Word: cobweb
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...cobweb glistening with dew seems as fragile as it is lovely. But one day soon, predicts University of Wyoming biologist Randy Lewis, man-made analogues of spider silk will be put to an astonishing variety of heavy-duty uses, from reinforcing fibers in aircraft doors to body-hugging suits for downhill skiers. Over the past four years, Lewis has played the attentive host to dozens of fist-size spiders called golden orb weavers, housing them in Plexiglas condominiums, feeding them a daily diet of flies and, every now and then, flipping them on their backs to unravel yards of gossamer...
...wait with exhaustive stories. The next morning, the Sun devoted 26 pages to the split. To judge by reaction in the streets, it was a sad day. The fairy-tale marriage was finally over after 11 years, and people were sorry to see the last gleaming gossamer fade into cobweb...
...boundless motivation for stealing. Fraud was never so tempting or remorseless, thanks to the proliferation of electronic money and fast, faceless financial transactions. In the past the primary safeguard against such theft had been trust, but in the go-go '80s that ethical obstacle blew away like an old cobweb. Now, finally, the epidemic of cheating may be cresting, since greed is going out of style in some quarters, and the spectacle of once upright citizens slouching off to jail may provide a deterrent...
...blossom of flame suddenly appeared above them, Morse frantically searched through his lens for the speck that might be the separating shuttle, headed for an emergency landing or ditching in the ocean. "Get over to the landing site," he shouted at his assistant. But it was apparent from the cobweb-like streamers filling the sky after the explosion that there was little hope the astronauts had survived...
...homes. Then Tiffany objects went out of style, and in the early 1930s their creator went bankrupt. In the late 1950s an art nouveau boom sent dealers scouring the attics of old mansions and manors for castoff Tiffany lamps. Would-be collectors may weep: a lamp much like Cobweb, which originally cost about $500, fetched a record $360,000 at auction three years...