Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Biology

Spider Silk Strength Compared to Steel

Quick fact

Pound for pound, spider silk can be up to five times stronger than steel—its strength-to-weight ratio is superior—but steel still exceeds spider silk in absolute tensile strength.

Why this is interesting

You've probably heard that spider silk is stronger than steel. But is that actually true—and if so, how can a strand of spider web hold up to a material used in buildings?