One Per Cent

(Image: Andy Levin)

Strength in spider silk

Is spider silk finally about to have its moment? The famously strong stuff has long been touted as a wonder material but has yet to live up to its promise. Now Bolt Threads, a start-up in California, claims it has cracked the problem of how to make large quantities of artificial spider silk, using genetically engineered microorganisms. The firm has raised $40 million from investors and says it expects the first products to be available next year.

11.4m

The prize pool, in dollars, for the International Dota 2 Championship, the world’s biggest video games competition, due to be held in Seattle in August

Learn while you wait

Waiting for a friend to finish typing on instant messaging can really drag. Why not learn a language while you wait? A free extension for Google’s Chrome browser called WaitChatter, developed by Carrie Cai at MIT, offers translations in Spanish and French for common words – and tests you on them afterwards. People who used the app for two weeks learned an average of about four words a day.