Hey, it's Flora Lichtenen, and you're listening to Science Friday.

You may have seen that the next Spider-Man movie comes out this summer.

The trailer, which came out just this month, hit a billion views.

Because I'm not just Peter Parker.

I'm Spider-Man.

And relatedly, in a superhero story, this would be called a twist of fate.

This question came in on our listener line.

My name is Christian.

I'm in Richmond, but, you know, I mean, I'm hailing from Pennsylvania, you know, the vibes.

I'm calling because I wanted to inquire about my ability to have a pair of functioning

web shooters so I can operate as a local Spider-Man, and I would love for you guys to let me know.

Okay, Christian, Cy-fri to the rescue.

Although web shooters, for now, are the stuff of sci-fi, the spiderverse did get this right.

Silk seems to have superpowers.

So what can Spider-Silk really do and how are people trying to harness it?

On the line is Spider-Silk Biologist Dr. Cheryl Hayashi,

senior vice president and provost of science

at the American Museum of Natural History.

Cheryl, thanks for joining me.

Thank you.

Off the bat, give me your first reaction to Christian's question.

I love that question.

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