Scientists Crack the Spiders' Web Code

Kendall Roberson

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/05/31/scientists_crack_the_spiders_web_code.html

The way spiders spin their webs are skills that are used by orb-weaving spiders to protect their webs from damage, which has been revealed by scientists at the University of Melbourne. These scientists found out that orb-weaving spiders build large silk crosses in their webs after responding to severe damage. If the damage is not very severe, the orb-weaving spiders do not bother on adding the silk crosses to their web. The team of scientists at the University of Melbourne collected a group of orb-weaving spiders and left them alone in a secluded area to build their webs. Some of the webs were severely damaged, some had little damage, and the rest had no damage at all. The first sight of these silk crosses were over a century ago.

I think this discovery is one that we can use to our advantage and the spiders' advantage. We now have knowledge on why these orb-weaving spiders do this which is a good thing to know since we have known about the silk crosses for over a century now. We can try to help prevent severe damage to the spiders' webs, since we know how they try to protect their webs from severe damage. I cannot believe it took us this long to crack this code, but hey, it's better late than never. I believe this discovery is an important one, that we can use now and later on in life.