> Spiders don’t actually shoot their silk into the air. They make contact with a surface first, attach a strand, then pull and arrange their webs with careful choreography.
Spiders don't shoot their silk into the air when spinning a web. Some spiders, however, migrate by ballooning: they stand upside down, rear ends (and spinnerets) in the air, and send a thread of silk skyward, where it catches the wind or heat currents and lifts the spider toward parts unknown.
vee-kay 4 days ago [-]
This beautiful BBC video about Darwin's Bark Spider (a species that spits the longest silk threads and makes the largest spider webs), narrated by Sir David Attenborough is phenomenal:
> they stand upside down, rear ends (and spinnerets) in the air, and send a thread of silk skyward, where it catches the wind or heat currents and lifts the spider toward parts unknown.
That was such a great sad-happy scene in Charlotte’s Web.
usrnm 5 days ago [-]
I want to see a film about the adventures of Peter Parker bitten by that kind of spider
tetris11 5 days ago [-]
Anecdote: I feel I've seen a spider drop from the thread I'm holding it from, and hang from a completely new one as it falls
serf 5 days ago [-]
This is called a drop or anchor line, spiders use them often for climbing smooth or difficult surfaces slowly and for quick escapes.
Do they send it or do they unspool it as the wind begins to tug at the little bit hanging out of them?
butvacuum 5 days ago [-]
Can't push a rope.
arthurcolle 5 days ago [-]
You can feed a rope out of something (see: 3D printer extruders)
5 days ago [-]
N_Lens 5 days ago [-]
The article fails to explain how the fibers solidify instantly. Reading the actual research paper reveals the critical technical innovation: dopamine accelerates the transition by pulling water away from the silk, and a coaxial needle setup shoots the silk solution surrounded by acetone. The acetone triggers solidification, then evaporates in mid-air. This is the actual breakthrough.
BugsJustFindMe 5 days ago [-]
You're wrong. The article does say this.
delichon 5 days ago [-]
It's a shame that the paper doesn't reference Steve Ditko or Stan Lee or Peter Parker. It's only fair to acknowledge prior art.
_joel 5 days ago [-]
Let's not forget the spider that bit him too, he wouldn't be the man he is without the spider.
metalman 4 days ago [-]
"scientist" needs some sort of dimunitive expression or grading system, corporate, government......entertainment
ie: grade 2 entertainment scientist
Barathkanna 5 days ago [-]
With AI taking jobs and scientists giving us web shooters, I guess we’re all becoming freelancer Spider-Men now.
falcor84 4 days ago [-]
You know, I'm something of a Spider-Man myself
John-Tony12 5 days ago [-]
[dead]
analog8374 4 days ago [-]
Hey I've got a shootable sticky protein solution too.
Rendered at 16:18:29 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Spiders don't shoot their silk into the air when spinning a web. Some spiders, however, migrate by ballooning: they stand upside down, rear ends (and spinnerets) in the air, and send a thread of silk skyward, where it catches the wind or heat currents and lifts the spider toward parts unknown.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwvH6YhqIM
Spiders and Nature are incredible!
That was such a great sad-happy scene in Charlotte’s Web.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_silk#Uses
ie: grade 2 entertainment scientist