There’s no doubt that spider webs are beautiful, but spider’s silk is a very complex fibre which has remarkable qualities. It’s strength is legendary, but now researchers from Oxford, Strathclyde and Sheffield have discovered that one of the main ways spiders use their webs is, well, musical.
Most spiders have poor eyesight and rely almost exclusively on the vibration of the silk in their web for sensory information,’ said Beth Mortimer of the Oxford Silk Group at Oxford University, who led the research. ‘The sound of silk can tell them what type of meal is entangled in their net and about the intentions and quality of a prospective mate. By plucking the silk like a guitar string and listening to the ‘echoes’ the spider can also assess the condition of its web.
Dr Chris Holland of the University of Sheffield, an author of the paper, said: ‘Spider silks are well known for their impressive mechanical properties, but the vibrational properties have been relatively overlooked and now we find that they are also an awesome communication tool. Yet again spiders continue to impress us in more ways than we can imagine.’
Isn’t that amazing and wonderful? That spiders set and sense the vibrations and frequencies in the silk they weave to know how healthy their webs are, and to know, from the “music” of the web, what they have trapped.
Wonder!
Heroes Not Zombies 
Certainly wonderful!
I wonder if anyone has looked at the properties of human fascia in the same way? The web of fascia throughout the body tells a great deal to the owner and allows sensitive hands to detect and influence whole body fascia diagnostically and therapeutically.
The spider’s web is an external transmitter fascia is an internal one. The drapes, folds and waves of fascia are an equally fascinating medium?