What Makes Spider Webs Tough As Steel

sciencehabit writes "A new analysis reveals the intricacies of spider web design, showing how the unique properties of its silk turn webs into flexible yet strong traps. Computer simulations reveal that heavy forces spread over the entire net rather than stay local. Real spider silk can be either stretchy or stiff at different times, which produces threads that flex and then snap in just the right way to avoid wrecking nearby spokes."

Spiders have always fascinated me

[Tastecicles]

I've lost count of the number of times I've sat there and just watched a spider start building a web at 4am, finishing at around 10, and just marvelling at the insane complexity and beauty of the thing.

Re:I for one

[Securityemo]

You apparently can use spider silk for cloth if you really try hard enough [wired.com]. (Warning: NSF arachnophobes.)

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Re:Spiders have always fascinated me

[jones_supa]

Spider using a feature of gate to build its web around [scienceblogs.com]