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The new material is called the "Siberian Spider Silk," and

Feb. 25, 2018 by Kimberly Parks

The new material is called the "Siberian Spider Silk," and it's produced by an international team led by University of Michigan researchers. The scientists have used a combination of molecular biology and experimental genetics to test that it's possible to manufacture one. They are currently trying to understand how spider silk might react to various kinds of materials, and if it's still viable, they'll be able to use it to create an even better material.

But how much will it cost to make silk for use in the real world? We're not sure yet, but the team is hoping to make it in a few years. "Our first goal is to get our spiders to have a real home as our main source of silk," says Daniel J. Voorhees, a professor of bioengineering at the University of British Columbia who's been working on the project for more than a decade. "We need to get that silk to the surface of the insect or the plant to feed it."

As it stands, that goal seems a lot lower than we thought.

This story was originally published on Live Science.The Department of Defense has approved $2.54 billion in annual defense spending to help finance its plan to cut the budget deficit next year, the first major step in the Pentagon's plan to combat rising threats to the military.

The plan, which also includes a $1 trillion savings allowance from sequestration, will increase defense spending by $2.8 trillion over the next decade, the Pentagon said at a Defense Department briefing on Tuesday.

Officials are also proposing to increase the overall budget deficit by $3.1 trillion next year, to $3.1 trillion by the end of FY 2018.

The $2.54 billion in annual defense spending represents a jump of about 1.2 percentage points from the $2.4 trillion in FY 2009, the briefing said, a 5.2 percent boost compared to the previous year.

In the last full year of the sequestration process, the Pentagon's budget deficit climbed $1.1 trillion, and the Pentagon is set to spend $6.3 trillion on defense over the next decade, the briefing said.

The Pentagon is still trying to trim $1.1 trillion in spending so as to avoid falling behind other defense spending goals.

The Pentagon will also increase program benefits for the military by $1.8 trillion over the next decade, and it will increase funding for a program to help the military with training, equipment and intelligence