Spider glue turns moths' defenses against them

If you've ever tried to stick tape to a dusty surface, you know the dilemma most spiders face when trying to catch moths. Moth wings are covered in tiny scales that slough off at a touch, allowing moths to escape dangers ...

The mathematics of prey detection in spider orb-webs

Spider webs are one of nature's most fascinating manifestations. Many spiders extrude proteinaceous silk to weave sticky webs that ensnare unsuspecting prey who venture into their threads. Despite their elasticity, these ...

A combination of wood fibres and spider silk could rival plastic

Achieving strength and extensibility at the same time has so far been a great challenge in material engineering: increasing strength has meant losing extensibility and vice versa. Now Aalto University and VTT researchers ...

New protein found in strongest spider web material

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and Slovenia has found a previously unknown protein in the strongest known spider web material. In their paper published in the journal Communications ...

How can spiders locate their prey?

A study published today by Dr. Beth Mortimer and colleagues at the Department of Zoology and University Carlos III of Madrid reveals that orb weaving spiders can compare 3-D vibrational inputs into their 8 legs from the web ...

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