Last spring, the Center for Science and the Imagination organized a project that teamed up ASU student filmmakers, scientists and engineers to create original documentaries about ambitious, solutions-oriented research going on at Arizona State University. Throughout the semester, the students researched, wrote and produced several short films documenting exciting moonshot ideas for transforming our shared future. The project is just one of CSI’s many efforts to highlight the importance of narrative and storytelling in thinking constructively and critically about science, technology and the future.
“The Science of Silk,” created by Cody Frear, Nicholas Jakob, Grayson Stanton and Janett Salas, profiles the work of Jeff Yarger, professor in ASU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of the Magnetic Resonance Research Center. Yarger and his team study spider silk – a material 5 times stronger than piano wire by weight – and is working to develop synthetic spider silk mimic materials that could be used to produce all kinds of amazing things, from lightweight bulletproof vests to artificial tendons.