Arachnophobes often cite spiders\u2019 unpredictable movement as the basis of their fear, pointing out how each spindly leg seems to lift, flex, and probe with a menacing degree of autonomy.<\/p>\n
Perhaps unsettlingly, research conducted by my colleagues and I has revealed that each one of a spider\u2019s legs does indeed enjoy a certain independence from the brain \u2013 especially in the complex task of web-building.<\/p>\n
Our study<\/a> has shown that spider legs have \u201cminds of their own,\u201d constructing webs without the oversight of the spider\u2019s brain. This has important implications for the field of robotics, which may take inspiration from this example of decentralized intelligence to build similarly autonomous robot limbs.<\/p>\n To arrive at our conclusions, we observed the common garden spider Araneus diadematus<\/em>, a creature familiar to us all \u2013 both suspended in our backyards, and as the heroine within the pages of the children\u2019s book Charlotte\u2019s Web.<\/p>\n Spiders\u2019 webs serve many functions. They provide a safe home, but they\u2019re also famously an invisible and highly dynamic trap set up to capture and then firmly hold any insect that strays too close.<\/p>\n To perform this function, webs use a strong structural scaffold<\/a> of radiating spokes with what\u2019s called a \u201ccapture spiral\u201d built on top, which is soft and sticky and uses an extremely clever microscopic reeling mechanism<\/a> to pull in a spider\u2019s prey.<\/p>\n Not only does the capture spiral use electrostatic charges<\/a> to trap a fly, it features a complex glue to hold it firmly, and a specific elasticity<\/a> that makes the web too stretchy for the leg of a hapless insect to push against in its struggle for freedom.<\/p>\n The analogy of the internet as a \u201cweb\u201d is a fine one: because at least five different silks are used in a spider\u2019s web, the way they intersect and network with one another creates a kind of information filtering capacity<\/a> \u2013 with tiny vibrations noted at all times by a spider\u2019s listening legs.<\/p>\n Given the incredible complexity of spiders\u2019 webs, we must ask how such a small animal \u2013 with an obviously minute brain \u2013 can design and build this advanced structure. Modern technology has helped us begin to understand how spiders manage such a complex task.<\/p>\nWeb engineers<\/h2>\n
Spider diagram<\/h2>\n