Spiders are master builders, expertly turning silk into complex 3D webs that serve as their home and hunting ground. To gain a deeper understanding of their world, scientists have translated the structure of a spider's web into music, which could have applications ranging from better 3D printers to cross-species communication.
"The spider lives in an environment of vibrating strings, "says Markus Buehler, the project's principal investigator. "They don't see very well, so they perceive their surroundings by detecting vibrations, which have different frequencies." Such vibrations occur, for example, when the spider stretches a strand of silk during construction or when the wind or a trapped fly moves the web.
The researchers scanned a natural spider web to capture 2D cross-sections and reconstructed its 3Dnetwork using a mathematical model. They assigned different frequencies of sound to strands of the web, creating musical "notes" that they combined in patterns based on the web's 3D structure to generate music. Then they made a harp-like (像竖琴的) virtual instrument and played the spider web music in several live performances around the world, creating an inspiring harmony of art and science.
To gain insights into how spiders build webs, the researchers also scanned a web during construction. transforming each stage into music with different sounds. "The spider's way of ‘printing' the web is remarkable because no support material is used, as is often needed in current 3D printing methods," Buebler says. This knowledge could help develop new 3D printers that work like spiders, enabling them to construct complex structures without using additional materials for support.
The team is also interested in learning how to communicate with spiders in their own language. They recorded web vibrations produced when spiders performed different activities. such as building a web. communicating with other spiders or sending signals to admirers. "Now we're trying to generate signals to basically speak the language of the spider, "Buehler says. "If we expose them to certain patterns of vibrations, can we affect what they do or can we begin to communicate with them? Those are really thrilling ideas, and I believe they could be achieved in the near future."
