When they weave their webs, spiders pull their silk threads. New simulations show stretching during spinning causes the protein chains within the fibers to align and the number of hydrogen bonds ...

When spiders spin their webs, they use their hind legs to pull silk threads from their spinnerets. This pulling action doesn't just help the spider release the silk, it's also a crucial step in ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The 'unseen world' of microscopic engineering creates immediate curiosity. The high-speed motion of golden silk emerging from the ...

What makes spider silk so extraordinarily strong and elastic at the same time? This was the focus of recent investigations carried out by researchers from the University of Greifswald, the University ...

In a web spun by an orb weaver spider, the silk comes in sticky and non-sticky versions, so the spider can just walk along the smooth “spokes” of the orb and avoid the sticky strands that make up the ...

Understanding how the stretching process strengthens spider silk is a key part of helping design stronger, biodegradable, silk-inspired materials for various applications. When spiders spin their webs ...