The great ecological success of spiders is often substantiated by the evolution of silk and webs. Biologists of the Kiel University and the University of Bern now found an alternative adaptation to hunting prey: hairy adhesive ...
Plants & Animals
May 16, 2013
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The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored – in spite of waves that sometimes pound the shore with a force equivalent to a jet liner flying at 600 miles per hour – are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures ...
Ecology
Feb 16, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Researcher and team are the first to measure all of the elastic properties of an intact spider's web, drawing a remarkable picture of the behavior of one of nature's most intriguing structures. The work could ...
Materials Science
Feb 6, 2013
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(Phys.org)—The phenomenon of liquids coating rough surfaces in the form of films or droplets is commonplace. The morning dew converts grass and leaves into scenes of magical beauty, while a thin film of rainwater on the ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 29, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin – weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. ...
Materials Science
Jan 27, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Researchers have found what they say is the only fossil ever discovered of a spider attack on prey caught in its web – a 100 million-year-old snapshot of an engagement frozen in time.
Archaeology
Oct 8, 2012
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In one of the first studies to examine how the loss of forest birds is effecting Guam's island ecosystem, biologists from Rice University, the University of Washington and the University of Guam found that the Pacific island's ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 13, 2012
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(Phys.org)—Fine dew drops on spider webs, blades of grass, and even insects can lend them breathtaking beauty. And, examining them very closely, one recognises that the drops themselves form astonishingly regular and aesthetic ...
General Physics
Aug 29, 2012
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Previously, Daiqin Li and colleagues at the National University of Singapore found that the male orb web spider loses its sex organ, called a palp, due to it breaking off during sex because it allowed the male to continue ...
Discerning males remain faithful ... if you are a spider. Sex for male orb web spiders (Argiope bruennichi) is a two shot affair since the act of mating destroys their genitalia. If they survive being eaten during their first ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 24, 2012
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