'tower' homes showing the urbanization of the area. Evidence indicated the worship of the city's patron deity, the cobra goddess Wadjet, waned over time. The discovery of the ancient city Imet in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta offers intriguing insights, including the architectural urbanization of the area prior to the Roman era, and worship of the city's patron deity, the cobra goddess Wadjet. Excavations at Tell el-Fara'in reveal cultural norms during the early- to middle-fourth century B.C., which feature intricate urbanization with 'substantial tower houses,' structures that were basically multi-story buildings supported by exceptionally thick foundation walls, according to a statement from the University of Manchester. 'These tower houses are mainly found in the Nile Delta between the Late Period and the Roman era, and are rare elsewhere in Egypt,' Nicky Nielsen, researcher with the University of Manchester, said in a statement. 'Their presence here shows that Imet was a thriving and densely built city with a complex urban infrastructure.' The thick foundation walls were designed to support the weight of the tall buildings. The houses, with their multiple floors, were crafted to accommodate many people, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a translated statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The researchers located the city using remote sensing via high-resolution satellite imagery. The images identified clusters of ancient mudbricks that led the team to on-the-ground excavation. It was then they discovered the tower houses. But that wasn't all they found. The team discovered a grain processing center, which featured a paved area and animal enclosures. The find offers information about both the local economy and the religious significance of the area. Nielsen said Imet was prominent during the New Kingdom, sometime between 1550 and 1069 B.C. and its location along trade routes allowed it to maintain importance, especially as it attracted Wadjet pilgrims and merchants. A newer find, from the mid-Ptolemaic Period of about 200 B.C., showed a large structure with a limestone plaster floor and impressive pillars wrapped with stucco. The building was constructed across a processional road that once connected to the temple of Wadjet. Researchers believe that this new building, placed over the ceremonial road shows the worship of Wadjet had waned by that time, offering insight into a shifting religious landscape in ancient Egypt. The temple of Wadjet was rebuilt by Ramses II in the mid-1200s B.C., and then again by Ahmose II in the mid-500s B.C. but began a decline thereafter. The past religious culture of Imet has started to come into greater clarity in the present day, thanks to finds like a green faience ushabti (a ceramic funerary figurine) from the 26th Dynasty, a stela (an upright stone slab with a relief design) of the god Harpocrates (the Greek name for Horus the Child) standing on two crocodiles while holding a snake, and a bronze sistrum musical instrument adorned with the twin heads of Hathor, goddess of music and joy. 'This discovery opens new doors to our understanding of daily life, spirituality, and urban planning in the Delta,' Nielsen said. 'Imet is emerging as a key site for rethinking the archaeology of Late Period Egypt.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
