Most of us are familiar with silk as a fine fabric that is made into neckties and dresses. As a textile, silk is highly valued because it is shiny and smooth, strong yet lightweight, and it can be ...

Those precious silk garments in your closet were made by the caterpillar of a fuzzy, white moth — thousands of them. Silkworms spin a cocoon with a single strand of silk up to 10 city blocks long.

My eight-year-old daughter Nancy appears in the kitchen looking cross. ‘What’s that disgusting thing bobbing about in the bathroom sink?’ she demands. ‘It’s just a silkworm cocoon,’ I reply airily — ...