Spider silk spinning field, the spinneret apparatus of an adult "Araneus diadematus" (garden cross spider) consists of the glands shown below. Similar multiple gland architecture exists in the black widow spider. In order to artificially synthesise spider silk into fibres, there are two broad areas that must be covered. These are synthesis of the feedstock (the unspun silk dope in spiders), and synthesis of the spinning conditions (the funnel, valve, tapering duct, and spigot). There have been a number of different approaches. The molecular structure of unspun silk is both complex and extremely long. Though this endows the silk fibres with their
Roger Turner (garden designer) Roger Turner (garden designer) Roger Turner is a British garden designer and writer of gardening-related non-fiction books. He trained as an architect, and now practises as a garden designer in Gloucestershire. He lectures widely on garden subjects, and is the author of several gardening books. Turner has given talks in the UK, Ireland and the US on a wide range of gardening subjects, specialising in perennials of all kinds, garden design and garden history. He trained as an architect and now works as a landscape designer. He is a knowledgeable plantsman, active in the Hardy Plant Society, and a founding