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Inspired by Spider-Man, scientists recreate web-slinging technology
- John-Tony12 11mo ago[dead]
- bitwize 11mo ago> Spiders don’t actually shoot their silk into the air. They make contact with a surface first, attach a strand, then pull and arrange their webs with careful choreography. Spiders don't shoot their silk into the air when spinning a web. Some spiders, however, migrate by ballooning: they stand upside down, rear ends (and spinnerets) in the air, and send a thread of silk skyward, where it catches the wind or heat currents and lifts the spider toward parts unknown.
- vlovich123 11mo agoDo they send it or do they unspool it as the wind begins to tug at the little bit hanging out of them?
- butvacuum 11mo agoCan't push a rope.
- arthurcolle 11mo agoYou can feed a rope out of something (see: 3D printer extruders)
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- tetris11 11mo agoAnecdote: I feel I've seen a spider drop from the thread I'm holding it from, and hang from a completely new one as it falls
- serf 11mo agoThis is called a drop or anchor line, spiders use them often for climbing smooth or difficult surfaces slowly and for quick escapes. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_silk#Uses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_silk#Uses
- usrnm 11mo agoI want to see a film about the adventures of Peter Parker bitten by that kind of spider
- 1659447091 11mo ago> they stand upside down, rear ends (and spinnerets) in the air, and send a thread of silk skyward, where it catches the wind or heat currents and lifts the spider toward parts unknown. That was such a great sad-happy scene in Charlotte’s Web.
- vee-kay 11mo agoThis beautiful BBC video about Darwin's Bark Spider (a species that spits the longest silk threads and makes the largest spider webs), narrated by Sir David Attenborough is phenomenal: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwvH6YhqIM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwvH6YhqIM Spiders and Nature are incredible!
- delichon 11mo agoIt's a shame that the paper doesn't reference Steve Ditko or Stan Lee or Peter Parker. It's only fair to acknowledge prior art.
- _joel 11mo agoLet's not forget the spider that bit him too, he wouldn't be the man he is without the spider.
- Barathkanna 11mo agoWith AI taking jobs and scientists giving us web shooters, I guess we’re all becoming freelancer Spider-Men now.
- falcor84 11mo agoYou know, I'm something of a Spider-Man myself
- N_Lens 11mo agoThe article fails to explain how the fibers solidify instantly. Reading the actual research paper reveals the critical technical innovation: dopamine accelerates the transition by pulling water away from the silk, and a coaxial needle setup shoots the silk solution surrounded by acetone. The acetone triggers solidification, then evaporates in mid-air. This is the actual breakthrough.
- BugsJustFindMe 11mo agoYou're wrong. The article does say this.
- analog8374 11mo agoHey I've got a shootable sticky protein solution too.
- metalman 11mo ago"scientist" needs some sort of dimunitive expression or grading system, corporate, government......entertainment ie: grade 2 entertainment scientist