Tag Archives: NPR

Spiders Tune Their Webs Like A Guitar 1:18min

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EkEsTafD38&w=560&h=315]

This is a very short clip about how spiders use the strands of their webs like strings of a violin to know when something in their web is a another spider or something to eat.

When a spider builds its web, something extraordinary happens
The spider tunes individual strands of silk by stretching or shortening them
Each strand vibrates at a different frequency
When a bug hits the web, a spider can triangulate where it is by sensing the pattern on its vibrations
By plucking a thread and reaching the nature of the vibrations that come back, the spider can tell the difference between a tasty meal, and a potential mate

Here is the transcript for TRANSCRIPT Spiders Tune Their Webs Like a Guitar