Sara and Maria discuss the silk industry (sericulture) from its origin in Ancient China to modern times and some unexpected uses for silkworms.

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References used in this episode include:

China Silk Museum 2019. “China focus: world’s earliest silk fabrics discovered in central China’s ruins.” http://chinasilkmuseum.com/info_180.aspx?itemid=27699

Gong et al., 2016. “Biomolecular evidence of silk from 8,500 years ago.” https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168042

Sun et al., 2012. “Phylogeny and evolutionary history of the silkworm.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22744178/

American Museum of Natural History 2009. “The secret of silk.” https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/traveling-the-silk-road/take-a-journey/xian/silk

Hunt 2011. “Late Roman silk: smuggling and espionage in the 6th century CE.” http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2011/08/byzantine_silk_smuggling_and_e.html via the Wayback Machine

van Mallery, 1595. “‘Emperor Justinian receiving the first imported silkworm eggs from Nestorian Monks,’ Plate 2 from ‘The introduction of the Silkworm’ (Vermis sericus).” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/659738

Laumonier 2020. “Medieval silkworm farming: a global perspective”. https://www.medievalists.net/2020/07/medieval-silkworm-farming/

The Royal Palaces [of Sweden]. “Silk cultivation at Drottningholm.” https://www.kungligaslotten.se/english/articles-movies-360/drottningholm-palace/2020-10-14-silk-cultivation-at-drottningholm.html

Heumann and Nadim, eds. “Silk culture: the history of silk farming in Prussia.” https://animalsasobjects.org/story.silk-culture/

Burner Creek 1986. “Bombyx mori and Americans: or, here we go round the mulberry bush.” https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2407

Lullingstone Castle Silk Farm 2025. https://www.lullingstonecastle.co.uk/lullingstone-silk-farm

Dong et al., 2018. "Differences in gut microbiota between silkworms (Bombyx mori) reared on fresh mulberry (Morus alba var. multicaulis) leaves or an artificial diet" https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/ra/c8ra04627a

Daimon et al., 2008. “ß-fructofuranosidase genes of the silkworm, Bombyx mori” https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(20)71550-4/fulltext

Nyamu et al., 201x. “Sericulture as a business.” https://infonet-biovision.org/products/sericulture-business

Zhao et al., 2024. "From phyllosphere to insect cuticles: silkworms gather antifungal bacteria from mulberry leaves to battle fungal parasite attacks" https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-024-01764-6

Tanaka et al., 2009. “Highly selective tuning of a silkworm olfactory receptor to a key mulberry leaf volatile.” https://www.cell.com/AJHG/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01034-3

Zhang et al., 2019. "A determining factor for insect feeding preference in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.” https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000162

Khosropanah et a., 2021. "Biomedical applications of silkworm (Bombyx Mori) proteins in regenerative medicine (a narrative review).” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/term.3267

Tansil et al., 2011. “Intrinsically coloured and luminescent silk.” https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201003860

Nisal et al., 2013.”Uptake of azo dyes into silk glands for production of coloured silk cocoons using a green feeding approach.” https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/sc400355k

Wu et al., 2021. "Nanocellulose reinforced silkworm silk fibers for application to biodegradable polymers.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127521000903

Mi et al., 2023. “High strength and ultra-tough whole spider silk fibres spun from transgenic silkworms” https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(23)00421-6

Andersson et al., 2016. “Silk spinning in silkworms and spiders” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5000687/

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories https://www.kraiglabs.com/

Cook 2017. “Silkworm foods.” https://www.wormspit.com/wormfoods.htm

Panthee et al., 2017. Advantages of the silkworm as an animal model for developing novel antimicrobial agents” https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00373/full

Wang et al., 2023. “Effects of different diets on the growth and development of young silkworms.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1226861523000985

Song et al., 2023. “Phytol from Faeces Bombycis alleviated migraine pain by inhibiting Nav1.7 sodium channels.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874123000296

Patil et al., 2013. "Utilization of silkworm litter and pupal waste-an eco-friendly approach for mass production of Bacillus thuringiensis.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960852412020111 

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Music used in this episode: Nashville Vibes by Andy Warner https://tunetank.com/track/6477-nashville-vibes/