The Art of Bulletproof

An artist teams up with a forensic institute to create a nearly bullet-proof skin using goat milk and spider silk.

Written byJef Akst

| 1 min read

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Goats engineered to produce milk laden with spider-silk proteins may be able to turn human skin into a bulletproof shield, the Daily Mail reports. The milk’s proteins are extracted and woven into a material that is ten times stronger than steel. Finally, the material is cultured with human skin cells to create a skin that can stop bullets—at least those fired at reduced speeds. The synthetic skin was penetrable by a bullet shot from a .22-caliber rifle—the current standard for bulletproof vests.

But Dutch artist Jalila Essaidi, who created the skin with the help of the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands, is happy with the results. "Even with the 'bulletproof' skin being pierced by the faster bullet, the experiment is, in my view, still a success," ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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